While some progressives’ answer to Donald Trump’s victory is rioting in Berkeley, others have what they say is a better answer – become their own independent nation. The L.A. Times reports that a small but determined coalition of activists has submitted a proposed ballot measure to the state’s Attorney General. Their goal is a statewide for California to succeed from the Union. But is that feasible?
Spurred by President Trump’s victory last November, the group Yes California which began spearheading the call for succession for the last two years sees events in Washington has reason to push harder now.
Yes, California isn’t the first group talk up the idea of succession. Just last year, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper attempted and failed to get a ballot proposed that would have split California into six different states.
Marcus Ruiz Evans, the vice president and co-founder of Yes California, indicated that his group had been planning to wait for 2020, but the presidential election of Donald Trump offered the catalyst to speed things up.
“We’re doing it now because of all of the overwhelming attention,” Evans said.
Evans said the California taxpayers put more money into the federal government than the state receives in federal spending. He also pointed to the cultural divide between the west coast and the rest of the country.
Though there would likely be cheering followed by swift Federal action should such a thing come to pass, an independent California may not be the utopia supporters like Evans envision. Ryan Girdusky of Red Alert Politics says the places like East L.A. would likely look more like post-World War II East than Berlin Beverly Hills should succession ever happen.
Most important to consider is that 24 counties in the state voted for Donald Trump and an additional five voted for Clinton without a clear majority. Central California is as much fly-over country for So-Cal and the Bay Area as the mid-west. It’s doubtful central California would leave the United States without a struggle.
An independent nation of California would certainly face an immediate water shortage crisis. The record moisture of this year may help San Francisco but LA is a different story. Large portions of Southern California gets its water from the Colorado River, it’s largest reservoirs located in Arizona and Nevada.
Best estimates show Los Angeles making it less than three weeks should the spigot of the Colorado be turned off.
California Director of Finance, Michael Cohen, said in a recent statement that “the outlook for the upcoming budget is concerning and will need to account for this declining revenue and the significant uncertainties.
The California Department of Finance reports that the outlook for the upcoming budget was “concerning,” due to lower-than-expected tax collections. California has collected one billion dollars less than it had anticipated in tax revenues since the start of the fiscal year. July 2016 alone showed $400 million less than previously projected. Year-to-date revenues are $595 million below the expected $32.9 billion.
In spite of claims by Yes California that the state gives out more than it takes in from the Federal government, the reality of the state’s finances paints a far different picture.
Add to its state tax revenue problems, its shrinking middle class, and California is hardly in an ideal financial situation to consider thumbing its nose at Washington. Plus, the claims that California puts more into the Federal till then it gets back fall flat considering the Federal money that goes into programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
California’s economic, social welfare, and illegal alien amnesty policy has decimated the middle-income taxpayer. A hypothetical nation of California would have an unsustainable tax structure: wealthy tech billionaires, millionaires from the entertainment world, an ever-shrinking middle class, and untold millions of laborers who depend on federal programs that will no longer be there.
The progressive plan for higher taxes, an unrealistically generous welfare system, and open borders will only make matters worse moving ahead. For those who can afford it, an independent nation of California might well prove a dream. For the rest, it would quickly become a nightmare.
It’s been over 150 years since succession was taken off the table by Uncle Sam and the only state that kept its options open is not California. Much to progressives’ chagrin that prize goes to Texas.
~ Conservative Zone
