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Calexit Ramp
I have mixed feelings about the nascent California secession campaign (“Calexit”). As someone who splits his time between East and West, I worry about the potential complexity of dual citizenship and the hassle of frequently crossing an international border, though, presumably, the nation of California’s would be open. But it does strike me as a potentially interesting experiment.
Of course, the primary motivation of Calexit’s proponents is the national election of Donald Trump while the Golden State was racking up a four-million-plus vote surplus for Hillary Clinton. (In fairness, Mr. Trump would likely argue that, discounting illegal voting, the differential would shrink to a few hundred or so.)
There are other reasons not to take the lopsided election too seriously. I suspect most of us know Californians who didn’t bother voting because it was a forgone conclusion that Clinton would win a large majority of popular votes and, therefore, all of the state’s electoral votes. In other words, why bother if it doesn’t matter? If the landscape seemed more competitive, or if this were not a winner-take-all state, the results might have been significantly different. Mrs. Clinton would still likely have won, but the Trump campaign would have worked harder and spent more money, and conservative voters would have been more motivated.
Still, there is a part of me that’s intrigued by secession. It would present a kind of real-world laboratory situation that would confine some of our goofier politics—not to mention awards show—within an international border. It would also be interesting to see how a state that some claim has the world’s sixth-largest economy would fare as an independent nation. Would the economic separation and the need to negotiate trade deals be harder on California Nation or on the remaining 49 states?
I’m tempted to say that Calexit will never come to pass, but in this Trump Era, I have given up thinking that anything is impossible. So let’s play a mind game and try to imagine what might happen if Cal does, in fact, exit. Some results seem obvious, but the unintended consequences are likely to be legion. Some ramifications would be quite significant, while many more would be deliciously amusing. One thing seems certain: given the mood of the nation, a serious Calexit campaign would be more popular in the rest of the country than in California itself.
Published in Politics
I didn’t mean the use of the military that way. I meant it purely to guard us and our property, not to reduce other countries to rubble.
Right, and now you’ve answered your own question.
Q: Why not abolish the military?
A: We need a military for the same reason we need a government in the first place: to protect our life, liberty, and property.
I was asking it rhetorically. The other member didn’t seem to have a good answer as to what happens when China comes and ends any standard of living in the United States. He/She seemed okay with it.
I think the most interesting aspect of Calexit is the agricultural problems that would result. California would have to become an exporter of produce with the other 49 states being the customers. That would be approximately what happens now, except then it would become international trade. The prevailing attitude of Californians might change dramatically.
I question whether there is any country that doesn’t have a standard of living. Most countries have several of them.
This is what I have wondered. I’m not a brilliant economist, but I am guessing that Hollywood would probably seriously decline. People in the other 49 states, specifically conservatives or “those against CA leaving the Union,” would not want their money to go to a place that thought so high of themselves to secede from the US of A and many of us would probably be against supporting any celebrities that stayed in CA. I think it would initially hurt the state economically, but then they would make some kind of comeback before other problems set in.
Also, I wonder if they will just secede so easily, you know, without us having a Civil War 2 taking place.
I have not heard anyone address how California would raise a standing army or navy. How many able bodied Californians would volunteer? I’m guessing not many.
That assumes the current borders. Far more likely (as in 0.2% likely instead of 0.02% likely) is a negotiated exit, and they are negotiating with Trump! Almost certainly the central valley, imperial valley and high desert areas remain in the union. The California that secedes will probably look like Chile … long and thin along the coast.
Water and power, maybe.
Food? No way. You must have forgotten the Central Valley, VDH’s homeland. If I recall correctly, California is the nation’s largest producer of most fruits and vegetables, as well as rice. The cattle and sheep industries in the state are second only to Texas, and cheese production is second only to Wisconsin.
That lasts only until the counter-secession.
Considering how the coastal poobahs have treated their inland brethren, I give it a week — ten days at the outside.
I for one would be quite willing to start a civil war against those trying to leave the United Stares. I’m tired of rolling over to these blowhards. I know it’s a childish temper tantrum but they can still cause great harm. Maybe they’ll get it out of their system at the Oscars.
How would anyone know?
Only time will tell and it is said somewhat plaintively and hopefully. I am trying to gird myself for four years of hysteria, apparently even from both sides.
What hysteria on the Right, Kat? If you leave out the Arlen Specters of the GOP, John Jackass McCain and Lindsey Lohan Graham, the GOP seems to be on-board with Trump. Yeah, maybe a couple no-name Reps squeaked a little, but we have 240 Republicans in the House, so it’s minor.
No, the hysteria is coming from the Left and every bit of it is fake. The solution for Trump is to keep moving forward and let them eat his dust. Once the Democrats and the MSM (but I repeat myself) can’t find any more “victims”, America will start ignoring them again.
McCain and Graham are really starting to drive me nuts. They should be focusing on getting the nominees voted on and get ready for the Supreme Court battle coming at them and they are out there pipsqueaking about something that is not true. Living in California can be a pain in the butt sometimes…surrounded by family and friends who for some reason are making this particular election personal.
I can almost ignore Graham, because he does good things sometimes, but McCain hides the fact that he’s a Democrat behind his POW status. I hope Arizona wakes up next time, because Senator McCain is never going to get over his hatred of Trump and he will always be a liability to the GOP because of it.
Remind your Left Coast family that they didn’t have a negative thing to say when Obama did the exact same thing on immigration. Remind them of the things Obama said he would do, but didn’t, like closing Guantánamo Bay, getting rid of the “Bush tax cuts for the rich”, lowering the sea levels, being the most transparent administration in history, bringing peace to the Middle East, and so on. Remind them as often as possible that they are simply being hypocrites.
Deleted post.
Sorry wrong thread.
Pipsqueaking is the perfect term.
I’m thinking of Quebec. Why would a country want to force an unwilling polity into a Union?