ZeroHedge.com
A group of secessionists in California are taking advantage of post-election discontent and re-introducing their petition to make California its own country. Apparently, the liberal elites of California aren’t big fans of Donald Trump…who knew?
According to the Sacramento Bee, support for the “The 2019 #Calexit Independence Referendum” is gaining some momentum after devastated Hillary supporters received their bad news on Tuesday night.
About 11,000 people liked the Facebook page for the “Yes California Independence Campaign” as of Tuesday night. By midday Wednesday, it had grown to nearly 17,000 likes and counting.
“Obviously it was a huge boost for the movement because Californians hate Donald Trump,” said Marcus Ruiz Evans, vice president of the group.
The hashtag #Calexit was already trending on Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday. Posts ranged from Shervin Pishevar, a Bay Area venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur, calling for the state to secede, to conservatives welcoming a California-less nation.
Ruiz Evans said Yes California intends to launch an initiative that asks Californians whether they believe the state should remain part of the United States or break away on its own. Similar to the Citizens United ballot measure voters approved Tuesday, it would begin as an advisory proposal to kick-start an arduous process.
The results will serve as a rallying cry and give the campaign credibility with lawmakers, he said. If passed, it would call for a special election and official vote on whether California should become its own country. Ultimately, Congress and the states would likely have to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The reason that we’re here today is we wanted to point out to everybody in California that the American system is broken. It’s failing. It’s sinking,” he said. “You as a Californian have a choice to make: Do you go down with that ship out of tradition or sail on your own?”
Apparently the group’s leadership is convinced that California’s economic problems are the direct result of their statehood as opposed to the failed liberal agenda of their elected officials. The group’s website lays out a myriad of reasons for secession but summarizes that “the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values.”
In our view, the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children.
Although charity is part of our culture, when you consider that California’s infrastructure is falling apart, our public schools are ranked among the worst in the entire country, we have the highest number of homeless persons living without shelter and other basic necessities, poverty rates remain high, income inequality continues to expand, and we must often borrow money from the future to provide services for today, now is not the time for charity.
However, this independence referendum is about more than California subsidizing other states of this country. It is about the right to self-determination and the concept of voluntary association, both of which are supported by constitutional and international law.
It is about California taking its place in the world, standing as an equal among nations. We believe in two fundamental truths: (1) California exerts a positive influence on the rest of the world, and (2) California could do more good as an independent country than it is able to do as a just a U.S. state.
In 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the international community with their “Brexit” vote. Our “Calexit” referendum is about California joining the international community. You have a big decision to make.
While this will unfortunately never come to a fruition, we suspect after Tuesday’s election results that, outside of a couple of major metro areas in the Northeast, a lot of people in this country would be quiet happy to be rid of their leftist west coast state.