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'New California' Movement Wants To Create a 51st State (wqad.com)

PolygamousRanchKid, Ayano, and an anonymous reader all shared the same story. Tribune Media reports: A group has launched a campaign to divide California into two states. It isn't the first attempt to split California, but unlike a failed campaign in 2016 to divide California into six states, the campaign to create New California would split the state into one made up of rural counties and another made up of coastal counties.
USA Today provides some context: Breaking up California remains no easy task: A formal secession means getting approval from both Congress and California's legislature itself. But that hasn't stopped folks from trying. Hundreds of times... Monday's declaration of "the State of New California" marked the latest in more than 200 long-shot efforts to split the Golden State. All so far have failed.

82 of 565 comments (clear)

  1. Which billionaire is funding this one? by HangingChad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Splitting California's electoral votes is a right wing wet dream. Makes you wonder if it's the Koch family or the Mercers behind this push. Or some combination of billionaires and Russian foreign intelligence.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Hetero · · Score: 5, Funny

      Definitely the Russians. If they pull this off (and sources tell me they can), they will take all of California's natural resources, Gazprom will build a pipeline over the Pacific Ocean to North Korea, and California will be left as a mere desert. Trust me, I had a convo with EditorDavid, and he said *his* sources told him exactly this but was obligated to not reveal them.

      Sounds like the perfect KGB job to me.

    2. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by skam240 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I bet the Liberals in every major Southern urban area get tired of their right wing state governments too.

      Please note that unlike yourself, I have chosen to not confabulate a political point of view I often disagree with, with an extremeist ideology.

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    3. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's also the wet dream of everyone in the area desiring it, to be free of the oppressive liberal extremism that pays the bills in California

      FTFY

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    4. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      It's also the wet dream of everyone in the area desiring it

      Sure, the rural counties have no political power, and are bullied by the coast. But they would need political power to secede. Chicken and egg problem.

      There is zero chance the California legislature would support an urban-rural split.

    5. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by DFurno2003 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not paying for democrat inner city pet projects and providing sanctuary to illegal aliens is a rural land owners wet dream

    6. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I wonder at times who else is tired of all the apparent astrofurfers who pretend like we're a democratic nation, turn every issue into an "us vs them" debate (often spouting unfounded accusations, disrespect, hatred, and obscenities against whoever the "them" is), and expect people to align with one side or the other.

      ---

      I have no representative. No one approaches me asking me to appoint or endorse someone for that role (or whether I would prefer to cast my own votes on the issues). Instead, we get to vote on who gets to be called "representative" over a everyone within a geographic area. The person who I would vote for, if I should bother voting at all, would fail to obtain enough votes and thus would be disregarded and/or ordered out of the room, should he attempt to represent me anyway.

      So far as I can tell I also disagree substantially with the majority of the nation as to how the nation ought to be governed, so getting rid of all the abuses and scandals which both Democrats and Republicans attack each other with and over and making the system function "fairly" is not going to fix the problem.

      I also suspect that the majority of the nation also is similarly without a representative: Voting for third parties and watching their candidates lose, staying out of the vote entirely, or voting for whatever mainstream candidate that is merely less unappealing than the opponent form the other party.

    7. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's it like to live in a country where you hate half of your neighbors?

    8. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by amiga3D · · Score: 2

      Actually that's impossible too. You're asking the majority of states to cede even more power to the Federal government. Essentially committing suicide.

    9. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by macsimcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let's review: Wilson couldn't fix California, and neither could the Governator. But Governor Moonbeam did, and now the state is out of the hole, growing again, and projecting a surplus, all from RAISING TAXES.

      States like Kansas, Wisconsin, and Iowa cut taxes and are now failing, increasing their deficits.

      Sure looks like "Commiefornia" did it right, and those red states full of morons did it wrong.

    10. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by BlueStrat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's also the wet dream of everyone in the area desiring it, to be free of the oppressive liberal extremism that runs up the bills in California

      FTFY

      FTFFY YW HTH

      HAND

      Strat

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    11. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The reality is that California is not quite so liberal as it might appear from the outside. Remember, it's the state that gave the country both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. It's just that, unless you're a universally-beloved, larger-than-life, action hero immigrant from Austria, the Republican *name* is political poison. Pete "How I hate the Hispanics; let me count the 187 ways." Wilson saw to that in the 1990s when he married the "R" on the ballot to a campaign of hate, discrimination, and bigotry against the state's fastest-growing demographic (I believe the word he was looking for afterward was: "oops".).

      But at the end of the day, we *DID* vote to recall and depose a democratic governor in favor of a Republican not long ago at all. And Schwarzenegger handily accomplished much of his agenda and won re-election besides. We also keep re-electing DINOs like Pelosi and Feinstein to congress. And even here in San Francisco, the conservative candidate wins surprisingly (to outsiders, I guess) often. You simply have to ignore the stated party affiliations (Republican being a dirty word.) and compare-and-contrast the politics of the candidates themselves. Consider the mayoral office: Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom (Both the occupying the political right.) defeated Tom Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez (the leftists) in their respective mayoral elections. (Their first elections, that is. We do seem to have a tradition of rosters of only complete space-cases running against mayoral incumbents.). Ed Lee was no progressive and was considered by many to be another DINO. And in my own district for state senate, Scott Wiener (the conservative) defeated Jane Kim (the liberal) for the seat in Sacramento. It's just that both of them had to run as Democrats because, as seen to by Pete Wilson, running as a Republican is political death for anyone who'd not a cyborg sent back in time to kill Sarah and/or John Connor.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    12. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Today no. In ten or twenty years, who knows? Three decades ago, California was a solidly red state that had Republican governors and voted Republican in nearly every presidential election. A few decades of demographic churn pulled it the other way. Who's to say a few more decades of demographic changes won't do the opposite. It's getting pretty damned expensive to live in much of California and people will move away. Are the people most likely to move because of housing prices likely to vote Democrat or Republican? Hard to say. Time will tell.

    13. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by David_Hart · · Score: 2

      Splitting California's electoral votes is a right wing wet dream. Makes you wonder if it's the Koch family or the Mercers behind this push. Or some combination of billionaires and Russian foreign intelligence.

      It's also the wet dream of everyone in the area desiring it, to be free of the oppressive liberal extremism running rampant in Commifornia.

      Well, why not go all out. Divide the country into two, that way the conservatives can be in their own country and the Liberals in the other.... Of course, this would lead to another division as some conservatives will still see others as "too liberal" and want their own country... etc....

      The real sad thing is that people have forgotten how to talk to each other instead of spouting the party line. For example, I never thought that I would see the day where so many are willing to give up on their morals just for political advancement, and I'm talking about the voters, not the politicians....

    14. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      It's getting pretty damned expensive to live in much of California and people will move away.

      When you add everything up, it's not that much more expensive to live in the most beautiful part of California than it is to live in Houston, Texas.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    15. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by psmoot · · Score: 2

      On the one hand, this would generate two new Senate seats. Yay! As a Californian, what's not to like about that? Since the new seats would almost certainly be Republican, the Democrats might not like this. Personally, I wouldn't stop at two states, I'd create three or four.

      As TFA says, there have been many moves to break up California. It's not driven by any outside interest, it really is a local movement. The state really is too large. The liberal, urban coast has very little in common with the rural mountains and central valley. The coast also dominates state government and the rural counties don't feel heard in Sacramento, let alone Washington.

      Financially, it would be really interesting. Most of the state property and income tax also comes from the cities: that's where all the people and companies are. I don't know how the income and expenses would get divided up. Divvying up any state debt would also be really contentious.

    16. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by careysub · · Score: 2

      Splitting California's electoral votes is a right wing wet dream. Makes you wonder if it's the Koch family or the Mercers behind this push. Or some combination of billionaires and Russian foreign intelligence.

      I started watching the pitch video on the website. But I did not need to go any further than the part where the founder asserts than school boards are a communist plot. Honest to God. It is no surprise that he was speaking to an elderly all white audience. Probably taking a break from watching the Hannity Show.

      --
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    17. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 2

      Oh, it's worse than that. Reagan signed an amnesty for ~3 million illegals during his time in office and Trump's looking like he's going to cave on DACA.

    18. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ask Sweden or Norway or Denmark. Ask the French people if they like Paris the way it is now. How about London? Do you think the people of England like what their country is turning into?

      The policies that are ruining Europe are exactly what the Democrats want to implement here in the United States. They would gladly flush away national sovereignty for the chance to recruit a permanent majority of poor constituents who will vote democrat.

    19. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by mschwanke97402 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You fail to understand democracy. The concept is not, we lost the election burn the place to the ground, the concept is the other side won, they get to govern, meanwhile we rebuild from the grass roots, one voter and one district at a time. California had a Republican Governor not that long ago. IIRC, there was also a split legislature not that long ago too. Also the dems do not have a super-majority in congress. That is federal. California has an Assembly and a Senate.

    20. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Dutchmaan · · Score: 2

      Change "Russians" to "Liberals" and you're watching Fox News!

    21. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My guess is that what you mean is that it's not that much more expensive for YOU (retired; little/no taxable income) to live in whatever it is YOU consider to be "the most beautiful part of California" (likely somewhere that's not close to a real job market, unlike Houston). Otherwise, this is simply nonsense.

      I'm semi-retired, but my income is not that different from when I worked. My wife is still working, and her job here in California pays a lot better than her professorship at Rice University.

      There is a lovely job market here in California. And the job market back in Houston is no longer what it once was. The energy sector jobs are not in boom mode any more. The thing that's keeping Houston afloat is the magnificent Medical Center, which is now the #1 industry in Houston.

      Real estate is more expensive here in Cali, but we sold a place/bought a place, so it doesn't really figure into our expenses. Income tax is high here, but property taxes are much lower than in Texas. Food is much cheaper here (and much, much better). Gasoline is more expensive, but since we live a short bike ride from work and the beach, we drive a lot less. In Houston, you can't go three miles without getting on an expressway. The entire city of Houston is paved over with 12-lane highways that are poorly maintained. The unit price of utilities is more expensive in California, but since you don't have to heat or air condition anything, it doesn't matter. In Houston, you have to air condition 10 months out of the year (new houses in Houston don't even have windows that open).

      So, you can live in beautiful place with beautiful weather or an ugly place with horrible weather. It's not that different economically.

      Oh, and weed is legal here. And there's surfing.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    22. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by rworne · · Score: 2

      They won't approve of it for several reasons:
      1. They'll have fewer people to tax
      2. Most of the areas affected by environmental controls will be lost
      3. Can't let another state in the union that will likely add two more republican senators to the US Senate.
      4. What happens if you piss off New California? Someone will turn off the water tap.

      This is not much different than years ago when they wanted to split into a north and south California. If you draw the border right, you can still keep the Democrat supermajority in both halves and add two more Democrat senators to the US senate.

      Wonder if the state legislature will go for that?

      --
      I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
    23. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Is the moon made of cheese in your world?

      Never have I seen a political ideology get everything so wrong as this left-wing crap I see today. The USA is a nation built on hard working individuals who value individual responsibility, family, and nation. This is exactly the opposite of what the progs/left/DNC/whatever are screaming for constantly. They want a giant nanny state that tells everyone how to run their lives, with everyone absolutely dependent on said state. They want to force their views on everyone else in some PC crusade.

      It's the Dem supporters who should be moving to Venezuela, China, and other socialist "paradises". But as Venezuela shows, this doesn't last for too long because parasites always need to feed of the hard work of others. That's why they won't leave the US. Not until it's bled dry, anyhow. Then they'll move on to a productive country full of hard workers, and parasitize that place too.

      The founding fathers might've been onto something when only landowners were allowed to vote. Allowing people to vote to force others to give them free stuff has a terrible feedback mechanism.

    24. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by samkass · · Score: 2

      Are you claiming that the CEO and BoD of one of the larger mining and natural resources companies who sold their business to Russia are Democrats? That's seems unlikely. Or are you saying that, as a right-winger, you would prefer greater Government regulation and interference on routine natural resources deals?

      As for New California, it would largely be an agricultural and natural resources state, while the science, technology, business, arts, shipping, R&D, tourism, and transportation would all be in the left-wing, high-growth, profitable "old" California.

      --
      E pluribus unum
    25. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by Chas · · Score: 2

      30 years of uncontrolled immigration can (and have) thoroughly changed the voter composition in the state...

      --


      Chas - The one, the only.
      THANK GOD!!!
    26. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by skam240 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "The problem is, a couple densely populated areas are steering the entire state"

      That's not a bug, that's a feature. Welcome to voting and republican democracy. While we have far more protections for small voter blocks than any other first world country (minorities, although not necessarily in the racial sense) the simple fact is that generally speaking the few don't get to govern, the many do.

      What you seem to advocating for is governance by a minority.

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    27. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Lord+Kano · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The electoral college has always been and will always be bullshit

      The electoral college is a feature, not a bug.

      It exists precisely to prevent what would have happened without it in the 2016 election. One party shouldn't be able to pack dependent voters densely into areas they control to have power over everyone else.

      Twice in the last 17 years the democrats lost a race they should have won, if the vote was fair, and the world would have been better off both times.

      I call bullshit on all counts here.

      If they *should have won*, then they would have won. They lost according to the rules that everyone knew from the beginning. Al Gore lost the presidency because he couldn't even carry his home state. Hillary lost because she lost states that Obama carried in the previous two elections. I live in a state that's full of Union Democrats and Hillary lost it. She was the first Democrat to lose this state since Dukakis.

      The elections were perfectly fair. The candidate who performed best under the system that is mandated by the constitution, prevailed.

      If the presidency was based on the national popular vote, everyone's campaigns would have been waged differently. It's all speculation about who would have won if the rules had been different.

      In what way would the world have been better off if Gore had won in 2000 or Hillary in 2016? Are you talking about the Iraq and Afghan wars? Those military actions that most Democrats in congress voted in favor of taking?

      Under Trump, the stock market is hitting all time highs. Personally, my 401k is up over 15% in just the most recent quarter.

      Enough with the sour grapes. If put up a better candidate if you want to win.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    28. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by ewhac · · Score: 2

      Let's review: Wilson couldn't fix California, and neither could the Governator. But Governor Moonbeam did, and now the state is out of the hole, growing again, and projecting a surplus, all from RAISING TAXES.

      To be a bit more clear: Wilson got close, significantly reducing the gap on the deficit in the weeks before the recall election. Also recall: California had been shaken down by Enron's manipulation of the newly (and badly) deregulated energy market, paying usurious electricity prices, completely eating up CA's budget surplus and more besides.

      Then the special recall election happened, and Ah-nold got elected because everyone thought it would be cute -- not to mention a self-satisfying poke in the eye to the establishment -- to have a rank amateur running things (sound familiar?).

      It's also worth noting that this is the second time that Governor "Moonbeam" has cleaned up the mess left behind by a bumbling B-grade movie actor.

    29. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Real estate is more expensive here in Cali, but we sold a place/bought a place, so it doesn't really figure into our expenses.

      Here is a list of things that make California unaffordable to most people:

      1. Housing

      So, yes, you are right, it is affordable, as long as you ignore housing.

    30. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      Hmmm... Santa Barbara is about the most beautiful city in Southern California. Beaches, mountains, near-perfect weather, phenomenal architecture, small and tree-lined streets. And it's about 2.5 times the cost of Houston. How about Ventura? A 1.5 times differential. Need something more urban, perhaps like Santa Monica? 3 times differential. Irvine, Dana Point, Oceanside, Ojai, San Diego - all much more expensive than Houston. So which beautiful California city do you think is cheaper than Houston? Even Bakersfield is more expensive than Houston - and that's considered a pit that has its only redeeming quality being it's not Oildale.

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    31. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      Well, when one side demands you simply shut up and you cannot have your opinion without being a mysogynist, racist, homophobic Nazi who deserves to die - it makes it hard to even begin to talk together.

      --
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    32. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

      So if you ignore the astronomical cost of housing in California, the remaining expenses are comparable. You're shameless.

      The place we sold in Chicago to buy the place in Houston which we sold to buy a place in California were all about the same price.

      The place here in Cali has about 15% less floor space than the place in Houston, but the yard is about three times bigger. Considering the weather here is absolutely perfect compared to the shittiest weather you can imagine in Houston, having the outdoors is preferable. People who don't live on the California coast have no idea how beautiful it really is. There's mountains, an ocean, clear weather, clean air. Houston air always smells like creosote.

      There's a reason California gets more tourists than any other state in the US.

      https://youtu.be/Yy57Xdk9u0o

      --
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    33. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 2

      Gerrymandering doesn't exist. It's a convenient scapegoat to explain why even with densely packed cities, Democrats can still lost elections.

      Gerrymandering has always existed, but lately it's gotten out of control. SCOTUS is hearing 2 gerrymandering case this term and the decisions will decide the races in those areas.

    34. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by c6gunner · · Score: 2

      What you seem to advocating for is governance by a minority.

      Not sure where you got that from. What he seems to be advocating for is protection of the minority.

      This separatist movement is typical of what happens when a large group uses it's size to actively suppress and control a smaller, geographically distinct group. When the smaller group eventually concludes that they have no chance of using the political process, they then attempt to separate from the group which is oppressing them. And if that too fails, then you get civil war.

    35. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by c6gunner · · Score: 2

      Not to mention that it is those pesky Librul enclaves that are actually producing most of the wealth in that state (something mirrored in pretty much every state with large metropolitan areas.)

      Yes, The Capitol produces more wealth on it's own than all the other 12 districts put together. That's why Tye Capitol hosts The Games, while the other districts provide The Tributes.

    36. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      Brown is basically a moderate. Schwarzenegger was moderate too. Both got elected even though they were far from their party's ideal choice. That's a good thing, and it would be nice if the parties wised up and realized that going moderate will get them far bigger wins than by pandering to the extreme wings.

    37. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 2

      I mean, it all depends on how you split the state up. Which is exactly how gerrymandering works.

      However, the idea of splitting the state actually does benefit all Californians: it gives them better representation in the Senate.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    38. Re: Which billionaire is funding this one? by skam240 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Money is being pulled out of these people's pockets to pay for things they do not support in any way, shape or form."

      The same thing happens in red states to Liberals. Also, just so you understand how reality works, all taxes are this to somebody. I garuntee that you support taxes for some things and I also garuntee there's somebody out there that finds government funding of those things as bad.

      "Taxation without representation?"

      Conservatives in blue states are allowed to participate in their Democratic governance. What are you even getting at?

      You just seem to want to make conservative minorities out as victims while not acknowledging it's the exact same thing for liberal minorities in Red states.

      We have plenty of safe guards in this nation to prevent actual oppression of political minorities and having to pay more in taxes is not oppression. If that were the case I could just as easily make the point that virtually every Red state's failure to generate enough wealth so that they pay into the Fed at the very least what they get back is oppressing everyone in the nation. Aside from Texas, Red state governance has shown itself to be a failure at generating prosperity and they are a net drain on the nation's wealth.

      Personally, I enjoy my Blue state standard of living and recognize that the taxes I pay help create that.

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    39. Re:Which billionaire is funding this one? by Joey+Vegetables · · Score: 2

      I hate none of my neighbors, but I do hate the leftism/socialism/fascism/communism to which very nearly all of them subscribe, both Democrats and to a lesser but still significant degree Republicans. I would be fine with them trying to rule themselves, if they would just leave me and other people who value freedom and rule of law out of it. But they can't. They need our production so we can subsidize the various welfare systems (both left-wing and further-left-wing) by which they buy enough votes to rule over all of us, including the small but productive minority who want no part of it, but have no real voice anymore, presuming they ever did. I do not believe that secession is the answer. Nor violence. But I do believe things need to change, and that they will, because the lies of the left (including the Republican left) are not sustainable, the governments that result are not sustainable, the "societies" that result are not sustainable, and it will take far less than most people realize for it to implode under its own fetid, stinking weight. The USSR did, and it was a much less hateful, violent, and divided society than our own.

  2. Only if Puerto Rico gets statehood, too by jordanjay29 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All of these split-state movements make no sense as long as we're keeping Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands in territory hell. If anyone deserves statehood, it's these places, not some disgruntled counties in a long-established state.

    1. Re:Only if Puerto Rico gets statehood, too by Ziktar · · Score: 5, Informative

      Your memory is off:

      "Those who voted overwhelmingly chose statehood by 97%; turnout, however, was 23%, a historically low figure."

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    2. Re:Only if Puerto Rico gets statehood, too by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Well, I stand corrected.

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    3. Re:Only if Puerto Rico gets statehood, too by jordanjay29 · · Score: 2

      And you'll be paying for my trip? If that sentiment was so significant, surely there's some journalistic articles on the subject? Or research?

    4. Re:Only if Puerto Rico gets statehood, too by AvitarX · · Score: 2

      Revoking statehood isn't the same thing as granting Independence.

      Pretty sure the Hawaiians don't want to be turned back into a colony.

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    5. Re:Only if Puerto Rico gets statehood, too by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Slashdot needs a new mod tag. -1, Wrong.

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  3. Obio0vusly republicans by kfh227 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That state has the most electoral votes and it is always a democratic state. If they split it into 6, they could probably get 2 of those new states to be republican states.

    What horse crap. Can we do that with Florida too?

    1. Re:Obio0vusly republicans by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 3, Interesting

      6 would be gerrymandering as fuck, the only parts in CA which are liberal are the cities, everyone else is just forced along for the ride.

    2. Re:Obio0vusly republicans by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the only parts in CA which are liberal are the cities, everyone else is just forced along for the ride

      So the vast majority of californians are liberal then and the tiny minority remaining are just forced along for the ride?

      I don't why country dwellers think that city folk count for less just because they live closer together. Your value as a person is not proportional ot the amonut of land you own.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  4. "from the states-of-mind dept" my ass by mapkinase · · Score: 2

    More like from a "goofy secessionism dept"

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  5. Bad Name by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't name it "New California," keep the name "California" and make the SF+LA part take the name "Commifornia."

    1. Re:Bad Name by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 2

      They should use Cryptofornia, the vote will pass in a mudslide. The urban area should be named Leaded California, and advertise with little stickers on every product sold in the states - oh wait.

  6. Better idea: Split the US in two countries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Better idea: Split the US in two countries. The Red States and the Blue States. And build a wall between the two.

    It is obvious that conservatives and liberals have two fundamentaly different and irreconcilable ways of seeing the world, two completely different and opposite cultures, and that their union will never be anything else but a neverending compromise between the two that satisfies noone and only breeds frustration, anger and hatred. The civil war never really ended, people just stopped killing each other. The US is simply living under a century old cease fire.

    Let the two countries in one part their own ways amicably. This way the red states will be able to continue electing their beloved Donald Trumps and the blue states their Harvey Weinsteins, and everyone will be happy.

    1. Re:Better idea: Split the US in two countries by psmoot · · Score: 4, Informative

      Better idea: Split the US in two countries. The Red States and the Blue States. And build a wall between the two.

      It's more like Blue Cities and Red Rural. Almost all rural areas vote Republican and all urban areas vote Democratic. It's hard to find states which are entirely red or blue. It would be pretty difficult to wall off all the major cities from their surroundings.

  7. Re:I am 100% In Favor Of This Proposal by jwhyche · · Score: 3

    Electoral votes are the same as the number of representatives in the house. Since most of the power in that area lies in the urban areas that they want to split from, I would expect the electoral shakedown to stay about the same. Urban California would lose some electoral votes to rural California I doubt it would be enough to change the college vote that much.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  8. Re:I am 100% In Favor Of This Proposal by jordanjay29 · · Score: 2

    Electoral votes are the sum of the state's congressional delegation. So Reps + Senators. Which is why all states have at least 3 at minimum (1 guaranteed Rep, 2 Senators).

  9. Let's keep things even by skam240 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If we're going to do this then maybe we should trim the liberal parts of Texas off to create another state as well to keep things even. Otherwise a plan like this is just tilting the federal government to the Right.

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    1. Re:Let's keep things even by cayenne8 · · Score: 2

      If we're going to do this then maybe we should trim the liberal parts of Texas off to create another state as well to keep things even.

      I don't think making the city of Austin into a state is going to change the balance of things very much.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Let's keep things even by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

      If we're going to do this then maybe we should trim the liberal parts of Texas off to create another state as well to keep things even

      In fact, at least at first look, it'd even be easier. By the Constitution, splitting a state takes both the state government and the federal government agreeing on it. But the Texas state government can split the state of Texas into up to five states unilaterally, because it's a clause in the treaty signed with the then sovereign nation of Texas by which Texas joined the union.

    3. Re:Let's keep things even by dryeo · · Score: 2

      That's funny. We're talking about America, a country with a long history of ignoring treaties.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    4. Re:Let's keep things even by stomv · · Score: 4, Informative

      Austin is more populous than five different US states.

    5. Re:Let's keep things even by cayenne8 · · Score: 2

      I think if they were to allow splitting of states, then they should go back and change the senators to be selected by the state governments, rather than just be elected in a general elections, that way, they'd be more answerable to the state and not so much to political contributions they have to spend most of their time pandering to.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  10. Re:I am 100% In Favor Of This Proposal by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Honestly most of California has basically nothing at all in common with the coastal regions they want to separate from

    A state consisting of rural California only would be one of, if not the poorest state in the nation.

    The video shows the area around San Jose as part of the New California, which is, I assume an attempt to gerrymander a new state in which San Jose pays the bills, while the rest of the state sets the policies.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  11. Re:I am 100% In Favor Of This Proposal by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    Is there any actual evidence of support outside the major urban centers in California? Up here in Canada there are no lack of "Western Separatist" movements that dream secession from Canada, because you know, all them Libruls and such. Even in the most right wing provinces; Alberta and Saskatchewan, these are just a small band of kooks who every once in a while somehow manage to get a bit of press. Even Quebec secessionism is pretty much on the back foot, and while I'd never say it's dead, it's pretty clear the Quebecois, who have a helluva better case than a bunch of cranky reactionary arch-conservative wingnuts, seem to have moved on from the whole sovereign Quebec issue.

    So, unless there's some new data showing widespread support for this, it's just another pack of cranks, the number of which could probably gather in the nearest Burger King with room to spare, plotting that which shall never be achieved.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  12. The "movement" is two guys by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Paul Preston and Tom Reed are two cranks who have been at this game since the early 90s. If you go to their "movement's" website you will find that their various "regional committees" are almost completely made up of Paul Preston and Tom Reed. Their previous efforts consisted entirely of raising money.

    The funny part of this story is that Russian bots were pushing the story on Twitter and Facebook that this "New California" officially seceded from the rest of the state. Scamsters selling swag quickly got in on the fun:

    https://twitter.com/GrantJKidn...

    State secession has long been a favorite trope of the Russian bots. I'm sure you remember this story about how they pushed for Texas to secede. Turns out their Facebook page was run by the "Internet Research Agency" run out of St Petersburg, Russia.

    https://extranewsfeed.com/how-...

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/...

    No collusion...

    http://www.businessinsider.com...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  13. I just see another patch problem. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Think of all the 1-star patches that would have to be sent out to update all the US flags and all the problems that would cause. Many companies can't even apply OS patches and most people can't even patch drywall w/o problems. Flags will be messed up for *years*. They probably won't all get patched exactly the same way, and improperly patched flags would look funny and could even fly all wrong. As a sysadmin, and someone who sometime sews, I'm against this.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  14. Re:Backed by Russians I am sure by HiThere · · Score: 2

    Not really. California has had movements to split it into multiple states periodically as far back as I can remember. The supreme court decision that the state senate had to district on the basis of population rather than geography didn't do anything to reduce them, though.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  15. Re:Statehood for Puerto Rico and DC first by amiga3D · · Score: 2

    I never had any interest in it. I could see Puerto Rico as a state but certainly not DC.

  16. Interesting budget quandry... by michael_cain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you dig into the details of the current California budget and look at the cash flows for roads, schools, medical care, and a couple of other things, what you find is a huge amount of money transferred from the coastal areas that would be in one new state to the rural areas that would be in the other. This is not unusual; it happens in a lot of states. (I used to do that kind of study professionally.)

    Split the way it's drawn, the rural need for subsidies would remain largely unchanged, but the burden to provide the money would fall solely on the few cities (San Jose, San Diego) and their suburbs that got stuck in the rural state. Given a choice after they see a draft budget, San Jose and San Diego are going to scream about being included in the rural state.

    1. Re:Interesting budget quandry... by fatwilbur · · Score: 2

      And since cities usually don't have farmland within them, the rural areas usually send back things like food and other resources the cities need on a daily basis. All this talk here makes it sound like rural areas are leeching off of the cities, whereas the true support relationship is probably the other way around. Not many starbucks hipsters I would think know the first thing about how to get milk for their latte.

    2. Re:Interesting budget quandry... by michael_cain · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Then let the rural areas demand higher prices for their products, and see how far they get. (Note: too many family farms have sold out to large corporate interests; it won't work.)

      Everyone sells their products. Everyone pays their property and sales and income taxes. The state collects a pile of cash and distributes it. In a substantial majority of cases, the result of formulas is that suburban areas send money to the rural areas (urban areas too, but less so).

      A few years ago Colorado had a 51st State movement. I had an opportunity to interview one of the principle movers. I pointed out that when they cut themselves off from the urban/suburban areas, they would not be able to afford to have a state university, would have to let hundreds/thousands of miles of paved rural roads revert to gravel, and leave tens of thousands of people without health insurance. You know what he told me? "Those are features, not bugs."

  17. There's historical precedent for splitting a state by hey! · · Score: 4, Informative

    In 1819 the Massachusetts legislature voted to enable Maine to become an independent state. However is this would have changed the balance in the Senate between slave and free states, Congress wouldn't admit Maine without admitting an additional slave state, which is what you probably learned in school was called the "Missouri Compromise".

    However ... since Republicans currently control Congress, a different limitation comes into play, From Article IV Section 3 Clause 1:

    New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

    Since California is an overwhelmingly Democratic state, it's highly unlikely that the legislature will consent to increasing Republican power in the US Senate.

    TL;DR: It can be done, but it won't happen unless another, Democratic-leaning state is admitted (e.g. Puerto Rico).

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  18. Re:No chance, as long as... by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 2

    No.
    The citizens voted to join into the state, they are as bound to it as the states are to the union.
    the Civil War settled that unilateral withdrawal is grounds for war.

  19. Children's ice cream by Hetero · · Score: 2

    Ripper: Mandrake?
    Mandrake: Yes, Jack?
    Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
    Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have, Jack.
    Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
    Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes.
    Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
    Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, uhm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack.
    Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this Earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that 70 percent of you is water?
    Mandrake: Good Lord!
    Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
    Mandrake: Yes. (he begins to chuckle nervously)
    Ripper: Are you beginning to understand?
    Mandrake: Yes. (more laughter)
    Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rainwater, and only pure-grain alcohol?
    Mandrake: Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
    Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water?
    Mandrake: Uh? Yes, I-I have heard of that, Jack, yes. Yes.
    Ripper: Well, do you know what it is?
    Mandrake: No, no I don't know what it is, no.
    Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?

    (Dr. Strangelove, 1964)

  20. Re: No chance, as long as... by bradley13 · · Score: 2

    The US Civil War is an excellent example of why secession should be allowed. What a cock up that was. Do remember, for example, that Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, that his famous proclamation only proclaimed Confederate slaves free (even though there definitely were Union slaves), etc..

    Today, it's places like Catalonia and Scotland. Why should Spain have a say, if Catalonia doesn't want to be Spanish any longer?

    --
    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
  21. 3 Months Ago It Was Going To Be 3 States by careysub · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The second right-wing billionaire plan in three months to gerrymander the entire state of California. But who can blame the right? Gerrymandering is the one thing they know, and can do well. Cracking and packing is a right-wing way of life.

    Last time it was an attempt to create two new right-wing states. Both schemes use the same strategy of packing the majority of the population of California into one nearly completely blue state, creating one (or two) slightly red majority states, but with a wealthy deep blue urban center captured at its edge like a hostage to pay the bills.

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  22. Re: No chance, as long as... by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

    Habeas corpus was suspended(or rather didn't exist) for 4 million black southerns through the institution of slavery.

    A clarification I'd like to make is that Lincoln's primary goal was reunification of the Union, by any means necessary. That includes: a war with the South, as well as emancipation of some slaves, all slaves or none of them. Clearly from Lincoln's own statements and letters, human rights was not something Lincoln was looking to solve on his own. It wasn't even the primary thought on his mind.

    The saner thing would have been to dissolve slavery after much discourse and peaceful persuasion and acceptance on all sides. But the political climate of 19th century America has too many factions that dug themselves into a position they could not extricate themselves from without being disowned by their own faction.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  23. Re:The 2 California's.. by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

    The rural half should keep Sacramento too. We'd have a rich half and a half that was like Nevada but with a significant agriculture industry (about 12% of the US's ag revenue). I'd be curious to see if the coast would still be so rich if not supported by the top agricultural state in the nation. (California is #1 at $46B, Iowa is #2 at $26B)

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  24. One word: water by walterbyrd · · Score: 2

    By nature, San Fernando valley is a desert. It has been turned into a productive agricultural area by:

    1) taping into underground aquifers (which are running dry)

    and

    2) taping into water supplies from northern California, and from other states.

    If CA became it's own country, or if northern CA split from southern CA, the agreements that allow all of this water to San Fernando, might have to be renegotiated. And it is doubtful that S. CA would get the favourable terms they got a century ago.

    San Fernando could find itself desperately short of water - sooner rather than later.

  25. You actually went too far by aepervius · · Score: 3, Informative

    "While we have far more protections for small voter blocks" I would argue with the electoral college, that you went a step too far, and that at least for the current set up of presidential election, you have a tyranny of the minority. In most place of the world where a president is decided by election , 1 person is 1 vote. But with your electoral college, this is not true and small state people count for more than big state. In fact I can't think of any other democracy where that happens. The result is actually that the minority can decide election against popular vote. And that's royally screwed from a democratic point of view IMO.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  26. Re:There's historical precedent for splitting a st by Joe+Branya · · Score: 2

    During the civil war West Virginia was removed from Virginia and made a separate state. The Constitution didn't matter. Lincoln could either save constitutional government or the union and he choose to save the union. Technically, the suspension of civil rights during the civil war was based on marshall law during an insurrection. That has never been revoked.

    Having said "the southern states are still in the union" the federal government was faced with a problem. The 1866 election, based on the 1864 election results, with the southern states now voting, would have led to a Democratic victory. That would have overturned the verdict of the bloodiest war in our nation's history. The Republicans, understandably were not going to let that happen. Thus what we usually call "reconstruction" which was only ended when the 1980 census limited the likelyhood of a Democratic victory. The north with the aid of huge immigrant flows, had now won the war, and got to write the history books.

    In any case, West Virginia was removed from Virginia without the concurrence of the state of Virginia in direct violation of the constitution but the post civil war era was also the post constitutional era.

  27. Re:Doing it by Whorhay · · Score: 2

    That's what the House is for. The Senate, with every state regardless of all other factors getting two votes, is meant as a check against a tyrannical majority. It'd be nice to see the House get back to 1 representative per 30,000 citizens. That way we'd have 10,000+ congress critters in the house, and corporations would have to spend a lot more money to buy their votes.