Posted on 07/02/2011 6:47:55 PM PDT by CharlyFord
RIVERSIDE (CBS) — Is the state of California about to go “South”?
Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone apparently thinks so, after proposing that the county lead a campaign for as many as 13 Southern California counties to secede from the state.
Stone said in a statement late Thursday that Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties should form the new state of South California.
The creation of the new state would allow officials to focus on securing borders, balancing budgets, improving schools and creating a vibrant economy, he said.
“Our taxes are too high, our schools don’t educate our children well enough, unions and other special interests have more clout in the Legislature than the general public,” Stone said in his statement.
I’ve said many times that the albatross would be lifted from our necks if we could somehow boot San Fran, LA, and San Jose out of the Union.
I am also hoping same.
This I would LOVE to see happen. Cali needs to be split. Reduce the power of LA/Frisco libs and the problem practically solves itself.
Bet the idea would have the support of every red state in congress too.
I have proposed that several states split for years. Western Pennsylvania should secede from Philadelphia and that area, Eastern Washington should secede from Seattle/Tacoma, Eastern Oregon from Portland, and several other states dominated by a large city full of liberals and unions.
Be better if the blue states and red states went their separate ways.
Florida, too. Northern Florida is very different from South Florida. And eastern NC is very different from WNC.
Is it time to cue the Ken Burns Civil War music?
If this happens, I’d seriously considering moving back to SoCal.
http://www.supjeffstone.org/staff/jeffstone.asp
The left will prove how indispensable conservatives are to their very existence by ridiculing and fighting this.
Sorry, I hope my legal OCD doesn't put a damper on things!
California's largest economic product is agriculture, and the nine produce only part of the wine production and little else.
In San Bernardino County, everything north of the Cajon Pass
into the new state it’s red to light red and the area to the south is a liberal solid blue POS.
I don’t know, ever heard of West Virginia?
Counties can secede from a State, but it's very difficult (see Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1).
Jeff Stone is a smarmy politician with a history.
Too bad it would never happen I for one would move to San Diego in a heart beat. I bet big business would want to return to Cal (souther Cal).
Yea! That's something like what I was thinking. Throw in D.C., New York City, the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut and we might be able to work out a deal.
I'm thinking Arizona would throw in Pima County.
Google Jeff Stone and read up on him before you starting praising him.
Start with the county car he let his volunteer sister use.
You have a point, though West Virginia succeeded from a Confederate State that was, at that time, not part of the Union. I suppose it is possible for a State to fracture and agree to become two States, but not for counties to do so.
Good idea. If they succeed in ceceding, some of the other counties will join them—Shasta and Siskiyou Counties, for example. Then they can give the rest of the State to Mexico—if Mexico will take it, which is doubtful—or to China—or, more appropriately, to North Korea. Or they can just shove it into the ocean.
You might add New York City out of New York State. Then take a look at Baltimore in Maryland.
They are all worthy of expulsion. But my philosophy is do it by booting out the least. I think SF, LA and San Jose would be enough. If the GOP could control CA, that would do it.
Who cares about him?
It’s his idea I like.
It’s a sound one.
You have a point, though West Virginia succeeded from a Confederate State that was, at that time, not part of the Union. I suppose it is possible for a State to fracture and agree to become two States, but not for counties to do so without the consent of the State.
That’s what I was eluding to in my other post, the State legislature would have to agree to split, not the counties splitting without the consent of the State. Counties don’t exist without the action of the state.
Btw, thanks to Smarmy Jeff Stone activity with his sister..someone introduced a bill that was passed and signed into law.
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/taxonomy/term/5152
August 17, 2010 (Sacramento) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed Assembly bill 1399 into law. The measure, authored by Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon), prohibits local elected officials from allowing family members to use publicly owned vehicles or credit cards.
You should care about him..and his motivation behind this endeavor.
And who he favors in his dealings........
Yes, you should care.
If this happens I’ll stay with my family here in So Cal.
If not next year it’s off to AZ or Tejas we go.
I was born in Sacramento and and lived here all my 50+ years.
Calif in its present configuartion cannot be fixed.
Put the Capitol in Fresno.
There's lots more and none of them are PC. I'd get in trouble.
The Eastern Shore of MD has long been separatist.
What does Smarmy Jeff Stone do with his slush fund...???
Why of course his sister benefits..
http://www.pe.com/columns/danbernstein/stories/PE_News_Local_N_dan19.48367ec.html
OHHH I like that idea. We could cut off the Hetch Hetchy water and all of the power to LA and SF. Then we would see the liberal babies start to cry.
Two other examples are Vermont being allowed by the New York state government to separate and form its own state, and Massachusetts allowing the Maine district to separate and form the State of Maine.
We have the Colorado water as well.
Not to mention the food!
It's interesting to note, therefore, that the existence of WEST Virginia is a myth. I suggest you hustle to Charleston and let them know, at once...
Go for it! Except you’ll need to build a damn big fence to keep all the Mexicans out - the ones who live in L.A. Maybe y’all can just build a long bridge from the Mexican border to the L.A. Coliseum and just let them all pass through.
I might point out that “succeeding” and “being allowed to form a separate state” are two wholly different things. One succeeds on your own, when you must ask a different power to let you go it isn’t succession. Compare both of your examples to the Southern State’s succeeding from the Union. They didn’t ask the Union’s permission, they exerted sovereign authority and succeeded. So I appreciate all the West Virginia and Vermont examples but NEITHER of those are a succession.
As I pointed out in the other post: West Virginia did not succeed from a State. They reacted to the confederate state of Virginia and were constitutionally allowed to separate from the Union exile government of Virginia. That isn’t succession. Succession is where a sovereign government removes itself from a union, it requires no outside authority or permission.
And yes I realize I can’t spell Secede! :-)
The Confederacy was never officially recognized, so legally, it didn't exist. A particularly clever lawyer, one Benjamin Butler, thus saw the loophole, and declared that any slaves "captured" from the Confederate states could be called "contraband," since their labor was of value, and would belong to the Federal government, who could free them at will.
Is there a prohibition clause in the California constitution?
As an aside, one newspaper editor said that "South Carolina is too small to be a country, and too large to be an insane asylum." I suspect these 12 counties are in the same position.
This kind of sophistry is what keeps the legal profession in business.
Periodically, there has been talk from California liberals about dividing into North California and South California to create two liberal states. They simmer about only having two senators for the nation’s most populous state.
Don’t know the likelihood of any of this.
From Marin county south, those coastal counties is where most of the elite liberal wackos dwell. Once separated, the economic contrast between those counties and the rest of the state would resemble east and west Germany, meaning the coastal counties would decline to poverty. The tax base in those counties are negatively disproportionate to their public economic out lay (legislated obligations).
Jeff Stone fined 16,000 ..blames it on the accountant..someone else isnt getting off so lightly.
Stone also didnt disclose a donation from the voice of Bart Simpson.- who is a Scientologist.
The interest in secession is understandable. First of all, with about 40 million people, California is a very large state. In terms of population, it is about twice the size as the next largest state. Secondly, the state is dominated, but not completely, by one political party, leaving the members of the other party disaffected. And, third, the disaffected citizen of the states live in identifiable regions of the state, such as the proposed “South California.”
The proposal, however, addresses only the concerns of the disaffected citizens of the southern part of the state. A comprehensive proposal would seek to serve the interests of all the citizens of the state. A logical way to do this would be to split three states, not one, from the present state.
The first, which could be named South California, would include the counties to the south and west of Los Angeles (Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties) (these are not exactly the ones included in Jeff Stone’s proposal).
The second would be the single county of Los Angeles.
The third would be the counties comprising the metropolitan area of San Francisco (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma).
And, California, still with its capital at Sacramento, would comprise the remaining counties.
The four states would range in population from 8 to 11 million people, making each of them comparable in size to the largest states excepting Texas and Florida. Two of the states (California and South California) would have a mix of urban and rural areas, as most states have. Two would be a new type of state (for the U.S.): metropolitan areas that double as states. (Other federal republics of the world feature metropolitan areas as states.)
In terms of politics, the states of California and South California would be competitive as between Republicans and Democrats. The states of Los Angeles and San Francisco would be so heavily Democratic that it is possible that the two main parties of these states would be the Democrats and a left-wing party such as the Greens.
The important thing, politically, is that there would only be a relatively small number of citizens who would be disaffected by the political choices available to them. Furthermore, within each state, politicians will have to be more pragmatic since the prospect of being subsidized by a larger entity will no longer exist.
Now, here’s the kicker: Under the U.S. Constitution, new states can be formed out of old only on the petition of the legislature of the old state and the acceptance of the U.S. Congress. While I doubt that the legislature of California would ever agree to a dismemberment of the state, the people of California can act directly as the legislature through a citizens initiative.
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