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.
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.
Parasites need hosts.
Same here. They tried to do the same in WA state when the cascade mountains-side counties had enough of the liberal Seattle enclave dictating WA state politics. Alas, the libs knew how to counter-act and amounted to nothing.
Some one needs to be pushing this.
Any effort to break the total domination by only one party of our culture, economy , educational system is to be applauded.
2 at the minimum , is the only way to allow for political competition which would fix at least parts California.
Some years ago, Yuma County in Arizona separated into two counties. It is now Yuma County and La Paz county
When the debt ceiling is finally reached with no agreement - and the Fed Gubment starts to really default - the ensuing chaos will make a few cali counties seceding look like a
church social.
Let the anarchy begin.
I’d be happy if CA just split the electoral votes like Maine or Nebraska.
You would be surprised; we have Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and then the rest of PA as we say. In between, you would think you are in the deep south in many places.
I can see why this guy feels the way he does.
Splitting up California would be one of the best ideas to come down the pike in many years. Removing all of that liberal weight from one state’s Congressional delegation would ease up the pressures California can bring to bear on the other 49 states. It would go a long way toward lessening the tyranny of the two left coasts over the rest of the country.
West Virginia split from Virginia proper because of the Civil War. They had Union sentiments.
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