Calexit Backers Get Go Ahead to Collect Signatures for Ballot Initiative

Yesterday, state Attorney General Xavier Bacerra issued an official ballot title and measure summary. “Yes California” now can begin gathering the more than 585,000 signatures needed to qualify for the 2018 ballot.

The initiative would form a commission to recommend avenues for California to pursue its independence and delete part of the state constitution that says it is an inseparable part of the U.S. The measure would also instruct the governor and California congressional delegation to negotiate more autonomy for the state.”

This initiative represents the first step in the secession process. If the measure succeeds with a majority of voters, the commission would have the unenviable task of deciding a course that would satisfy the majority of citizens.

Ironically, in the past there’s been a secession movement in North California to secede from the more central and southern parts of the state. It appears there are a lot of citizens generally unhappy with the current state of affairs in California.

Californians unhappy with the election of Donald Trump as president are part of the Calexit movement. One part of the group went to the absurd step of opening an “embassy” in Moscow, noting that California should be a nation, not a state. Could this be a sign of collusion? Or just plain silliness.

Recent droughts worsened by inept state water policies and the huge taxpayer boondoggle represented by the high-speed railroad project in the middle of the state should give residents pause before turning more power over to politicians in Sacramento and turning their backs on the United States.

Yes California believes its ballot measure will attract those who already see California as a nation unto itself, with a distinct culture that doesn’t fit with the rest of America.

Some political observers regard states as the laboratories for democracy and innovative political ideas. They should recall that laboratories also can be havens for mad scientists who might wreak havoc on society.

A new poll reveals that a record number of Californians now support succession:

The election of Republican businessman Donald Trump as president of the United States has some Californians dreaming – of their own country.

One in every three California residents supports the most populous U.S. state’s peaceful withdrawal from the union, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, many of them Democrats strongly opposed to Trump’s ascension to the country’s highest office.

The 32 percent support rate is sharply higher than the last time the poll asked Californians about secession, in 2014, when one-in-five or 20 percent favored it around the time Scotland held its independence referendum and voted to remain in the United Kingdom.

California also far surpasses the national average favoring secession, which stood at 22 percent, down from 24 percent in 2014.

Source: Sacramento Bee, Reuters

Image: Zerohedge