An idea whose time has come
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/11/jerry-brown-california-profile-215812
Independent Republic of California
Sat, 2017-11-11 17:08
#1
Independent Republic of California
Sat, 2017-11-11 17:38
#2
Sat, 2017-11-11 19:22
#3
Again with the temptation to see American states as discrete politically coherent entities. California's not just the Bay Area and downtown LA; Orange County and Bakersfield are as Trumpian as West Virginia (in fact, Orange County has [i]three[/i] cities in the list of the 25 most conservative in America).
Sorry, Canadians. The USA can't conveniently be carved up into Good Blue America and Bad Red America. Gotta deal with the whole country as-is.
Sat, 2017-11-11 19:38
#4
I don’t see it happening although 62% of Californians did not vote for Trump which is not far off 2/3s of the state
But there are some interesting candidates waiting in the wings when Brown calls it quits
Sun, 2017-11-12 00:09
#5
cco said:
Sorry, Canadians. The USA can't conveniently be carved up into Good Blue America and Bad Red America. Gotta deal with the whole country as-is.
The whole blue/red state thing is a result of the way Electoral College votes are allocated. In most states, Electoral College votes are 'winner take all', so while the state's population may be 51% red, and 49% blue, they look fully red on an electoral map.
Perhaps some day they'll change and award Electoral College votes on a percentage basis, in which case we'll see a lot more purple? (I'm not sure what colour results from a mix of red and blue. Oh, just checked. Yes, purple it is.)
Sun, 2017-11-12 00:57
#6
Pogo
A similarity between California and Catalonia (near Spain) is that both are big financial contributors to the larger state. There is some logic (like Alberta's Western Seperatists) for them to take their marbles and leave the relatively impoverished rest to fend for themselves.