On election day, the Los Angeles Times notes, voters in the Golden State opted to tighten gun control, extend taxes on the rich, increase their already high cigarette taxes, legalize marijuana, and boost multilingual education. Voters in California also overwhelmingly chose Hillary Clinton. The state’s policies will be in serious conflict with the federal policies proposed by Trump.
For this reason, it is not difficult to see why the “Yes California Independence Campaign” is gaining traction. Democratic Governor Jerry Brown stated during the election season that a Trump win would require them to “build a wall around California.”
“Yes California is the nonviolent campaign to establish the country of California using any and all legal and constitutional means to do so,” the Yes California website states. “We advocate for peaceful secession from the United States by use of an independence referendum to establish a mandate, followed by a nationwide campaign to advocate in support of a constitutional exit from the Union.”
The organization claims that they are “subsidizing other states to our own detriment.”
“Although charity is part of our culture, when you consider that California’s infrastructure is falling apart, our public schools are ranked among the worst in the entire country, we have the highest number of homeless persons living without shelter and other basic necessities, poverty rates remain high, income inequality continues to expand, and we must often borrow money from the future to provide services for today, now is not the time for charity,” Yes California states.
The group does not mention that the state is over $400 billion in debt.
We reached out to Yes California for comment, specifically about what they would do for water given the state’s tendency for droughts, but they did not respond by time of publishing.
