California: A State Divided

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Sidney Poulsen, Staff Writer

Within the last month, California has yet again made another effort to split its state in two; one including the major coastal cities and the other including rural land areas. “New California” was the name given for this new fresh proposal which include the rural areas of California, however, like in times past, it is believed to not receive very much attention.

California, being the most populous state in the U.S. , and the third largest land wise, has had over 200 proposals to form separate states since joining the U.S. in 1850. Since then, no proposal has been able to meet all the requirements such as pass the States Senate, State Assembly, receive enough California voters, and pass the United States Congress to create these new states.

The most recent proposal, before “New California”, was submitted to the California Attorney General by Tim Draper back in 2013. Draper submitted his idea of “Six Californias” which would divide California into six states. After being passed by Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, the proposal was then allowed to begin getting signatures to qualify for the November 2016 ballot. Despite receiving enough signatures, the ballot fell short due to only two-thirds of the signatures being valid.

In a 2016-2017 poll for California residents, one-third voted to support a peaceful succession from the United States. With this large increase in votes, California may be see some changes in the near future.

Despite the growing fear of losing California as a whole, founders Robert Preston and Tom Reed believe differently. In their own Declaration of Independence, they say that California is ‘ungovernable’ due to its extremely high taxes. The ‘declaration’ also suggested that giving California its freedom and Independence with ‘full power to establish and maintain law and order’ will endorse general prosperity.

The last time a state separation occurred was during the Civil War when Virginia split and created West Virginia. The question is, would the United States be able to handle another separation but of its most populous state?

 

For more information, read the article from We Are Change at this site:

https://wearechange.org/six-californias-plan-may-make-2016-ballot/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wrc+%28We+Are+Change%29&doing_wp_cron=1516851266.3793399333953857421875