There’s been a lot of talk lately about California (where yr. obdt. temporarily hangs his hat) leaving the Union, presumably over disgust with the election of President Trump. I’ll talk about why that won’t happen in another day or so, but here’s a more likely idea – break California into two states. No, not along north-south lines; this idea is better. Excerpt:
Lots of people have their favorite maps for new states. For decades, the natural dividing line ran due east from the coast, just north of Bakersfield; it emphasized the differences between northern and southern California. My favorite design was for three states: one centered on Los Angeles, one centered on San Francisco, and everyone else in a third state. More recently, in 2009, then GOP assemblyman Bill Maze proposed creating two states: a Coastal California state and an Inland California state. The big population centers of San Francisco and Los Angeles would be in the first, but the inland state would include some large coastal counties such as Orange (home of Disneyland) and San Diego.
The new states would be far more in sync on policy. The coastal state would emphasize environmental values, the “next big thing” economy of Silicon Valley, and the multicultural diversity of L.A. The inland state would have vast water resources, abundant agricultural lands, and its own cutting-edge facilities in sectors ranging from aerospace to data processing.
It’s not a bad idea.
Unlike the ill-advised CalExit idea, this plan involves no squabbles over Federal lands in the state. It divides California along political lines rather than geographical lines; it would indeed add two more Senators to that exalted upper chamber, the present state’s Electoral College votes as well as their House districts would be divided up. The Central Valley’s farmers would be free of the strangling regulations favored by the wealthy coastal elites, and those elites would be free to pursue their leftward policies without a lot of bitching from the rest of the state.
There’s one big problem – how would California’s endless financial problems be divided?
