An article in yesterdays Fresno Bee about an ex-valley lawmaker wanting to split the state in two got me thinking if it would be possible. The concept is to Downsize California and take the coastal counties from Los Angles to Marin and make them a separate state from the rest. This idea has been proposed before in a few different manners, but this one focuses to separate the agriculture and conservative crowd of the central valley from the liberal ones along the coast.
I understand where they are coming from. California is in dire need of some assistance and guidance. Our local, state, and national economies are in turmoil right now and we have a government in place that cannot seem to make any decisions. Many people are just choosing to pack up and leave the state. Governator, we have a problem.
My issue is that many of the things that I like about California would be taking away. The beauty of California is its diversity. We have diverse landscapes from the coast to the mountains, and everywhere in between. We have diverse people living throughout the state with many different cultures and ideas. We are also a powerful economy that produces positive products for the world including technology, entertainment, agriculture, and wine. All of these are benefits for California, and make the state a great place to live, work, and play.
Personally, I think the concept should not be to divide the state, but to unify it. Give us a positive direction that can bring the state together. Stop wasting money and time to divide our forces, but find ways to use the power of California to make the state stronger. The problem with the Downsize California Proposal is that they are trying to protect the agriculture needs of the state and a quote on their website sums it up.
“We cannot allow agriculturally uneducated city dwellers to dictate farm policies.”
The issue is that those areas they are trying to protect include diverse and thriving cities and city dwellers that need attention too. They are not solving the problem, but just moving it somewhere else. There are many issues that California needs to tackle right now including the economy, energy, education, environmental, and immigration. I am not saying I have an answer to any of these ongoing issues, but dividing California is not moving in the right direction.
Let’s hear what you think in the comments below.
I think seperating the state is a great idea. I really don’t see what could be done at this point to unify California. The entire purpose for having seperate states in the union was to allow for the smaller states to govern over a smaller group of people specific to an area. The wants and needs of someone in North Dakota will vary drastically from the needs of someone in Louisiana. This same fact holds true for the different areas of CA. There are two seperate groups of people from different areas of the state that have different needs and agendas. There is no way to unify these regions with the differing ideals from the people in the two different areas.
It would be very interesting to see what direction both states would take if the split did happen. I have a pretty good idea about which economy would be in better shape anyway 🙂 Sorry surfers!
Hey Nick and Jonny!
I’ll chime in from another perspective countering the prudence of that ex-valley lawmaker. According to this review of data from the legislative analysts office, the Central Valley receives an entirely disproportionate amount of state funds for services in relation to its actual tax base. If the state was actually split up, (assuming of course there are no counterbalancing income benefits or other positives to the rest of the state for those potentially under contributing counties)– then it would be a net loss of income/services to those areas and that new state would in no doubt have to raise taxes to support the same level of baseline services (if nothing is or can be reasonably cut out).
As to non-governance related ideals and values, I believe the actual differences in the areas are pretty negligible. Though there may be some differences on certain social issues, I think at the core people want pretty much the same thing that I do— for the Athletics to win all the time, for Al Davis to die, and to maybe see someone so uber hot and out of your league on a daily basis that your stomach flutters. You know…the important stuff….or safety, a good job, and a hot wife.
On the governance front, I don’t find the traditional and true conservative principles of limited government, fiscal prudence, equality under law, personal liberty, patriotism, realism abroad to be so necessarily abhorrent that I cannot interact, tolerate, or appreciate the people who proffer those views or even those who attempt to present them in some watered down or superficial manner.
Ultimately, if the basic inability to tolerate divergent views (when you’re the minority population) is the gold standard justifying separation, this would create a very slippery slope to a never ender process of divergent populations essentially taking their ball and going home…but instead of going home…they make their own country..or their own state. However, this seems like a pretty anarchic proposition but there are places that have successfully attempted homogenized one-party /common ideals…its called China.
We can shoot the shit over beers when I come down next month.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/06/MNGS15O7NI.DTL
http://www.californiahealthline.org/Articles/2009/2/6/California-Democrats-Fault-Republicans-for-Budget-Stance.aspx