The rise of Donald Trump to power has certainly exacerbated pre-existing tensions across the United States, with the president bringing an array of virulent white supremacist or otherwise bigoted interests with him out into the spotlight.
Although the state is varied in its makeup like any other member of the Union, the state of California remains somewhere that, in the face of this development, the majority is generally opposed to politics as peddled by those like Donald Trump.
A progressive campaign to get a measure on the ballot asking California voters if they want to secede from the rest of the United States has now been approved by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to begin collecting signatures as a part of their efforts. The campaigners need to get almost 366,000 signatures of registered voters by mid-October of this year in order to get on the 2020 ballot; if the measure makes it on the ballot and then passes, a special vote will be held in 2021 asking California voters if they want to secede from the union.
Describing his side’s stance, “Yes California” leader Marcus Ruiz Evans commented:
‘Calexit is left — we are progressive, and that’s why we don’t like Trump. But there are some very hardcore Republican concepts to Calexit, including the group saying don’t waste our tax money.’
So will the measure make it on the ballot, and will California voters decide to go through with the Calexit campaigners’ plans?
Although it’s a possibility, it’s not glaringly likely.
As a base to consider, a poll released just last year found that Californians opposed the idea of splitting up their state in any capacity by more than two-to-one.
Finance lecturer at San Diego State University Seth Kaplowitz described the situation by saying to CNBC:
‘There’ll be a lot of notoriety, there will be a lot of publicity but I think in practical terms it’s going to fizzle out. It would be ridiculous to secede from the union. The only person who would probably be happy about that is probably Donald Trump.’
Indeed; it’s not like the Calexit campaigners are the first to come up with the idea of splitting the state from the rest of the country; others have as well over the years for different reasons.
For instance, billionaire Tim Draper announced just recently that he had collected some 600,000 signatures in support of his plan to break up California into three separate states. Draper has made the focus of his campaign combating the supposed mess and overreach of the California state government as it stands at present.
In addition, there is a separate plan out there at present for rural, more conservative counties to split from the rest of the state and become the 51st member of the Union.
All of these plans are proceeding in the face of what’s now a long simmering feud between the state of California and the Trump administration. As just one example of that feud, the Trump administration brought a lawsuit against California earlier this year over their policies meant to protect undocumented immigrants.
That lawsuit has since been joined by the Orange County, California, government, and it comes alongside other continued efforts from the Trump administration to undercut the position of the state.
Featured Image via Alex Wong/Getty Images
