Currently California liberals are enjoying fantasizing about their state seceding from the Union — a process labeled “CalExit.” Legally it’s a silly idea. Though technically possible, it will never happen, for Constitutional and political reasons. But putting reality aside, is it a good idea? Oddly enough, I think it is.
Some of my conservative friends are unhappy about the proposal, even though they understand that ultimately it’s going nowhere. My frequent ally, attorney Kevin Dayton, presented his cogent arguments against allowing the CalExit proponents to even start circulating signatures for an official CA CalExit ballot proposition — a prop for what is surely a hair-brained, illegal idea. He posits a set of circumstances where the idea might actually come to pass.
But I disagree. I like the idea of a liberal CalExit — even though ultimately it would cause my family to reluctantly say good-bye to the Golden State. Bear with me (so to speak).
Imagine, if you will, Donald Trump proposing interning all the liberals in the nation in one big compound a la the U.S. policy regarding Japanese descendants in WWII. Trump would deny these denizens the right to vote on anything but matters within the camp. Upon hearing this idea, those U.S. progressives (easily offended souls — many of whom would not survive their resulting heart attacks) would be apoplectic — and for good reason.
But that progressive internment camp is EXACTLY what CalExit progressives are proposing to do to themselves. CalExit would establish a VOLUNTARY internment camp that likely would draw liberals from across the nation like looters to a CVS store — progressives fleeing America. This is an opportunity for an unforced, humane, nonviolent “ethnic cleansing” of a sort — except that only one’s political viewpoint rather than one’s race or religion would be the determining factor. And arguably one’s degree of economic illiteracy.
Such a voluntary separation of adversaries into different countries is not without precedent. Consider the separation of the Hindus and Muslims in India — the Muslims mostly emigrating to Pakistan. While our nation’s internal level of political violence doesn’t even begin to compare with the horrors of that bloody religious warfare, it does suggest a relatively peaceful solution to what is becoming an intractable American problem.
Even if ONLY California progressives split off in this new nation and no one fled the state, it would swing the national vote to conservative. Hillary’s 2.9 million national popular vote margin was dependent on its 4.27 million vote margin of victory in California.
But the effect of CalExit would be far, FAR larger. Like the experience in India where Hindus fled Pakistan to friendly India, many conservatives and libertarians would flee California to more sane havens in the other states. But more important would be the mass migration of clueless liberals to their Left Coast workers’ paradise. The only pockets of liberal group-thought remaining in America would be found on our college campuses (most insular professors would never give up their tenure and easy jobs), but over time that liberal domination of higher education can be weakened using TRUE diversity hiring practices.
Just imagine: Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Barbara Streisand, Barry Sanders, the Clintons, George Soros, the Dixie Chicks, Oprah Winfrey, our Hollywood elitists, legions of our Fourth Estate — all emigrating to the new nation of California. And let’s not forget Barack and Michelle Obama departing the U.S. — plus millions and millions of welfare recipients heading west to the progressives’ honeypot.
I can live with all that. Boy, can I ever!
I would look forward to the extravaganza upon the official formation of this new nation, an event that would parallel the gala launching of the Titanic. I do enjoy fireworks and fanfare! Watching the USS Income Equality sail away over the horizon would be a bittersweet experience.
Admittedly there is a down side — for us non-progressive Californians. We don’t want to leave this lovely state. But to stay in this proposed socialist nation would be madness — and eventually maybe deadly. Our wealth would be incrementally confiscated, our lives micromanaged (even more than now) and we’d be the object of scorn and envy of our fellow countrymen. It would be a society obsessed with robbing the have’s for the benefit of the have not’s. Until there were no more have’s to rob — and too many have not’s to provide for.
My family does not want to leave. But we would if CalExit came to pass. And speaking personally, it would be worth this sacrifice to rid my country of its Big Government aficionados.
Ideally it would be better if the liberals choose some OTHER state — a less desirable state — to sail away in to their never-never land. Oregon comes to mind. Or Washington state. Better yet, Montana, which has a surprisingly high tax mentality.
But that’s just wistful thinking. Liberals have always felt that California was their Nirvana, so California it must be.
I have liberal friends. I’ve stopped trying to convince them of the folly of their reasoning — we tacitly agree not to discuss political matters. “Banal” is the word I would apply to many of our resulting conversations.
I would be sad to see them sequester themselves in a society which eventually will eat itself up — degenerating into another Venezuela (also once a prosperous country). But I maintain that we limited government advocates must be firm. I’m not a big fan of building walls along borders, but we’d need one separating the nation of California from the United States.
Like Muslim refugees, post-split California liberals seeking reentry to America should be considered a danger to our country. Their poisonous ideas and voting patterns would only harm America and liberty itself. Only after an exhaustive vetting process that confirmed that their disillusion with collectivism is complete (and real) should any of them be allowed to immigrate back to the U.S. If then.
Bottom line: I’ll be voting for CalExit. Bring it! Freedom has a cost, and I’m willing to pay it.