Calexit – Seismic Silliness

Lately in the news we’ve read several stories about California wanting to secede from the United States. The yescalifornia.org website sums it up this way – “In our view, the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children.” They also do a size comparison (Ha! I guess size does matter) of California with other countries – “As the sixth largest economy in the world, California is more economically powerful than France and has a population larger than Poland. Point by point, California compares and competes with countries, not just the 49 other states.”

They want to be a separate country. It’s ridiculous, we know. But since a recent poll revealed that fully a third of California’s population favor secession, and they’ve advanced this idea to the point of now collecting signatures for a ballot referendum, we had fun discussing this. Below are some of the ways that reality would intrude upon Californians if succession were to actually happen. This is just the tip of the iceberg, so feel free to add to the list in the comment section. All in good fun.

1. Flag and Anthem – As a new country, California would have to quickly establish their identity. If for no other reason, they need to have a flag to raise and a song to play at the next Olympics. We had a lot of fun imagining what a flag for the country of California would look like
2. Sports Teams – Once they were no longer American teams, what would become of the Lakers, 49’ers, Raiders, Kings, Chargers, Padres, Giants, Dodgers, Clippers, Warriors, A’s, Angels – and that’s just 3 sports! While Hockey and Baseball have included teams from other countries for a long time (actually, only Canada), the NFL and NBA haven’t crossed that Rubicon yet. Maybe this would be the trigger.
3. Hollywood – All the movies made in Hollywood would by definition become “foreign films” from the perspective of those of us in the 49 United States. How would the Oscars be awarded? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bills itself as “… the world’s preeminent movie related organization”. Since their headquarters is in the country of California and not the US, would their perspective be that a movie made in the US is a foreign film but one made in the nation of California is not?
4. Status as an Ally – One would think that as a separate country, California would naturally be a close ally to the US. Not necessarily. Remember, the whole reason for California wanting to secede is that they don’t particularly like the US anymore. That acrimony would only increase during all the campaigning that would be necessary to get the votes required for them to pull this off. It’s quite likely that Britain would remain our closest ally, and California would be further on down the list.
5. Money – Given the reasons California wants to secede, it would be hard to imagine they would accept having to look at Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton and Jefferson every time they opened their wallet to buy something with cash. What would a California dollar look like? Maybe they would just adopt the Peso instead.
6. The Border – This one makes your head hurt. Every road, river, and railway in and out of California would now be crossing an international boundary. Checkpoints, passports, inspection stations, fences, walls, you name it – all take on new meaning in this context. If you think airport delays are bad now, imagine having to go through customs every time you travel to/from California.
7. National Parks – What would be the fate of California’s national parks? Take the Redwood National Park for example – at the moment the US government owns a little over half of the 139,000 acres of that park and the National Park service has a big role in its administration and preservation. Would the US retain its ownership? If it were to be sold to the new country of California, how would the price be established? That’s some pretty expensive real-estate.
8. Phone and Internet – Would expensive international calling rates apply for phone calls from the US to California? Presumably, California would also get their own Internet domain suffix. Unfortunately “.ca” is already owned by Canada.
9. Colleges – If you are a high school senior in New York and want to attend UCLA, you would now be considered a student from a foreign country. You might find it tough to get in since UCLA would not have to abide by any US admission standards since they are no longer subject to US rules. Californians would likewise be considered foreign students when they apply to college/universities in the United States.
10. Privacy rights (this is my favorite) – No longer under the privacy protections of the US Constitution, California could now be spied on just like any other country the US has reason to surveil. California would be considered a “foreign power” in its new context. Further, California has already demonstrated it can harbor terrorists (San Bernardino), making it even more likely to be an intelligence target.
11. Future Elections in the US (this is fascinating) – To get an idea of what may happen in future US elections, let’s see how the 2016 election results would’ve changed without California in the mix. Donald Trump would have easily won the National Popular vote by more than 1.4 million votes. His already formidable electoral college win would have increased significantly, giving him 63% of the electoral vote (compared to the 56.5% he actually got). The election would not have been close. Even more significant for the Democrat Party would be the new minimum of 242 electoral votes needed to become President, down from 270. California has been a reliably Democrat state and any Democrat candidate would now have to look elsewhere to obtain the 55 electoral votes they normally counted on from California. This new electoral college calculus would heavily disadvantage the Democratic party.
12. Access to Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid – If you were previously living in the state of California and then decided to become a citizen of the new Nation of California, you would be considered a non-US resident living outside the US. Different rules for these benefits now apply and they aren’t good news. Of course, any children born in the new country of California would not get any of these US benefits.
13. Nukes – All nuclear weaponry, and the ability to create such, would have to be removed from California. What would the rest of the world think if we allowed a nuclear capable nation to spring up right next to us overnight?
14. Defense Department – California would have to create from scratch their own standing Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. This isn’t cheap. Annual US Defense spending amounts to more than twice the entire budget of the state of California! Obviously, California’s defense department would need to be much smaller than that of the US, but the point is that they currently spend exactly $0.00 on that necessity right now. What if Mexico, Canada, China, Russia or even the US decided to invade?

We haven’t even touched on things like the Wine Industry, import/export taxes, water and electrical supplies, earthquake relief, and common criminals who, overnight, could turn into international fugitives. The list certainly doesn’t end here. We welcome additional thoughts on the changes a Calexit might bring.