Why breaking California into six states is a terrible idea

[mota bhai 2,675]

July 27, 2014

by Peter Schrag

There are many arguments in support of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper’s view that California is too big, too diverse and too unwieldy to work efficiently as a state. With 38 million residents and growing; 13 TV markets; some 7,000 government entities, including cities, counties, water and mosquito abatement districts, school districts; and an ethnically and economically polyglot population, most residents feel closer to their local governments than to the distant politicians in Sacramento.

Draper’s remedy: an initiative for the 2016 ballot to divide California into six states to bring government closer to the people. One, the proposed new coastal state of Silicon Valley, which would include San Francisco and the high-tech suburbs to the south (where Draper lives), would have the highest per capita income in the nation, above Connecticut. Its neighbor to the east, the state of Central California (a region sometimes called California’s Appalachia), would be the poorest, poorer than Mississippi. That might be welcome to the rich taxpayers along the coast, but it would create monstrous problems for the have-nots.

...

Economically, California, the world’s seventh or eighth largest economy, is still the driver of the nation’s innovation and much of the world’s technology, an area in which Draper himself has played a considerable part. It would be nearly impossible to unscramble the omelet that makes that success possible.

Which of Draper’s six successor states would manage the great, complex water system that powers California’s agriculture? Who would administer the great public universities that are still the envy of the world? Two or three of Draper’s successor states would get Berkeley, the University of California at San Francisco, UCLA, and the University of California at San Diego; some would get almost nothing.

How would the state’s fiscal obligations, the bonded debt, the underfunded pension obligations, be allocated? If by population, then the new state of Central California, already one of the poorest regions in the nation, would be saddled with an unbearable burden.

And what of the prisons, which house thousands of felons from Los Angeles, but which, for obvious reasons, are located in those poorer places? Would one of the great exports of Draper’s new rural state of Jefferson be prison services? Would the rich taxpayers of the new state of Silicon Valley be willing to subsidize the social services and health care of the people in the deserts of the poor state of South California (which does not include Los Angeles), as they do now?

For Republicans there might be some attraction in a California breakup: The state’s current 55 electoral votes, which in the past six presidential elections have all gone to the Democrat, would split to maybe 48–17 (counting the 10 extra votes for the senators that the new states would get), meaning a somewhat slimmer Democratic edge in the Electoral College.

...

Maybe equally important, Americans (and non-Americans) like the idea of California — one California — both as a symbol of American hope and possibilities and as a land of laid-back lotus eaters. Both stereotypes have truth to them. Long before there was a political entity called California, there was the idea, the vision. It’s on the old maps; it was in the mission of the conquistadors, in the dreams of the pioneers going west. It’s part of us. Draper can’t undo that.

Peter Schrag, retired editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee, is the author of "Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future," and other books on current affairs. His most recent book, published in 2010, is "Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America."

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/california-six-statespartitiondiversity.html

Edited July 27, 2014 by mota bhai

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

July 27, 2014

by Peter Schrag

There are many arguments in support of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper’s view that California is too big, too diverse and too unwieldy to work efficiently as a state. With 38 million residents and growing; 13 TV markets; some 7,000 government entities, including cities, counties, water and mosquito abatement districts, school districts; and an ethnically and economically polyglot population, most residents feel closer to their local governments than to the distant politicians in Sacramento.

Draper’s remedy: an initiative for the 2016 ballot to divide California into six states to bring government closer to the people. One, the proposed new coastal state of Silicon Valley, which would include San Francisco and the high-tech suburbs to the south (where Draper lives), would have the highest per capita income in the nation, above Connecticut. Its neighbor to the east, the state of Central California (a region sometimes called California’s Appalachia), would be the poorest, poorer than Mississippi. That might be welcome to the rich taxpayers along the coast, but it would create monstrous problems for the have-nots.

...

Economically, California, the world’s seventh or eighth largest economy, is still the driver of the nation’s innovation and much of the world’s technology, an area in which Draper himself has played a considerable part. It would be nearly impossible to unscramble the omelet that makes that success possible.

Which of Draper’s six successor states would manage the great, complex water system that powers California’s agriculture? Who would administer the great public universities that are still the envy of the world? Two or three of Draper’s successor states would get Berkeley, the University of California at San Francisco, UCLA, and the University of California at San Diego; some would get almost nothing.

How would the state’s fiscal obligations, the bonded debt, the underfunded pension obligations, be allocated? If by population, then the new state of Central California, already one of the poorest regions in the nation, would be saddled with an unbearable burden.

And what of the prisons, which house thousands of felons from Los Angeles, but which, for obvious reasons, are located in those poorer places? Would one of the great exports of Draper’s new rural state of Jefferson be prison services? Would the rich taxpayers of the new state of Silicon Valley be willing to subsidize the social services and health care of the people in the deserts of the poor state of South California (which does not include Los Angeles), as they do now?

For Republicans there might be some attraction in a California breakup: The state’s current 55 electoral votes, which in the past six presidential elections have all gone to the Democrat, would split to maybe 48–17 (counting the 10 extra votes for the senators that the new states would get), meaning a somewhat slimmer Democratic edge in the Electoral College.

...

Maybe equally important, Americans (and non-Americans) like the idea of California — one California — both as a symbol of American hope and possibilities and as a land of laid-back lotus eaters. Both stereotypes have truth to them. Long before there was a political entity called California, there was the idea, the vision. It’s on the old maps; it was in the mission of the conquistadors, in the dreams of the pioneers going west. It’s part of us. Draper can’t undo that.

Peter Schrag, retired editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee, is the author of "Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future," and other books on current affairs. His most recent book, published in 2010, is "Not Fit for Our Society: Immigration and Nativism in America."

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/california-six-statespartitiondiversity.html

How about we give it to Mexico. Maybe even Israel. Either way if we trimmed of the loons from cali the nation might right itself.

[Sousuke 1,214]

How about we give it to Mexico. Maybe even Israel. Either way if we trimmed of the loons from cali the nation might right itself.

I am all for California independence as one nation.

[UncleBeer 244]

Upstate New Yorkers feel about NYC exactly the way rural Californians feel about LA: tired of paying for 'em. Let em split the state up so the city folk can get a dose of reality.

[Sousuke 1,214]

Upstate New Yorkers feel about NYC exactly the way rural Californians feel about LA: tired of paying for 'em. Let em split the state up so the city folk can get a dose of reality.

How does that work when something like 80% of the states taxes come from SF and LA?

[mota bhai 2,675]

How does that work when something like 80% of the states taxes come from SF and LA?

Rural folk are delusional.

[Rlrmsy 1]

That idea has been flying around for a few years, i believe 85% of us Californians wont pass it, maybe a north and a south calif but not 6 separate states.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

How does that work when something like 80% of the states taxes come from SF and LA?

I wonder how much of the Tax base goes back into the those two cities ?

[Sousuke 1,214]

I wonder how much of the Tax base goes back into the those two cities ?

Apparently less that they provide.

Counties creating the least revenue, use most services.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201008180850/b

[Sousuke 1,214]

Apparently less that they provide.

Counties creating the least revenue, use most services.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201008180850/b

Less than they provide*

(IE they subsidize other counties)

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Apparently less that they provide.

Counties creating the least revenue, use most services.

http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201008180850/b

Same with the blue states and red states. The latter b!tch about the former but gladly live off their contribution. And they're totally ignorant of the fact that they do.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Same with the blue states and red states. The latter b!tch about the former but gladly live off their contribution. And they're totally ignorant of the fact that they do.

True. All you need do is look at The South...

Back on topic however, the main reason it is unlikely California would ever be split into separate states because alone and all by itself, it would be the world's 8th largest economy. For that same reason a California Republic would never be allowed to exist - the US economy would collapse without its might.

On the same subject, there is probably little appetite for a favorable referendum on the subject at the moment, when the state has finally recovered from the disastrous administration of the last GOP governator. As they do best, this one too, tried to run the state to the ground.

http://online.wsj.co...310603091572462

California Budget Increases Spending as State Enjoys a Surplus

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—A resurgent stock market and a voter-approved tax increase has given California a windfall of several billion dollars, resulting in a rapid turnaround from the state's massive budget gaps of recent years.

On Thursday, Gov. Jerry Brown called the improvement in the state's fiscal house "good news," and he proposed spending an additional $10 billion annually for California's schools. But anticipating calls for further increased spending and preparing for a likely re-election bid, he also urged fiscal restraint as he officially proposed a $154.9 billion budget.

"By no means are we out of the wilderness, we have serious issues before us in terms of long-term liabilities, debts, and we must be very prudent in the way we spend public funds," Mr. Brown said. However, "after years of drought, and cutbacks and pink slips for the teachers, we are finally able to provide a substantial amount of new money for all the schools of California."

The document sets up roughly six months of negotiations with a Democratic-controlled legislature that will likely face pressure to increase spending and restore some of the big cuts to social services the state has experienced in recent years. A budget must be approved by June 15 so it can be enacted by July 1.

Mr. Brown was forced to move his budget announcement up a day after the document was leaked to the media Wednesday. He hastily rescheduled a trio of news conferences set to take place here and in Los Angeles and San Diego.

The document opens with a letter to the legislature in which he warns that the state's surplus—estimated at being roughly $4.7 billion by June 30 by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office—is modest, given the state's large pension liabilities, bond costs and other expenses.

Mr. Brown's proposed budget increases kindergarten through 12th grade public education spending by $10 billion, sends new money to colleges and universities, and allocates money to expand health-care coverage to millions.