A Message to My Fellow Californians and #CalExit: Why I would leave if California secedes

With the recent election results, the idea of a California secession from the USA is gaining steam here. People are thinking of this as a legitimate option literally because they have different beliefs from the majority of the nation they belong to. If California actually gets #CalExit on the ballot for 2018, there’s a chance given the result of the presidential election that the referendum could succeed. People in California have been talking about this for decades, and the idea was picking up steam even while Hillary was projected to win. With the latest development in politics, with Republicans sweeping the House, Senate and Presidency (and therefore the Supreme Court), Californians find themselves to be political orphans. California voted against Trump at a roughly 2:1 ratio. Here’s why I’ll be vacating the premises if this thing gets too much traction.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/CalExit-picks-up-steam-with-angry-voters-after-10604475.php
http://www.iamatexan.com/?p=11532

Civil War

We have a precedent in this country for secession. The entire southern part of the early United States “legally” seceded in 1860 and 1861. Shortly thereafter, the northern states, still a part of the original political union, conjured up a reason to start a war and bring them back. This was done under the auspices of the abolitionist movement (banning slavery), but it was ultimately about preservation of the power center that was Washington, D.C. specifically and the northern states in general.

We all here in the U.S. were taught the correct end result of the war however, which was the defeat of the southern confederacy. There was also a prolonged political subjugation and economic punishment of the people within its borders long after the war ended. A period referred to as reconstruction by the winners who wrote our history books would more aptly be called restitution or reparation, because The South was made to pay dearly for its insolence. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in California during a similar period of reintegration, nor during the inevitable bombardment.

Conscription

A successful secession of a state would require a military campaign. With a relatively small population compared to the rest of the US, mustering an adequate number of bodies for its new military would be a desperate action by the newly formed country of California. What I mean by that, is that in order to get the quantity they require to reasonably have a chance at winning, they would need to institute a draft and conscript every male (and maybe females) who could conceivably contribute to the war effort. That means that guys like me who are pushing 40 would certainly be drafted into service, and they might even try to make my wife fight. I’m not so sure about the rest of you, but I’m not really comfortable with that.

No Good Reason

I’ve read the platform of the #CalExit ballot measure and I don’t see anything that would indicate they desire to dismantle the concept of a state as we know it (not a US state mind you, a sovereign nation-state). I don’t see anything in there about breaking down the stratification of society that is caused by politically powerful people ruling over a powerless proletariat with no justification for that power. No, none of that. They simply want to re-create the same systems that have failed us in the old country and put them right back into place in the new country, thinking that something magical about the dirt inside the borders of California will cause things to be a utopian paradise in spite of being a fundamentally identical political system to the one they would be leaving. They have no intention of changing the status-quo per se, they simply just want to have control over the status quo by the elites in California, as opposed to the elites in the rest of the nation. This is somehow supposed to result in an improvement how? I’m not willing to contribute a single penny or moment of my time to something so hollow and superficial.

Conclusion

I don’t believe in starting a war simply because I have different preferences than my neighbors, which is what #CalExit is about as far as I can tell. I sure as shit don’t want to go and fight for such a trivial cause. And this is not to mention the pure lunacy of the idea, considering that they want to take on the biggest military bully that has ever existed. California, hell even 50% of the states, seceding from the USA would be at a severe disadvantage given the lack of an established military and the very formidable nature of the US military. Again, it’s not just the most powerful military in the world right now, it’s the most powerful that has ever existed.

If they try to go through with #CalExit, it will certainly mean civil war, and the losers would almost certainly be the secessionists. It’s reason enough that they will be on the wrong side of history to not support their cause. If they start this war, I am going to be as far away from California as I can get, as quickly as I can get there. But seriously guys, give this thing a rest. I literally heard many of you chastising the people of Texas for considering the same thing during the last two elections.

BTW - The video is not mine, but I lol'd many times back in the day at it.