Would you vote for Calexit?

[CavLancer]

Screw that Commodore, too many casualties. Bomb the blank out of them until they are eager to serve The Trump. Bow down before our beloved Republic overlord or face your doom!

 

[onejayhawk]

I'm not sure this is really true. The rainfall and runoff in the parts of Australia where Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide are roughly comparable in total runoff to California. My maths gets coastal South East Australia having roughly 1/3rd more average runoff available per capita.

SE Australia's roughly 42000 GL of average runoff means it's available to the roughly 12m people of Victoria and coastal NSW at about 3.2GL per million people. That's compared to about 95 000 GL for California (including its share of the Colorado River as well as all the CA basins, or about 2.5 GL per million people.

The critical difference, though, is that variability and unreliability is way higher here. We can easily get a fifteen year period where rainfall just doesn't happen very much, so oftentimes the actual available water is far below the average over prolonged periods. That's what happened between 1996 and 2012 and why we got a lot smarter about water conservation. California is only now starting to think about the consequences of variability and climate change because historically, the western US climate has been more regular than Australia's, being dominated I think by a decadal oscillation rather than so much by ENSO.

Except that California does not own most of the rainfall and very little of the runoff. That's a big issue. The federal government owns most of that land. California gets the runoff for free.

So it's actually possible? The feds wouldn't show up with an army?

I mean, California is like 15% of the American GDP I think. And has 40 million people. And silicon valley. And Hollywood. And the American military probably has a bunch of strategically important military bases there. And then there's places like Yosemite and the golden gate bridge, which seem very closely entangled with American history and/or identity. I think there's also a lot of natural resources in California... and don't forget all the celebrities that help export American culture.

Would the feds really give up all of that without a fight? It seems like it would completely change the country and take a bit of sting out of the whole superpower thing. 10-20% of sting depending on how you look at it, but either way.. wouldn't it also create precedent for other states to follow suit?

Personally, I don't think they would allow that to happen.

The US Military is a large chunk of the economy. It all goes away.

California does not own Yosemite or even Golden Gate. It's federal land. Half the state, including most of the wet parts, are federal lands.

The nightmare of leaving is less than the nightmare of staying.

Only til you get thirsty.

Here is a map of federally owned lands. The San Fernando Valley is heavily irrigated agriculture. The water comes from the mountains around (green on the map) which are National forests and parks. In the south are major military reservations. Also, significant port areas belong ot the military.

 

[Kyriakos]

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Did I say that's all California provides? No. The comment I was responding to was taking specifically about agriculture, which is why I only mentioned agriculture.

I was also only talking about agriculture. Most fruits and nuts California is sole domestic source, but there are whole branches of agricultural products where California provides 50-75% of US production. So when you said "fruits and nuts, so what?" you were glossing over things in typical middle America fashion. But again, keep it up, it will help pave the dissolution path.

Hobbes...when you've carried the abusive neighbors for as long as I have you may feel more like I do.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The San Fernando Valley is heavily irrigated agriculture.

For anyone who is still taking Jay seriously...

Why?

 

[Arwon]

I'm unclear why a seceded California would leave most of its land in the hands of a now-foreign government.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'm unclear why a seceded California would leave most of its land in the hands of a now-foreign government.

Because that makes Jay's argument make sense.

At least better sense than his description of the San Fernando Valley.

 

[Arwon]

As I understand his argument, getting the federal land in Californian hands would improve its water security?

 

[Commodore]

For anyone who is still taking Jay seriously...

Why?

Because he turned out to be right about the election?

 

[AdrienIer]

If there's one good thing about Trump's election it's those Biden/Obama memes

 

[Silurian]

I'm unclear why a seceded California would leave most of its land in the hands of a now-foreign government.

It does not make sense.
How would the federal government stop the use of the run off water.

California would get its share of the national debt but would also get the nationally owned property within the state.

I would assume that the US military would want to pay to use their bases which would pay for water from the Colorado.

California could reduce its military spending to 2% which would free up money for energy and water conservation measures.

California pays more to the federal government than it gets back. So on the day it leaves and stops paying into the federal pot it would take over federal spending within the state. It would have money left over to pay for the diruption caused by the split.

 

[EnglishEdward]

Californian corporates make a lot of their money out of intellectual property right.

The UK government sucks up to the all powerful US government by having its trading
standards inspectors rush around car boot sales trying to slow bootleg CDs and DVDs.

I doubt that it would bother to suck up to a nuke free Californian government like that.

 

[Silurian]

Would California be nuclear free.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and part of Sandia National Laboratory are in the state.

 

[Hygro]

California could very well be a country of their own and do just fine, with a lot of issues, of course...But why seceed from the Union just because of an election?

To make it more fun.

California would get its share of the national debt

That would be awesome. We could start with trillions of outstanding US bonds. Then they'd have to accept our dollars.

 

[Aleksey_aka_al]

Who will fight for its independence? Gay kids?

 

[Farm Boy]

Hope not. They generally actually have merit, unlike the current Silicon Valley fatass vanguard who'd like to add crowns to their currency collections.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Hobbes...when you've carried the abusive neighbors for as long as I have you may feel more like I do.

Dude I was the abusive neighbor. They aren't all as bad as you think!

 

[Phrossack]

Dude I was the abusive neighbor. They aren't all as bad as you think!

Representin'

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Because he turned out to be right about the election?

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.

 

[warpus]

California does not own Yosemite or even Golden Gate. It's federal land. Half the state, including most of the wet parts, are federal lands.

So.. if California breaks away from the union, the golden gate bridge, Yosemite, and other chunks of lands as indicated on your map, will remain a part of the U.S... Huh? What sort of nonsense is this..