An unlikely campaign for California to secede from the United States is just as unlikely since President-elect Donald Trumpâs ascent into the White House.
Known as âCalexit,â the movement has failed before, and its resurrection is still in its very early stages. So, can Calexit succeed? Probably notâbut who knows? That doesnât mean itâs impossible.
How would Calexit work?
Leaders of the Yes California Independence Campaign hope that opposition to Trumpâs stance on illegal immigration and the environment from many of the stateâs residents and city officials will gather enough signatures to make the stateâs secession a ballot measure in 2018. If the Calexit petition gathers enough signatures and the ballot passes, Californians will be looking at a special election for the stateâs petition in 2019.
If the measure passed, it would then be up to California to convince the federal government to let it leave, a process that isnât at all clear in the law. Yes California explains their two options this way:
- A member of the California federal delegation to Washington would propose an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing the State of California to withdraw from the Union. The Amendment would have to be approved by 2/3 of the House of Representatives and 2/3 of the Senate. If the Amendment passed it would be sent to the fifty state legislatures to be considered (to satisfy the âconsent of the statesâ requirement in Texas v. White). It would need to be accepted by at least 38 of the 50 state legislatures to be adopted.
- California could call for a convention of the states (which is currently being organized to tackle other constitutional amendments as we speak) and the Amendment granting California its independence would have to be approved by 2/3 of the delegates to this convention. If it passed, the Amendment would be sent to the fifty state legislatures to be considered and 38 of the 50 states would have to approve the measure in order for it to be adopted.
Whatâs the argument for Calexit?
Basically, Yes California believes the state would be better off as an independent nation. And itâs big enough to hold its own on the world stage: In 2015, the state had the sixth largest economy in the worldâslightly above France and Brazilâwith a GDP of more than $2.4 trillion.
âAs the sixth-largest economy in the world,â Yes California wrote in a statement, âCalifornia 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.â
Is there any reason to think Californians support Calexit?
Not much. We were unable to find any scientific polls conducted on the topic since Election Day. The best we found were a couple of online surveys, like this one at the San Diego Union-Tribune, which found 63 percent of some 3,100 respondents said they would vote yes to Calexit. But thatâs just some internet click-poll, not a real thing anyone should cite as fact.
There is, however, quite a bit of frustration with the election of Trump, who lost California by 28 points.
California Gov. Jerry Brown warned Trump in a statement that the state wonât back down on climate change and plans to protect the âprecious rights of its people.â Bay Area and Los Angeles high school students have staged walk outs. (One Bay Area high school teacher was put on leave after comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler.) And leaders of the California House and Senate released the following statement:
While Donald Trump may have won the presidency, he hasnât changed our values. America is greater than any one man or party. We will not be dragged back into the past. We will lead the resistance to any effort that would shred our social fabric or our Constitution.
California was not a part of this nation when its history began, but we are clearly now the keeper of its future.
A fight for California statehood still seems unlikely, especially during a highly charged time when distrust in the mainstream media and government and overreliance on technology seems to have reached its xenith, and when the nation seems splits between shocked horror or happiness over the current reality: Donald Trump is set to become the new President of the United States.
Itâs been a long time since America has lived in an era where a presidentâs election has roiled protests across the nation and student walkouts in cities from Los Angeles to Portland to Boston.
A protest staged at Californiaâs Capitol on Nov.9, the morning after the presidential election, only stirred a dozen protesters that were there purposely for Calexit.
Roughly 20 people are waiting on the West steps of the Capitol building before a @YesCalifornia rally to advocate for CA independence. pic.twitter.com/j6iaMv6hRc
â Sophia Bollag (@SophiaBollag) November 10, 2016
But the Calexit protesters were soon joined by a more aggressiveâbut still non-violentâgroup of protestors. The protestors blocked traffic and held signs that ranged from âFuck Donald Trumpâ to âFree Hugsâ to âNot My President.â
If the majority of Californians are as upset as the protesters, Trump could, in fact, not be their president in a few years time. But donât hold your breath.