I’m sorry if it irritates you but it isn’t semantics. When you said they tend to retire out of state that means a significant number if not a majority of them do so. No need to get huffy when I misunderstood you.
EXCLUSIVE: LEADER OF CALEXIT MOVEMENT CALLED INTO QUESTION FOR TIES TO RUSSIA
“Louis Marinelli has received support in Russia from a far-right nationalist group that wants to break up the United States. Former intelligence officials say that association raises serious questions about his intent.”
“He’s the leader of the Yes California campaign, also dubbed Calexit. Marinelli is an American who lives in Russia, but his movement is getting a lot of attention stateside.”
Fascinating discussion here on the prospect of a Republic Of California. Years ago I remember having an interesting discussion with a friend over New England seceding from the U.S. We never came to a conclusion one way or the other. I think it’s unlikely for as much the historical significance to the rest of the country as anything else.
But seriously, folks, if California were to seriously attempt to secede how would this be done? Would they fire on U.S. military bases? That seems unlikely. The prospect of a millennial Fort Sumter seems unlikely. Then there’s the issue of “would Washington accept California’s vote to secede?” and if not, how would they enforce the law In the old days they’d likely have rounded up the ringleaders, put them on trial and hanged or shot them for treason. I can’t see that happening today.
How about we make this simpler: all the liberal Coloradans can just move back to California?
There is no way that the Federal government would ignore the constitution and 150 years of precedent to allow a state to unilaterally secede in a move that would spell the end of the United States as a country. To leave by voting, California would need to get 3/4 of the states to pass a constitutional amendment removing California from the US (or creating a secession process), which is insanely unlikely to happen. Note that the Calexit proponents in this thread don’t have the least idea how to get 3/4 of the states to agree, it’s pretty much either ‘we’ll play hardball even though if they vote no our hardball threats won’t work’ or ‘we’ll speak about the UN charter provisions for decolonization and states will accept that even though it relies on a legal theory that no one in power actually believes’.
The Federal government has no problem arresting people who openly break federal laws. The ‘ringleaders’ are free to talk about things and hold elections and the like, but if they start blocking access to Federal property or refusing to pay taxes, then they’ll get arrested just like ‘sovereign citizens’ do when they decide that gold fringe means no taxes. They’d go to prison instead of being executed for treason, but it’s simple enough.
Also, the fact that the head of Calexit lives in Russia (guess he already exited Cal) and won’t deny that he’s being funded by the Russian government could prompt some investigations into spying. If it turns out that the movement is the tool of a fairly hostile foreign government, arrests for espionage or similar crimes could easily follow. While Trump is friendly towards Russia right now, that could change, and if Trump ends up out of office there could be a big bipartisan backlash against Russia, which could turn any hint of Calespionage into a witch hunt.
To be perfectly fair to the CalExit side, they believe there would be a peaceful transition like this:
- California votes
- Negotiations ensue
- ???
- 3/4th of the states of the US agree that California is free to go its own way, and vote to change the Constitution to allow them to exit
- Independence achieved!
Personally, I just don’t see the US having any interest in negotiating with California, and there’s no chance that 3/4ths of states would agree this is a good deal for the US. If California really pressed it, I could see that maybe the National Guard might be called up to restore this country’s laws – probably not by shooting people, but to calm and prevent things from getting out of hand.
But the CalExiters do seem intent on having a peaceful process. It’s just that they are totally out of touch with reality in terms of their expectations.
Maybe the secret tactic is to whine so much that everyone finally says: Ok, Ok, GO!!! Just STFU already.
Why hasn’t Mr Morgenstern been back to defend his Russian leaders?
The Russian Ambassador to the US just learned this week that his phone is tapped, so maybe there’s a breakdown in the communication of talking points.
Your step 3 is my step 2 in this post from one page ago.
Here is the thing. There is exactly one reason calexit is insisting that their movement is peaceful; advocating the violent overthrow of the federal government is a crime and they’d all be arrested.
Well, that and legal weed so everyone is like, super-mellow out here, dude.
Oh don’t be ridiculous. You really think they secretly all support a violent revolution but only the threat of jail is keeping them feigning a peaceful stance?
I’m pretty sure they take it for granted their phones are tapped. Same with our guys.
Here’s another fun cost thingy about our CA state.
The Oroville Dam.
It costs $65 BILLION PER YEAR to fix. Evacuating 200,000 people isn’t cheap either. From the article:
My bolding. Again, this is only one example of how we simply can not afford to exit anything.
As one egg said to the other, “That was a yolk, son.”
I think the threat of jail keeps them from making blatantly illegal statements openly.
The threat of jail keeps everyone from making blatantly illegal statements but that’s not why I decide not to threaten people with murder every day.
If Calexit had even a vague non-violent plan for what to do about the massive number of US citizens in CA who won’t be interested in Calexit, or an outline of a strategy to get the 37 states to vote for them to secede, I’d believe that they’re nonviolent. But there are just too many posts gleefully looking forward to deporting everyone who didn’t support Calexit, blocking US access to US property, shutting off airspace, and other hostile actions on one hand, while on the other there is no real strategy to convince the other states to let CA leave. There are plenty of conclusions that can be drawn from those facts.
Just because some goof on the internet says “maybe we’ll block the ports” does not mean we can assume the Calexit movement is secretly violent. Frankly, a good few of the anti-exit people here are sounding just as nuts. “We’ll cut off your water!” “You’ll be swinging from the lamp post!”. Sheesh. All over a pretty much fantasy future.