Hello everyone!

I'm a political scientist from California. Just thought I’d mention that with my very ambiguous name. I describe myself as moderate as I take a little from the left and a little from the right, but I’m never wishy-washy or undecided on my views.

I’m also a Californian patriot as I feel our culture and priorities here are quite different from the rest of America. I'm constantly debating the usefulness of the Union and how large states such as California benefit from membership in it. I have yet to unearth a valid reason and if you can come up with one, please let me know.

Cheers!

Because you'll need some place to go after the Big One hits.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

Alright...but with all the funds we would divert from federal taxes to the state coffers, we could simply put the whole state on shock absorbers and bounce!

Actually true of many of our large buildings. If we did keep all our tax revenue in the state, we could afford to do that for most, if not all.

That won't save you from falling into the sea....

I'm from Minnesota, which is also a net-donor state. But IIRC, that doesn't really count the value of things like defense spending, or the value of having a free trade and free movement within the common border of the country.

Plus, doesn't a lot of your water come from out of state (like via the Colorado River)? Might not want to tempt the neighbors to shut it off....

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

Well, we could always become the next Atlantis. Good for tourism!

Defense spending is already out-of-control in the US with our heavy reliance on bloated contractors whose primary objective is to extend time and increase cost. The value was lost long ago. We can barely roll-out new technology that is actually useful to the operator and with no present threat from a superpower, what do we need with new fighters, bombers, and warships? We can’t even provide the basic soldier with body armor and a decent weapon with a half trillion dollar budget!

I’m not advocating a blockade of the US. California leads the nation in food and most resource production; free movement would be necessary and would probably resemble the light border controls between Canada and the US or EU members. California is also already developing trade pacts on its own. The US just screws things up with poorly planned agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA.

Water is a real concern, but with proper city and agricultural planning, it can be mitigated. We still have to buy water from other states and secession wouldn’t change the rate.

Besides, if California leaves the Union many more western states would probably follow suit.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

I see you're not aware of the amount of contempt many Americans have for California.

By the way, I'm from New Jersey. Over here, we're all just shocked we haven't been thrown out of the union, but we're not giving up hope yet.

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PF cru 4 life

Thanks Senax and Joker. You both have made my point perfectly. Whether or not you agree with Californian policies, I think we can agree that we are not of the same mindset anymore.

Would you continue to endure unfair taxation by a heavy-handed and bloated government thousands of miles away? Apparently, history is revisiting us.

We value personal rights, such as marriage, life, and death. Whereas restrict the ability to harm others in terms of guns, tobacco, and the environment. The American philosophy is completely reversed from that.

Perhaps California, or the west coast in general, has become far more like Europe, progressive and evolving, rather than stagnant and traditional like America. There is nothing wrong with a desire to stay the same, but don’t hold everyone else back with you.

california is a pretty cool place...

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Remedial English - Rule #2:

Always check your answers against Google search results.