California Breakup?

For John, BLUF:  Someone suggesting California is too big and unmanageable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The Washington Times we have this article on a proposal to break California up into six separate states.

There’s nothing like a guy with a few million bucks to lend instant credibility to a previously penny-ante movement to split up the state of California.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper of Silicon Valley has filed paperwork for a November ballot measure that would divide California into six states, calling the Golden State as presently constituted “too big and bloated.”

“Six Californias is an opportunity, an opportunity for Californians to get a fresh start, an opportunity for Californians to build new platforms for growth and prosperity,” Mr. Draper said at a Dec. 23 live-streamed press conference. “An opportunity to be awesome.”

One of the key points of a breakup is to bring the Government back down to the level of the People.  Mr Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, talks to the size of California in terms of area and population:

“Just look at the size of our state Senate districts — any one of them has more people than the entire population of South Dakota.  So there are real questions about the relationship of the people to their government.”

The breakout looks about right in terms of the different communities that are California.

For those concerned about the breakout not being properly balanced, Republican vs Democrat, we could always make Puerto Rico a State at the same time.  That might protect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's majority.

Regards  —  Cliff