It turns out that two major Brexit movement politicians, Nigel Farage and Aaron Banks, were allowed in the United States and raised funds for a new movement to break up California. This is the article:
http://sfist.com/2017/03/26/latest_calexit_gambit_split_califor.php
They should be declared undesirable aliens and not allowed in the U.S. again.
Commitment to democracy is accepting the results of an election you lost.
The boundaries of American states are somewhat capricious and formed for one reason or another over history. I supposed they could be draw again in 30 different ways that would make some sense. However, we don't need 900 states with 1,800 senators. Every geographic region can find some pretext to being divided further.
This is destabilizing to the United States and is a hostile act.
Every place needs two parties in opposition to each other. It helps keep both parties somewhat more honest and better behaved. Having areas where one party is completely dominant without effective opposition is not good, whether it be Republican or Democrat.
I am not necessarily opposed to all plans for rationalization of state boundaries. If they wanted to keep the number of states fixed to 50 but re-apportion according to population and maybe have states with one senator that might be interesting, but even then I would want to carefully think through all possible ramifications and consequences both immediate and over generations.
And this is what should be considered when you start talking about creating states. It opens up many questions as to what purpose the existence of states serve and the current system of states. They are largely the happenstance of history. In the 21st century we expect equal representation, and don't live in the 18th century where states had property requirements for voting.
One time in the 1970s I got out an atlas and in looking up the population of the states realized that 10% of the population gets 40% of the U.S. Senate and 40% of the population gets 10% of the U.S. Senate. If this gets generally considered I think that 40% of the under represented might not be very happy about it.
Showing posts with label Calexit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calexit. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Sunday, January 15, 2017
"Politico" article on Russian support for California secession, and secession movements around the world.
"Politico" has an article on Russian support for the California secession movement.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/why-russia-loves-the-idea-of-california-seceding-214632
There is some interesting information on how the California secessionists are open about their Russian support in contrast to the Texas secessionists.
Also, it seems that the leader of the YesCalifornia movement, Louis Marinelli, has a past in working with the National Organization for Marriage which campaigned against same sex marriage. The article says that Marinelli has recanted these views. I find it rather convenient that he did.
Another secessionist group, the California National Party, doesn't like Louis Marinelli at all.
Many journalists are not taking these secessionist movements seriously, but the United States, unlike most nations, has monuments in its national capitol and many monuments elsewhere celebrating those who would have broken up the nation through secession.
Across the United States there are literally numerous monumental endorsements of secession from the United States. Why shouldn't the Russians think that their efforts might secede.
Perhaps American presidents should consider not sending a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/why-russia-loves-the-idea-of-california-seceding-214632
There is some interesting information on how the California secessionists are open about their Russian support in contrast to the Texas secessionists.
Also, it seems that the leader of the YesCalifornia movement, Louis Marinelli, has a past in working with the National Organization for Marriage which campaigned against same sex marriage. The article says that Marinelli has recanted these views. I find it rather convenient that he did.
Another secessionist group, the California National Party, doesn't like Louis Marinelli at all.
Many journalists are not taking these secessionist movements seriously, but the United States, unlike most nations, has monuments in its national capitol and many monuments elsewhere celebrating those who would have broken up the nation through secession.
Across the United States there are literally numerous monumental endorsements of secession from the United States. Why shouldn't the Russians think that their efforts might secede.
Perhaps American presidents should consider not sending a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument.
Thursday, December 08, 2016
The reactionary idiocy of California secession/ Need for the government to have a counter strategy
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-12-07/how-to-make-california-great-secede-with-a-little-help-from-putin
The link above is to an article in Bloomberg about the California secessionists getting help from Putin and working with a reactionary group there.
This is also a good example on how some ideas that are put forth as left are really reactionary.
The head of the group, Louis Marinelli, lives in Russia teaching English.
The fundamental measure of support for democracy is the willingness to accept defeat at the polls. You really aren't a believer in democracy if you can't having lost an election. I don't mean that you can't be vocal in expression dissatisfaction with the results.
When an election is run and the results come in there will most often be an uneven distribution of results across the geography of the political unit. In one part of a political unit your faction or party or program will likely have majority support. Breaking up the political unit isn't the solution. Such a plan of secession taken to its logical conclusion results in a republic of a city block or a farm.
According to the article the Russians are working with far-left parties as well as extreme right groups to undermine European states and evidently this program is now extending to California. There is a position paper on Russian support for far-left European parties online by Political Capitol in Hungary. I don't know anything about them, but this is the link in the Bloomberg article.
http://www.statecraft.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Peter%20Kreko%20Far%20Left%20definitive.pdf
The secessionists might consider that not everyone will want boundaries and divisions in North America and to divide the continent into many small states that will inevitably quarrel. One of the great thing about North America is that most of the land mass is divided among three states, Canada, United States of America, and Mexico, and three states on relatively good terms, at least compared to some other areas of the globe.
I think a lot of the media reporting portrays secessionists in the United States as some type of amusing novelty and doesn't take it seriously. I don't think the United States government is doing anything at all to think of counter strategies. They should.
A counter strategy should NOT be to oppress secessionists by arresting them or some other act of official oppression. What needs to be done is formulate a strategy that utilizes a theoretical understanding of nationalism and what drives separatism and using that knowledge devise counter strategies.
For example Cinco de Mayo is about Hispanics in California supporting the Union against the Confederacy, which is both anti-secessionist and also a national narrative. The major Hispanic holiday in the United States is about Hispanic Californians defending the American nation against secession. I don't think the story of the origins of Cinco de Mayo is generally known, it should be as a first step against California secession to make sure that it is more generally known.
In opposing Daniel Miller's program of Texas secession I think it would be relatively easy to show it is really a movement basing itself on a white nationalist history of Texas and negates the African American and Hispanic experience in Texas.
For Southern nationalism I suggest that it ought to be considered where the dividing line is between "Southern Studies" and southern nationalism is. In fact it could be asked whether there is really a boundary at all, and if Southern Studies isn't really the venue of a Southern nationalist intelligentsia.
Also, an examination of the constructedness of the "South" should be done. John Shelton Reed in an article written under a pseudonym, J.R. Vanover, in Southern Partisan, was denouncing the term Southeastern because it was a term that people were using and he saw it as inimical to Southern nationalism. I think the antidote to Southern nationalism is a program of real regional studies and let states in the southern part of the Unites States out of the prison house of the Confederacy and southern nationalism.
These are just initial ideas I have to oppose separatism in America. I think a small group of academics could probably over a year come up with a fairly good program what would put a stop to various secessionist movements.
The link above is to an article in Bloomberg about the California secessionists getting help from Putin and working with a reactionary group there.
This is also a good example on how some ideas that are put forth as left are really reactionary.
The head of the group, Louis Marinelli, lives in Russia teaching English.
The fundamental measure of support for democracy is the willingness to accept defeat at the polls. You really aren't a believer in democracy if you can't having lost an election. I don't mean that you can't be vocal in expression dissatisfaction with the results.
When an election is run and the results come in there will most often be an uneven distribution of results across the geography of the political unit. In one part of a political unit your faction or party or program will likely have majority support. Breaking up the political unit isn't the solution. Such a plan of secession taken to its logical conclusion results in a republic of a city block or a farm.
According to the article the Russians are working with far-left parties as well as extreme right groups to undermine European states and evidently this program is now extending to California. There is a position paper on Russian support for far-left European parties online by Political Capitol in Hungary. I don't know anything about them, but this is the link in the Bloomberg article.
http://www.statecraft.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Peter%20Kreko%20Far%20Left%20definitive.pdf
The secessionists might consider that not everyone will want boundaries and divisions in North America and to divide the continent into many small states that will inevitably quarrel. One of the great thing about North America is that most of the land mass is divided among three states, Canada, United States of America, and Mexico, and three states on relatively good terms, at least compared to some other areas of the globe.
I think a lot of the media reporting portrays secessionists in the United States as some type of amusing novelty and doesn't take it seriously. I don't think the United States government is doing anything at all to think of counter strategies. They should.
A counter strategy should NOT be to oppress secessionists by arresting them or some other act of official oppression. What needs to be done is formulate a strategy that utilizes a theoretical understanding of nationalism and what drives separatism and using that knowledge devise counter strategies.
For example Cinco de Mayo is about Hispanics in California supporting the Union against the Confederacy, which is both anti-secessionist and also a national narrative. The major Hispanic holiday in the United States is about Hispanic Californians defending the American nation against secession. I don't think the story of the origins of Cinco de Mayo is generally known, it should be as a first step against California secession to make sure that it is more generally known.
In opposing Daniel Miller's program of Texas secession I think it would be relatively easy to show it is really a movement basing itself on a white nationalist history of Texas and negates the African American and Hispanic experience in Texas.
For Southern nationalism I suggest that it ought to be considered where the dividing line is between "Southern Studies" and southern nationalism is. In fact it could be asked whether there is really a boundary at all, and if Southern Studies isn't really the venue of a Southern nationalist intelligentsia.
Also, an examination of the constructedness of the "South" should be done. John Shelton Reed in an article written under a pseudonym, J.R. Vanover, in Southern Partisan, was denouncing the term Southeastern because it was a term that people were using and he saw it as inimical to Southern nationalism. I think the antidote to Southern nationalism is a program of real regional studies and let states in the southern part of the Unites States out of the prison house of the Confederacy and southern nationalism.
These are just initial ideas I have to oppose separatism in America. I think a small group of academics could probably over a year come up with a fairly good program what would put a stop to various secessionist movements.
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