Chronos wrote:
There has been a long standing movement in northern California to secede from the state and create a state they want to call Jefferson. These people do not feel properly represented by the state of California, as they tend to be more conservative or libertarian when California tends to vote liberal (though the state is just barely "blue"). Aside from the fact that it's nearly impossible for them to actually legally secede, "Jefferson" does not have a sustainable way to generate revenue. The region was previously supported by the lumber industry, but they've cut down much of their trees, and even they know this is a finite resource. The current plan to generate revenue if they secede, is to run prisons, and take control of the water which is directed from their region, down south.
The powers that be will never allow that to happen.
In California, water is the actual gold, and the majority of the water shunted from the north, southward, actually goes to water crops in the central valley, thus supporting what is not only California's biggest economy (agriculture), but providing a very large percentage of the fruits and vegetables for the entire nation.
Those farmers are very rich, very educated, and very well connected.
Actually, there are people here on the east side of Washington who want to join northern California in the state of Jefferson, along with eastern Oregon, north Idaho, and western Montana. Of course, this has a snowball's chance in hell of ever happening. That, and Jefferson would possibly be the most right wing state in the country's northern tier, while my wife, friends, and I happen to like living in a blue state.
Yes, it's a fairly large area but fairly few people.
I understand their frustration in that they feel they are not properly represented and the policies the voters vote into place do not necessarily make sense when applied to that region of the state, however it would be severely detrimental to the economy and the food supply of the nation if they ever had control of California's water supplies.
11 Aug 2016, 12:57 am
