Some California politicians and pundits are talking, apparently seriously, about seceding from the United States. They live in a leftist bubble, so isolated from reality that this notion seems reasonable, even desirable.
Look at this political cartoon in the Los Angeles Times. The editors see it as a warning to the Trump administration that brave, freedom-loving Californians refuse to be pushed around. But what about the millions in the huge, red center of America? How do they see it? Do they see tough, dedicated rebels willing to fight for their beliefs? Far from it. They see self-absorbed stoners and leftover hippies who evoke not respect, and surely not fear, but merely curiosity. Want to form a rebel army out of those? Good luck!
This raises a more basic question: How can you secede from something that you are no longer part of in any meaningful sense? Yes, this is a bold statement. Let me try to back it up.
● California vies with Massachusetts for the dubious title of most “progressive” state. But despite this fact, Californians voted three times to maintain the death penalty for first-degree murderers whose crimes were especially vicious. The third time was in the 2016 general election.
As of 2015, there were 746 offenders on California’s death row.Of those, 126 tortured their victims before killing them, 173 killed children, and 44 murdered police officers. Yet there have been no executions in California since 2006. Why? Because a federal judge decided that lethal injection ‒ the way we put beloved dogs and cats to sleep ‒ is “terribly painful.” No, what’s terribly painful is knowing that the murderer of your loved one is eating three meals a day, watching TV, sleeping in a warm bed, and enjoying contact with other people ‒ while your relative or friend can do none of these things.
That’s right ‒ the death penalty is “unconstitutional” in California, but not in neighboring Arizona. You see, “progressive” state officials pretend to be working on a new protocol for executions that will satisfy the judge. They have been working since 2006, but in a decade have yet to accomplish anything. In short, we voters expressed support for capital punishment three times, but we might as well have stayed home, watched the game, and drank Dos Equis. Our votes on this important subject counted for nothing, while our supposed “public servants” continue their pointless charade.
● Similarly, Californians voted two times to keep the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. The first vote was as an initiative statute, and state courts threw it out as violating the state constitution ‒ which of course says nothing about same-sex marriage. The second vote was as an amendment to the state constitution, which federal courts, up to the Supreme Court, threw out as violating the U.S. Constitution ‒ which also says nothing about same-sex marriage.
As with the death-penalty vote, Californians might have saved themselves trouble and stayed home. Their votes on the definition of marriage counted for nothing. The self-anointed “elite” believe they know what is good for us ‒ and have the power to cram it down our throats. Democracy? We don’t need no stinkin’ democracy ‒ we’re the elite!
● During the recent 2016 election, we Californians were treated to the choice of two Democrats for the U.S. Senate. True, a Republican would have little chance of election in this deep-blue state. But at least we could have been offered the illusion of a choice. When a government grows so powerful that it no longer feels the need even to pretend to give the people choices, you know things have gone too far.
● I recently sent e-mails to my state senator and assembly member, using the California government website. I offered a succinct argument for requiring daytime running lights on vehicles, for easy visibility and greater safety. I got no reply, not even a mechanical reply noting that my messages had been received.
● I recently sent four e-mails to my Los Angeles City Council member, regarding excessive construction blocking our street. Two went to an older e-mail address and two to the current address, both on the Los Angeles City website. I got no reply, not even a mechanical one. My wife then phoned the City Council member’s office – twice. She spoke to two different aides and briefly explained our problem. Each aide promised to have the relevant person get back to her. No one phoned. When a government grows so powerful that it no longer feels the need even to pretend to listen to the people, you know things have gone much too far.
One-party rule and freedom may coexist for a time, but they are fundamentally incompatible. Every statewide official in California, without exception, is a Democrat. When a government grows so powerful that it no longer feels the need even to pretend to be bipartisan, you know things have gone entirely too far.
Politicians and pundits complain that too few eligible citizens vote, and offer various theories as to why this is so. But they fail to mention that our votes on vitally important matters are thrown out, while our ballots are overloaded with trivial propositions to give us the illusion of choices. I still feel an emotional obligation to vote, because that’s the way I was brought up. But if you asked me for a rational explanation of why I vote, I confess I would be at a loss for words ‒ quite unusual for me.
At the same time, motor-voter laws make it easy for anyone to register to vote at any Department of Motor Vehicles office. And California proudly gives driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. One can even register to vote online, with not even a pretense of verifying the identity of prospective voters, much less their citizenship. In addition, multiple languages are available, even though a speaking and reading knowledge of English is required for citizenship, and only citizens can vote ‒ supposedly.
In short, the value of a vote is twice diminished ‒ first by making many of the choices meaningless, and then by diluting the count with the votes of noncitizens, legal and illegal. At the same time, public officials make themselves inaccessible to citizens’ comments and complaints.
Is this an exaggeration? Try to get a dissenting letter published in the Los Angeles Times. Try to express a conservative idea in a high-school or university class. Try to book a conservative speaker in a university that is, in effect, a leftist seminary. Try to send your child to school wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap ‒ or even a red baseball cap with nothing written on it. Try to discuss differing opinions with someone conditioned to look for “microaggressions” and to seek “safe spaces.” These are not mere political differences ‒ these are signs of budding totalitarianism.
All this, important though it may be, is secondary to the fundamental problem. Many Californians no longer believe in the Judeo-Christian values that form the foundation of our republic. If you want to bring down a building, undermine the foundation. If you want to bring down a civilization, do the same.
So perhaps you will understand why it is that when I hear yet another “progressive” California politician blabber about secession, I say, why bother? Our state already bears little resemblance to the America where I grew up.
●
Contact: dstol@prodigy.net. You are welcome to publish or post these articles, provided that you cite the author and website.