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On this 4th of July holiday weekend, let us ponder California leaving the United States
Go for it, guys. But don’t forget to take your share of the national debt, and give up all the federal monies you’ve been getting for people and projects. No doubt there will be a few other documents to sign, too, on your way out the door.
[Fresno Bee] To encourage us to think about the unthinkable, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sets a Doomsday Clock, showing how close humanity is (in metaphorical seconds) to the "midnight" of apocalypse. California now needs an Independence Clock, showing how close we are to that seemingly unthinkable moment when our state might seek to depart the United States, and become an independent nation.

That prospect has drawn closer courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court. First, justices overturned a century of legal precedent that had allowed California communities to limit public gun possession — endangering laws that have saved lives.

Then, the court reversed Roe v. Wade and eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion — a right enshrined in our state Constitution and supported by majorities of Californians of every political party, region and demographic group. These decisions were like earthquakes — unsettling but unsurprising. They were enacted by a far-right court majority that exists because America’s anti-democratic Constitution gives less representation and less voting power to Californians, both in choosing a president (who nominates justices) and in electing a Senate (which confirms them).

The two decisions follow a fusillade of federal failings that have harmed Californians. These include a pandemic response that cost nearly 100,000 Californian lives; a generation-long "war on terror" that killed more soldiers from California than from any other state; attacks on our efforts to end the drug war and police abuses; attempts to cancel our environmental laws; denial and delay of disaster aid; accusations that our elections are fraudulent; and the violation of the rights of our immigrants and their families. To cope, California has had to behave more like a separate nation than a state. We have adopted our own immigration policy, signed our own environmental treaties with other countries, funded our own research on subjects from guns to stem cells, and successfully pressured corporations to privilege our state regulations over national ones.

Posted by: Besoeker 2022-07-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=637318