The student news site of Coginchaug Regional High School

CRHS News

The student news site of Coginchaug Regional High School

CRHS News

The student news site of Coginchaug Regional High School

CRHS News

Calexit

Calexit

The result of the 2016 election sparked California residents’ past idea of seceding from the United States. While many residents from California support this campaign, many people are against it.

The Yes California Independence Campaign was formed in 2015 but recently has had more popularity due to the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Louis J. Marinelli, a Californian nationalist political activist, leads the Yes California Independence Campaign, or “Calexit.” He hopes that their idea of secession will have a lot of support in order to reach their goal of 585,407 signatures to get on the 2019 ballot. They describe themselves as a “nonviolent campaign to establish the country of California using any and all legal and constitutional means to do so.” They feel that the United States of America represents many things that conflict with the values of California. Also, they feel that they pay more than their fair share of federal taxes. According to CBC News, California currently pays the federal government $370 billion in taxes each year. The Yes California campaign made a list called “The Case for Independence in 9 Simple Points.” This list, which was made because they felt that “being a US state is no longer serving California’s best interests, includes the reasons for secession:

  1. Peace and Security
  2. Elections and Government
  3. Trade and Regulation
  4. Debt and Taxes
  5. Immigration
  6. Natural Resources
  7. The Environment
  8. Health and Medicine
  9. Education

In order to secede from the United States, the secession would require an amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment would have to be approved by two-thirds of Congress and at least 38 of the 50 legislators.

Many California citizens feel that secession is not a good idea and that it will cause more problems that they are not prepared for. Sen. Ben Allen (D) disagrees with the Yes California Campaign. “We have too much at stake to leave the country,” Allen was quoted by Kim Brunhuber in CBC News, California. “America needs us, we need America, we need the United States, and we’re gonna stick it out.” The state has hired a team of lawyers to protect the policies and programs that California citizens care about. “Leaving the United States would be morally wrong,” Los Angeles resident Charisma Lopez told CBC News in Brunhuber’s article. “We should be trying to change the country, not trying to leave it.”

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