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With the prospect of Calexit, I would definitely consider having California join Canada. Preexisting trade deals, membership in NATO and NAFTA, and a country us
by labster 10y ago
With the prospect of Calexit, I would definitely consider having California join Canada. Preexisting trade deals, membership in NATO and NAFTA, and a country used to bilingual culture would all be a great fit for us.
- xemoka 10y agoExcept Californian population is larger than Canada's. This would be terrible for those already Canadian.
- ygmelnikova 10y agoAs a Canadian, no thanks. As soon as something goes wrong with the relationship, you'll bail like you did on your other lover.
- geofft 10y agoCalexit scares me because it's effectively abandoning the country; California can survive much more than the rest of the country can. It might be unfair to place that burden on California, sure, but it seem indisputable that leaving would destabilize the remaining United States in many ways - which won't be good for either Californians or anyone else. What's to stop New York, for instance, from also leaving once it realizes that the 50/50 red/blue balance is permanently gone? And what is a US without California and New York, on the world stage? Is it still treated like the US? The process of figuring that out, and perhaps of Canada becoming the world's great superpower (with California and with the bordering state of New York) and essentially needing to disarm a terrified and well-armed US, seems like it cannot possibly be a better plan than California just getting the US to do what it wants in approximately any other way. No one will win except Raytheon and Palantir. And even if it doesn't get that bad, I would expect a US without California to leave both NATO and NAFTA, either out of spite, out of a clear dominance of the political voices that are currently NATO-skeptic and NAFTA-skeptic (but are being held in check by California's votes), or out of simply not having enough of an economy left where either of them make sense.
- xkcd-sucks 10y agoCalifornia's government is barely capable of keeping the state running even with federal assistance...
- dragonwriter 10y agoCalifornia's government has had no trouble keeping the state running, even with the active harm done by a the net federal extraction of wealth from the state, since the supermajority budget requirement which prevented effective governance was removed.
- fraserharris 10y agoThis is a myth. Due to various propositions restricting taxes, the California state government experiences significant booms and busts. When the busts do happen, the deficits are negligible relative to the size of California's $2.5T economy - the 7th largest in the world. Sources: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/12/taxing-rich-wont-solve-californias-boom-bust-budge/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/12/taxing-rich-... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-16/brown-s-california-overtakes-brazil-with-companies-leading-world https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-16/brown-s-c...
- gumby 10y agoI worry about the refugees streaming from the rump USA into California, most of whom would not be prepared for the harsh Sierra conditions.
- ethbro 10y agoIt's okay, I played a lot of Oregon Trail.
- btilly 10y agoThe USA without California is screwed. The USA with California screws California while insulting us. Do you think that the problem is California or the rest of the USA?
- camus2 10y agoCalexit will of course never happen. Any secession attempt would automatically lead to yet another civil war. California would be crushed.
- canadexit 10y agoThat doesn't seem obvious to me. There could be a negotiated settlement of California's material and financial value. Consider the coalition of Democrats who sympathize with Californians, and Republicans who get to remove a decisive electoral block. The real thing keeping it from happening is Californians don't want it.
- throwaway55523 10y agoAnd Donald Trump will never be elected preside... oh wait. In all seriousness, Trump becoming president shakes my belief in reality. It certainly has made me see that anything truly is possible. The explaination that the universe is an elaborate simulation seems not just plausible, but really like the most likely explaination. What seems impossible today is just another run of the mill fact of life tomorrow.
- MarkMc 10y agoSo Americans will never amend the US constitution to allow a state to secede?
- dba7dba 10y agoVotes don't add up so no, it won't happen.
- bsder 10y ago> California would be crushed. If California gets crushed, the rest of the country will starve. And you really think that a military that couldn't pacify a city with a bunch of camel jockeys carrying AK-47's could pacify Compton let alone something the size of Los Angeles or San Francisco? Good luck with that. Calexit won't happen because Californians really don't want it. We're a pretty level-headed bunch even when Cousin Cletus Red State shoots himself in the foot with his loaded gun--again. The problem is that Trump and the Republicans are incompetent enough to actually do something stupid enough to galvanize Californians the wrong direction. THAT'S the real danger that could cause Calexit.
- canadexit 10y agoCanada can be the great 21st century empire, composed entirely of liberal breakaway states fleeing the alt-right.
- yellowapple 10y agoAlso, the same "CA" abbreviation would still work.
- mirimir 10y agoI thought that California and Oregon were supposed to join China, like a large, distant Hong Kong.
- petecox 10y agoHer majesty might veto it though. We can't have Canada winning medals at the Commonwealth Games in every event except cricket!
- curun1r 10y agoConsidering who got elected in the most recent election cycle, can you imagine the nutjob that would get elected without California's large block of electoral votes anchoring the country's politics at least somewhat left? Imagine a country where Florida and Ohio are solidly blue and the Republicans still win national elections. Now imagine having to live next to that country and share a 1000-ish-mile border. Now imagine they have one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons and no one pushing them to protect the environment in any way, shape or form. Calexit gets scary in a hurry, even if there's no fight over letting California go.
- AuthenticApe 10y agoDemocrats fought for 100 years for confederacy in order to keep the slaves... and lost. Now, they are fighting to keep low wage illegal immigrants. When will they learn?
- OliverJones 10y agoCascadia would make a great and powerful nation. California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia. Governed by boring and competent people like Jerry Brown, it would be a good place to live.
- pigeons 10y agoThe only reason I noticed the sarcasm is because I don't see how someone with the nickname "Moonbeam" who has a Dead Kennedys song about him can be considered boring.