California in state of confusion
I get a snicker every time I hear somebody talk about how “liberal” California is. That’s the same state that gave us such notable “liberals” as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and that current White House irritant, Darrell Issa.
It’s the state that became the first in the country to challenge Affirmative Action, and, to some degree, put a curb on it. Once known as one of the nation’s hippie strongholds, its residents voted down California’s Proposition 19, which would’ve legalized pot in November of 2010.
Those people who glibly refer to California as “The Land of Fruits and Nuts” know by now that there have been two state ballot issues that have passed that would have outlawed gay marriage. That is, before the California and U.S. Supreme Courts ruled them unconstitutional.
Then there’s Orange County. It’s adjacent to Los Angeles County, and it’s as “liberal” as any county in Mississippi. Republicans know they have a reliable voter base Orange County, since it hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Calling California “liberal” is as precarious a notion as referring to all of California as “sunny.” (If you’ve ever spent an evening in San Francisco in July, and without an overcoat, you know exactly what I’m talking about.)
So I’m not the tiniest bit surprised that one Northern California county has decided to secede from the state of California so it can form its own Republican-dominated state. I’m not a Californian, but I do have this inkling to say, “Don’t let the door hit you.”
Oh, there’s always been talk about cities, counties and states seceding in protest. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, before he engaged in his dead-on-arrival presidential candidacy in 2009, even hinted that his state might consider becoming its own country.
“We’ve got a great union,” he told a tea party group. “There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”
I could almost hear him say that, couldn’t you? Nobody can butcher the English language the way old Rick Perry does it.
Out in California last Tuesday, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to do what Rick Perry had hinted at back in 2009 — to secede. Not only that, they’ve decided to pay homage to the country’s most famously failed secessionist — Jefferson Davis.
Siskiyou County, California, is now the state of Jefferson. That’s right. We now have 51 states. It’s all because one of the supervisors (of the county formerly known as Siskiyou) is quoted as saying it had something to do with “regulation, restrictions of rights, lack of representation, regionalism and restoration of limited government.”
I don’t know about you, but I liked knowing there had been 50 states. I thought it was a nice round number.
But hold-off on putting your American flag on EBay as collector’s items. There’s that document we call THE U.S. CONSITUTION, which says “no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.” I know, that’s just a formality. But there’s another reason to hold off.
There are six counties in Colorado that plan to form the “State of North Colorado.” Those folks out in (“North”) Colorado claim they want to get away from environmental regulation and gun safety laws. The kind a stuff that sends conservatives into fits of frenzy. So we’re about to have 52 states.
I hadn’t even gotten around to memorizing the names of the other 50 yet. I know Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California, Colorado, Ohio and that state on the other side of Ohio — but that’s it.
Two more states is just too much to ask a fella to remember.
Uniontown native Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net