Joe Mathews: California and the federal government should consider going their separate ways

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Synthesized artwork image showing a "cross-out" of a Calexit illustration. Photo credit: BlueHypercane761/CC 2.0, via Wikimedia

If the federal government won’t fix the U-S Constitution, California ought to write its own.

Secession movements have been a staple of California politics for nearly 100 years, although attempts to cleave California from the rest of the United States have mostly been relegated to the fringe. Zocalo Public commentator Joe Mathews believes it’s time to bring secession into the mainstream. Mathews says the glaring differences between California and the rest of the U-S are not just political and cultural, but also constitutional. And secession could be a winning political platform. Just ask Gwyneth Paltrow.

Read Mathews’ essay below:

Before Calexit, A Final Push to Fix America

“Go to my website or use the hashtag #LetsGetTheCalOuttaHere!” shouts Gwyneth Paltrow in Netflix’s The Politician. Running for governor on a promise to lead  California’s secession from the United States, Paltrow’s character wins 98 percent of the vote.

This may be fiction, but California independence is gaining cultural currency and real-world urgency. Our real governor, Gavin Newsom, frequently describes California as a “nation-state,” arguing that the Golden State must think like an independent country to protect itself during the pandemic.

While conventional wisdom says California would never leave the union, who puts faith in conventional wisdom anymore? Polling suggests one-third of Californians support their state’s peaceful withdrawal from the nation. And the state fights the White House relentlessly over California’s attempts to protect its immigrants, healthcare, water, environment, and elections.

Those battles are partisan, but even electing a Democratic president is unlikely to bring state and nation together. The rift between Californians and Americans goes well beyond the political to the structural, the cultural, and the constitutional.

California is a modern democracy with an initiative process that allows its diverse population to amend its constitution directly. The U.S., in contrast, is a majority-white country clinging to a 1789 constitution that permitted slavery,  resists amendment, and prohibits using the popular vote to elect its most powerful figure, the president. The U.S. Senate makes a mockery of equal representation, giving California’s 40 million people the same two senators as Vermont’s 625,000.

None of this makes California’s departure from the union likely.  But it guarantees state-federal conflict, and more frequent attempts by California to escape the union. How best to manage California’s independence efforts in the years ahead?

The essential answer is: peacefully. For Calexit to happen peacefully, it must be embraced by majorities in both California and the U.S.  To reach such a double consensus, California must create an exit process that considers the future of the entire United States. In other words, if California ever decides to form a new country, it must try to transform the United States into a new country first.

Right now is an auspicious time for reconsideration. With protestors toppling statues of the founders and institutions pledging to end systemic racism, the place to start is by replacing America’s original system—the Constitution.

This suggestion will enrage Americans who deify their constitution. Americans assume, wrongly, that the end of our current constitution would mean the end of our nation. But it’s not true: Ending one republic often means starting a new republic. The French are on their fifth republic.

California, the nation’s most creative and populous state, is the perfect place to start rewriting the U.S. Constitution. California should convene scholars from as many states as possible. This convention  would examine constitutions all over the world and create the most advanced  21st-century constitution possible. 

A new constitution offers the opportunity to re-found the United States under present-day ideals of human rights. Instead of a constitution that started in slavery, we could have a constitution that starts with barring discrimination. Women could be officially equal. A new constitution could provide for truly national elections and proportional representation to end our polarizing, winner-take-all political culture. The new constitution could commit America to environmental protection of the planet.

Once drafted, the proposed constitution would be sent to the other 49 states, asking them to adopt it. Other states could accept our constitutional proposal, or amend it. If a new constitution results, California would have given its country a new lease on life; the U.S. could stop measuring policies against centuries-old precedents, and focus on the future. 

by majorities in both California and the U.S.  To reach such a double consensus, California must create an exit process that considers the future of the entire United States. In other words, if California ever decides to form a new country, it must try to transform the United States into a new country first.

Right now is an auspicious time for reconsideration. With protestors toppling statues of the founders and institutions pledging to end systemic racism, the place to start is by replacing America’s original system—the Constitution.

This suggestion will enrage Americans who deify their constitution. Americans assume, wrongly, that the end of our current constitution would mean the end of our nation. But it’s not true: Ending one republic often means starting a new republic. The French are on their fifth republic.

California, the nation’s most creative and populous state, is the perfect place to start rewriting the U.S. Constitution. California should convene scholars from as many states as possible. This convention  would examine constitutions all over the world and create the most advanced  21st-century constitution possible. 

A new constitution offers the opportunity to re-found the United States under present-day ideals of human rights. Instead of a constitution that started in slavery, we could have a constitution that starts with barring discrimination. Women could be officially equal. A new constitution could provide for truly national elections and proportional representation to end our polarizing, winner-take-all political culture. The new constitution could commit America to environmental protection of the planet.

Once drafted, the proposed constitution would be sent to the other 49 states, asking them to adopt it. Other states could accept our constitutional proposal, or amend it. If a new constitution results, California would have given its country a new lease on life; the U.S. could stop measuring policies against centuries-old precedents, and focus on the future.

If other states rejected the document, California could stay within the U.S., or negotiate a peaceful exit. California could use the constitution it drafted for the U.S. as its own governing document.  

We could “get the Cal outta here” in good conscience,  having done everything we could to save America from itself.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

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