A New State Called South California?

[Max]

According to the article posted below, there is a serious political movement to form a new state called "South California":

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/12/politician-campaigns-to-make-south-california-into-our-51st-state/?hpt=hp_t2

Due to the fustercluck that the state of California has become in recent decades--as well as the vastly different interests/cultures between the Northern and Southern parts of the state--perhaps it does make some sense to split the state in two. Unfortunately, the particular proposal being brought forward is not a serious attempt to solve the problem, but rather a political stunt: that's because this new state of South California would exclude heavily Democratic Los Angeles, thereby creating a state that would instead be a Republican stronghold.

It is beyond sad how the state of California--which was once the place were people aspired to move to--has become such a national joke. (The state's problems are deeper than merely blaming Arnold Schwarzenegger, its heavily Democratic state legislature, or even the illegal immigrants.) Unfortunately, I really don't know what can solve the state's problems, but perhaps dividing the state in two (only, of course, with Los Angeles being a part of South California) could be a potential solution. In hindsight, it really does seem that the 1992 Los Angeles riots were when everything in California began to unravel.

[aMLCproduction]

Thanks for sharing I have not heard this yet but will keep my eye on it

[Kylie]

LMAO! Last year the whole state was trying to succeed from the Union. This kills me.

[Jonathan]

They talked about this about 15 years ago but nothing materialized.

[Kylie]

California is still, with all of it's problems one of the biggest economies in the world. We're going to be just fine. And yeah, if we ever turn Red, I'm OUT. But this has nothing to do with real politics. This is people with ridiculous ideas who would rather talk about [!@#$%^&*] that will never happen, then SOLVE the real problems plaguing the state.

[Max]

I apologize if I am putting words in your mouth (as I honestly don't know if you are of the following mindset), but liberal Democratic politics is not what made California's economy and image so great to being with. In fact, during the golden years of the states history--from 1945 to circa 1990--California was a very middle-of-the-road state politically. The reason why California has become so Democratic over the last twenty years is due to the huge influx of poor hispanic immigrants combined with the flight of many white, middle-class people to the much more afforable Southwestern states such as Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada.

I'm not naive enough to believe that complete Republican party control would solve the state's problems. Instead, what California may need to do is start again embracing moderate politics. (The fact that the moderate Schwarzenegger was such a failure had far less to do with his political philosophy than the fact that he was an empty suit who had zero qualifications for the job.)

If one needs further evidence as to the fact that California's glory days are long gone, consider this: After the 2010 Census, CA gained zero House seats, which marked the first time ever in state history that this failed to happen. (In fact, CA almost lost a House seat.) After the 2000 Census, California gained just one additional House seat. By contrast, the state gained a whopping seven additional House seats after the 1990 Census.

[Kylie]

^Yeah, and the Republican's aren't going to save it. They're not God. Despite their politicians acting like it. It's crap like this that makes me sorry I spent the last 10 years of my life studying this.

[Max]

I agree with this, and I am sorry if I did not make that clear earlier. (I believe that the only possible solution involves moderates in both parties working together, which sadly will never happen).

This really isn't a Republican or Democrat thing, but rather due to the fact California was just a victim of such huge and unsustainble population growth; sooner or later, having too high a population was going to lead to all sorts of problems. The same problems that are plauging CA are cropping up in Florida to a less dramatic extent. And, since the current population grwoth rate in Texas in dangerously high, I fully expect that state (along with Florida) to one day be as messed up as CA currently is.