Hey all! After three eventful years, Artful Codger is back! I'm back posting on politics, economics, health care, health insurance, films and filmmaking and other miscellaneous stuff.
My approach is as always: a non-partisan, common sense approach to the issues of the day.
My main focus this week is "Splitting California in Half".
I've been thinking about this issue for years. I've done a lot of research on the subject. I've concluded, as have many others, that California is simply too big and too politically divided to exist much longer the way it is.
I was struck by the results of the 2016 presidential election. Although the Republicans nominated the most unconventional candidate in its history, Donald Trump did surprisingly well. In half the state. In the most left-wing portions of the state, the vote was diametrically opposed.
Maps from the California Secretary of State tell the tale. The very left-wing, progressive part of the state, the coastal counties from San Diego to Humboldt, voted overwhelmingly for Mrs. Clinton. The more conservative half of the state, the Central Valley counties to the West of the Coast Range, voted more narrowly, but clearly, for Mr. Trump. This illustrates convincingly that California is two states, economically and politically. Los Angeles shares much more in common with San Francisco than it does Fresno and Bakersfield counties.
In future posts I'll look at the history of previous attempts to split the state up, how it can be accomplished, the positives and negatives, the ramifications, and the politics involved.
A.C.
