The State of North California, the State of Hamilton, or the State of Jefferson

[Radaghast]

I've been wanting to see Jefferson happen for a long time—I think naming the state either Jefferson or Cascadia (after Thomas Jefferson's proposed Pacific nation) is the best fit, the former because it's been around since the 1940s and the latter because it has a solid state-sounding name.


The one thing I think is vital to the state's intended goals is that the southern boundary shouldn't be any further south than Yuba County. We can't afford to include any of the Sacramento metro area in the new state because that's precisely what those of us who want statehood are trying to get away from: the eclipsing effect of California's major urban centers. If we want to maybe wrap around it and include Placer and El Dorado counties, that's one thing but for our own good it's absolutely imperative that Sacramento be excluded.


As to the naysayer(s), the proposal for the State of Jefferson dates back to 1941 when a number of coastal southern Oregon counties wanted to form a new state with Del Norte, Siskiyou and Modoc counties.


Economically speaking we do still have a substantial agriculture sector up here, with a budding wine industry that can all lend itself to agritourism, not to mention the national/state parks available, and without California's constrictive regulating, we can explore different economic opportunities along the shoreline (fishing, oil drilling) and also structure the new state's tax policies in such ways that incentivize new sectors to come here such as manufacturing (like Tesla), energy, finance, etc. Though I would say we should be shrewd in what we choose to invite into the state because certain sectors (i.e. technology) would invite the sort of residents that cast ballots for ideas that made CA so insufferable in the first place.


Water rights, which is one of the driving factors behind statehood, would rightfully belong to us because these water sources are in our territory. Whatever California wants to do with them on their side of the border is up to them but we're not going to prioritize some bougie Bay Area tennis court over our rice farms and almond orchards.

[Robertfchew]

Originally Posted by shelato

I think what you are saying is reasonable which is why I don't think it would work. The people in the rural areas feel disenfranchised. Whether its substantively correct or not, people in rural California think the left has been hijacked by the knowledge workers (think Google, Apple Facebook) and that it is ignoring the interests of white working class people. The wealthy communities like Marin are all solidly liberal and the poorest counties in the state are all Republican. While there are wealthy whites in places like Marin are privileged, the white cashier at the Auto Zone in Oroville isn't feeling privileged and just feels like no one is looking after his interest. That is why he wants to form Jefferson to create a government that is responsive to people like him. If the State is purple, how is he any better off than if he is in California?




If Sacramento is in Jefferson what happens to its tax base? A big chunk of the money in Sacramento comes from transfer payments (taxes) from the rest of California to pay for the administration of the vast bureaucracy that is the current state government for the State of California. If that state Capitol moves to Burbank, so to do all of those state jobs.

Sacramento without state government is like Detroit without the auto industry or Pittsburgh without the Steel industry. At some point it may diversify but the transition could be painful. My hunch is that Sacramento doesn't want to be in Jefferson either. Same for Yolo County. Small states like North Dakota and Montana just don't have the tax base to support a school like UC Davis, how could Jefferson?

I have to refute one point you make about the poorest counties being in Northern California. The source I find shows that more of the poorest counties are in socal. The ones with the least poverty are Bay Area and Northern California.