Every once in a while, something will happen in California that the rest of the country notices. Maybe it’s an earthquake, or maybe a wildfire or even a riot. Whatever it is, it’s big enough that people who don’t normally care about what happens in California pay attention.
When that happens, I usually get a text from my sister in Minnesota asking me if I’m OK.
Being my sister and all, you might be imagining me receiving a text saying something like, “My dearest Michael, I heard about the horrible event that occurred near your domicile. I do hope this missive finds you in good health”. You know, something that expresses her deep concern for my wellbeing. For some reason, I always imagine her with an antebellum accent.
But that’s not what I get. The text I get is something like, “Heard about the earthquake. You OK?” Apparently, her text plan charges by the character. But hey, I’ll take what I can get.
It’s news to me
My typical reaction is, “What earthquake?”
Then she’ll give me the name of a city I’ve never heard of. The last time this happened was after an earthquake in Northern California.
What most people don’t realize is that California is a really big state. Sure, I live in California, but from my house to what I’d consider Northern California is more than 600 miles. I don’t pay a lot of attention to what goes on in Northern California because it’s too far away for me to care.
Asking me about something that happened in Northern California is like me saying to my sister, who lives in rural Minnesota, “Heard about the snowstorm in Denver. You OK?”
Well, what I’d probably actually say, because I care, and care deeply, is something closer to, “My beloved sibling, I recently received notice of an overabundance of frozen precipitation that fell in Denver. I pray that you and your loved ones remain safe in these unfortunate times.”
What can I say? I’m a better person than she is.
The point is, California is freaking huge. It’s not Alaska huge, but…still.
Jefferson
Driving from my house to Northern California is like driving through three different states. First, there’s about a hundred miles of city. Then there’s several hundred miles of farmland. Finally, there’s a couple hundred miles of mountains.
As you drive north through California’s Central Valley (that’s the San Juaquin valley to everyone outside California), you’ll see signs and billboards for a place called “Jefferson”.
But Jefferson doesn’t exist. Not yet anyway.
It’s a proposed new state made up of most of Northern California and big chunk of Southern Oregon. Those particular areas are filled with people who are primarily Conservative. They believe in small government, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
And they almost all vote red.
That’s $260,000,000 we’ll never see again
Back in 2010, the citizens of California voted to create an independent commission to define our voting districts. The government had been doing it, but we decided they sucked at the job. So, we took the power to decide who represents us in DC from the State Government.
In response to the recent redistricting efforts in Texas, California Governor Gavin Newsom exhibited symptoms of his extreme case of TDS and signed a bill that would allow the State of California to override the independent commission for the next 5 years. The goal is to gain enough Congressional seats for Democrats to replace the ones they lost in Texas.
Except that can’t happen unless the voters agree. And that requires a special election.
I filled out my ballot this morning and the ONLY thing on it was this single issue.
Unfortunately, special elections aren’t cheap. In his effort to sway the 2026 and 2030 elections, Newsom spent $260 million taxpayer dollars on a special election to decide whether or not we should allow Sacramento to decide who represents us in Congress.
What a fucking waste of money.
More of what they don’t want
Nobody in their right mind would vote to give the Government more power. Especially the people who live in what may someday become the State of Jefferson. Because most of Northern California is solidly red and I’m sure they’re quite happy being represented by Republicans.
But Newsom’s plan is to redraw the districts so that the entire area of perhaps-someday-to-be-Jefferson is solid blue. The proposed new maps show Northern California connected to Marin County, a solidly blue region just on the north side of the Golden Gate.
That makes no sense. The needs and desires of someone living in suburbia are not the same as the needs and desires of someone who just wants to live a peaceful life in the mountains. For all practical purposes, we’re talking about two entirely different states.
What the hell does someone in Marin County know about how the people of Northern California want to be represented in Washington? Especially since parts of Northern California are more than 300 miles away from Marin County.
The people living in Jefferson are so fed up with government interference that they want to have their own freaking state. And yet the governor of California inexplicably believes that even more government interference is what they need.
Who would vote for this nonsense?
I said nobody in their right mind would vote to give the Government more power. But yet recent polls (yes, I know I shouldn’t pay attention to polls) say that 57% of likely voters are in favor of allowing Newsom to mess around with the congressional districts.
But honestly, most people living in California, myself included, aren’t qualified to vote on the issue. Well, technically, we’re qualified to vote, but we don’t have any skin in the game.
Only the people who will be materially impacted by the results of the election should be allowed to vote on this issue.
The area I live in is already solid blue and that won’t change with the proposed districts. The people living in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Marin County and all the other liberal strongholds similarly won’t be affected by Gavin’s power grab.
None of us should be able to vote on this issue.
But the ranchers in Northern California and the farmers in the Central Valley will be affected. Because they’re going to lose the ability to elect the people they want to represent them. They’re the only ones whose opinion counts.
This is not how democracy is supposed to work
Of course the liberals living in the big cities, and there is a shit load of them, are going to vote for any scheme promoted as a way to “stop Trump”. Newsom knows that.
But he’ll be able to point to the results and say that “the people” made the decision. When in reality, the people who should be making the decision were never given the chance.
So yeah, I voted. Even though I’m not qualified to have an opinion on the topic. But then hardly anyone is.
I voted to oppose Newsom’s latest scheme. And maybe, I can help give the Jeffersons the results they’re hoping for.
