So, California wants to secede from the United States, all because Donald Trump won the presidential election.

Wonderful! They should remember the old saying, however, that “You had better watch what you wish for, you just might get it.”

Thomas Jefferson said that any state should be allowed to leave the union voluntarily, as they joined the union voluntarily: “If any state in the Union will declare that it prefers separation … to a continuance in the union …. I have no hesitation in saying, ‘Let us separate.'”

A handful of Silicon Valley morons tech investors are vowing to fund the Calexit movement, and I hope they succeed at seceding!

Isn’t it great when imbeciles advocate doing something and haven’t even considered the consequences? Here is why we should all be supporting California in their effort to leave the United States.

  1. California is vastly different, culturally, than the rest of the United States. In fact, in my opinion, California is a cultural cesspool. Let them leave. Encourage them to leave. Help them leave!
  2. California has 55 electors, the most of any other state, by far, and it is the bluest of blue states. A Democrat will never be elected President again. That is a very good thing.
  3. California is an economic drain on the nation, receiving far more dollars from the federal government than they are paying in federal taxes. As can be seen in the first table, below, California is paying a whopping $292 billion in federal taxes annually, by far more than any other state. Great, right? Not so much. As can be seen in the second table, below, California receives $343 billion from the federal government annually, a net loss for America of $51 billion, precious funds we can use elsewhere.

According to The New York Times (below), there is little chance that Congress will approve California leaving the union. I have no idea where it is written that any state needs the approval of Congress to leave, but presuming that the Times is right (I searched for the legislation requiring congressional approval for state secession and could find nothing), I believe many Democrats will be happy to support a blue state in its desire to leave and for economic and the aforementioned electoral reasons, the Republicans will be thrilled.

A few things California may want to consider before filing a petition for secession….

  1. The Trump administration is very tariff-friendly. You may want to consider this before voting yourselves out of a great deal of commerce.
  2. Federal workers make up about 2% of California’s workforce. When you pull the plug, nearly all of them will be unemployed (we may keep an embassy staff, not much more), as obviously the US has no need for all those civilian employees in a foreign country. All of those suddenly unemployed workers will be California’s problem. You can pay them unemployment or watch them go bankrupt. California is currently  14th in the nation in unemployed at 5.5%. Are you willing to bump that up to 7.5%, making California’s unemployment rate higher than any state in its former union?
  3. Security. You are on your own now. Don’t come crying to your former Uncle Sam when Mexico invades or simply annexes you. You think you have a large Hispanic population now. You ain’t seen nothing yet. I’m sure you will enjoy answering to Mexico. You gringos had better be learning Spanish. It will be your official language in the not so distant future.

Total federal tax revenue, by state (Wikipedia)

Rank State Gross collections[2] Revenue per capita (est.) Ratio to GSP[3]
1 California $292,563,574,000 $7,690.66 14.6%
2 Texas $219,459,878,000 $8,421.59 15.7%
3 New York $201,167,954,000 $10,279.27 16.7%
4 Illinois $124,431,227,000 $9,664.37 17.9%
5 Florida $122,249,635,000 $6,328.42 15.7%
6 New Jersey $111,377,490,000 $12,564.31 21.9%
7 Ohio $111,094,276,000 $9,623.36 21.8%
8 Pennsylvania $108,961,515,000 $8,536.94 18.1%
9 Massachusetts $79,826,976,000 $12,011.02 19.8%
10 Minnesota $78,685,402,000 $14,627.88 26.7%
11 Georgia $65,498,308,000 $6,602.69 15.1%
12 Virginia $64,297,400,000 $7,854.68 14.4%
13 North Carolina $61,600,064,000 $6,316.61 13.5%
14 Michigan $59,210,158,000 $5,990.89 14.8%
15 Washington $52,443,862,000 $7,603.85 14.0%
16 Indiana $51,238,512,000 $7,837.83 17.2%
17 Missouri $48,413,247,000 $8,039.41 18.7%
18 Maryland $48,107,002,000 $8,175.12 15.1%
19 Connecticut $47,262,702,000 $13,163.83 20.6%
20 Tennessee $47,010,303,000 $7,281.37 17.0%
21 Wisconsin $41,498,033,000 $7,246.80 15.9%
22 Colorado $41,252,701,000 $7,952.20 15.1%
23 Arizona $34,850,436,000 $5,318.03 13.1%
24 Louisiana $34,811,072,000 $7,564.51 14.3%
25 Oklahoma $27,087,264,000 $7,100.54 16.8%
26 Arkansas $25,299,832,000 $8,578.74 23.1%
27 Kentucky $25,085,813,000 $5,726.81 14.5%
28 Oregon $22,716,602,000 $5,825.74 11.4%
29 Kansas $21,904,615,000 $7,590.21 15.8%
30 Delaware $21,835,412,000 $23,809.40 33.1%
31 Alabama $20,882,949,000 $4,330.74 11.4%
District of Columbia[4] $20,747,652,000 $32,811.79 18.9%
32 Nebraska $19,795,254,000 $10,668.28 19.9%
33 Iowa $18,753,596,000 $6,100.35 12.3%
34 South Carolina $18,557,166,000 $3,928.50 10.5%
35 Utah $15,642,129,000 $5,478.30 12.0%
36 Nevada $13,727,425,000 $4,975.63 10.3%
37 Rhode Island $10,992,338,000 $10,465.98 21.6%
38 Mississippi $10,458,549,000 $3,503.79 10.3%
39 New Hampshire $8,807,691,000 $6,668.87 13.6%
40 New Mexico $7,866,206,000 $3,771.79 9.8%
41 Idaho $7,622,490,000 $4,776.81 13.1%
42 Hawaii $6,511,578,000 $4,676.81 9.0%
43 West Virginia $6,498,502,000 $3,502.46 9.4%
44 Maine $6,229,189,000 $4,686.45 11.6%
45 North Dakota $5,664,860,000 $8,096.96 12.3%
46 South Dakota $5,136,249,000 $6,163.35 12.1%
47 Alaska $4,898,780,000 $6,697.36 9.4%
48 Montana $4,383,727,000 $4,361.31 10.8%
49 Wyoming $3,828,379,000 $6,641.74 10.0%
50 Vermont $3,524,887,000 $5,630.71 12.9%
Puerto Rico[5] $3,067,234,000 $836.42 N/A
TOTAL[6] $2,514,838,095,000 7,918.73 (US Avg.) 16.1%

GSP is the Gross State Product

Total federal spending in millions of dollars, by state (Wikipedia)

State Retirement benefits Nonretirement benefits Grants Contracts Salaries and wages Total
United States $1,061,181 $870,048 $506,475 $407,277 $303,990 $3,148,971
Alabama $20,923 $14,662 $6,155 $9,668 $5,355 $56,762
Alaska $2,073 $1,589 $2,649 $1,628 $2,628 $10,568
Arizona $22,360 $18,262 $9,058 $12,350 $5,275 $67,306
Arkansas $11,865 $8,315 $5,484 $944 $1,906 $28,514
California $101,841 $98,526 $66,693 $47,657 $29,008 $343,725
Colorado $16,020 $10,896 $7,092 $8,013 $6,641 $48,664
Connecticut $11,646 $10,527 $7,047 $10,401 $1,831 $41,452
Delaware $3,673 $2,668 $1,742 $272 $692 $9,047
District of Columbia $3,116 $1,867 $4,963 $16,784 $21,056 $47,785
Florida $76,959 $66,541 $19,062 $14,089 $14,180 $190,831
Georgia $31,894 $25,590 $11,625 $7,625 $11,797 $88,532
Hawaii $5,336 $3,444 $2,881 $1,898 $5,750 $19,309
Idaho $5,440 $3,629 $2,377 $2,574 $1,118 $15,139
Illinois $38,047 $35,761 $17,614 $6,497 $7,565 $105,483
Indiana $22,338 $17,623 $9,434 $3,140 $2,961 $55,496
Iowa $10,461 $7,697 $4,783 $1,600 $1,341 $25,883
Kansas $9,854 $7,267 $1,888 $1,720 $3,514 $24,243
Kentucky $16,765 $13,003 $6,604 $6,436 $5,219 $48,027
Louisiana $14,740 $13,849 $9,019 $3,437 $3,656 $44,701
Maine $5,610 $3,976 $3,186 $2,079 $1,227 $16,078
Maryland $23,739 $15,129 $9,950 $25,598 $18,570 $92,987
Massachusetts $21,146 $20,795 $15,039 $14,572 $4,077 $75,631
Michigan $37,086 $31,458 $16,488 $4,810 $4,173 $94,014
Minnesota $16,866 $12,757 $9,051 $3,045 $2,585 $44,304
Mississippi $11,134 $9,516 $5,153 $5,786 $2,719 $34,308
Missouri $22,206 $16,613 $11,566 $9,933 $5,135 $65,452
Montana $3,933 $2,392 $2,272 $443 $1,109 $10,148
Nebraska $6,231 $4,300 $2,539 $968 $1,598 $15,636
Nevada $8,694 $6,830 $2,721 $2,884 $2,052 $23,181
New Hampshire $5,096 $3,229 $1,649 $1,788 $653 $12,414
New Jersey $28,547 $27,645 $15,393 $6,442 $4,546 $82,573
New Mexico $7,710 $5,471 $4,690 $6,696 $2,987 $27,554
New York $61,170 $59,858 $52,863 $10,744 $10,700 $195,334
North Carolina $35,810 $27,085 $14,202 $4,954 $11,856 $93,907
North Dakota $2,215 $1,499 $1,566 $490 $1,035 $6,805
Ohio $39,271 $33,182 $16,221 $6,265 $6,633 $101,573
Oklahoma $14,606 $10,148 $6,400 $2,031 $4,666 $37,851
Oregon $14,355 $10,490 $4,515 $1,123 $2,231 $32,713
Pennsylvania $48,861 $40,341 $21,898 $16,181 $7,707 $134,989
Rhode Island $3,819 $3,420 $2,410 $767 $1,134 $11,549
South Carolina $19,388 $13,637 $5,695 $5,440 $4,624 $48,784
South Dakota $2,963 $1,984 $1,558 $565 $955 $8,025
Tennessee $24,307 $19,083 $9,378 $7,641 $4,100 $64,508
Texas $72,354 $64,922 $35,184 $39,051 $22,947 $234,459
Utah $7,095 $5,049 $3,516 $2,237 $2,723 $20,620
Vermont $2,359 $1,729 $1,888 $393 $546 $6,915
Virginia $34,719 $17,910 $9,081 $51,186 $25,133 $138,029
Washington $24,551 $16,688 $10,541 $11,736 $9,422 $72,937
West Virginia $8,485 $5,855 $3,992 $1,153 $1,831 $21,317
Wisconsin $19,570 $14,181 $8,623 $3,224 $2,137 $47,735
Wyoming $1,935 $1,157 $1,081 $317 $687 $5,177

From The New York Times

For a second night on Wednesday, thousands of protesters gathered in cities across the state to denounce the idea of a Donald J. Trump-led America, with some chanting, ”Not my president!

On social media, the hashtag #Calexit took off, echoing the British decision to leave the European Union.

And in Sacramento, a joint statement from legislative leaders said, “Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land.”

For one group, the postelection reaction has been electrifying. Yes California, a grass-roots organization with 3,000 or so supporters, has for years been trying to persuade Californians to take up the cause of secession.

“We hit it big with Trump being elected,” Marcus Ruiz Evans, a spokesman, said on Wednesday.

California cannot, of course, just pick up and leave. Even if the state wanted to, an exit would require two-thirds approval of both the House and Senate in Washington, along with the blessing of 38 state legislatures — a feat analysts say is implausible.

But Mr. Evans may be on to something. After Mr. Trump clinched his victory late Tuesday, at least three tech investors signaled a willingness to finance a secession effort.