It's Time To Recall California

by Tim Holt

By recalling Gray Davis, the voters of California have dealt with the symptom but not the disease. Does anyone seriously believe that recalling Davis severed the connection between money and policymaking in Sacramento? Do you stop prostitution by running the highest priced whore out of town?

What we really need to do is recall, and totally reconfigure, the state of California.

A nation-state like California, with its multi-layered government, its myriad of boards and commissions, may look like a bureaucratic quagmire to most of us, but to veteran lobbyists it's a veritable smorgasbord of tax breaks and other perks. Large concentrations of power and money will always attract those who can leverage those resources to their own ends.

Tinkering with the existing system — whether it's recalling public officials or passing stricter campaign finance laws — will make no difference as long as there are billions in taxpayer dollars for the taking. What we need to do is downsize state government — make it more accessible to the average citizen while reducing the size of the public trough — by splitting the state into smaller regional units. With a population projected to reach 45 million by 2020, California could easily split into three or four viable states, each with a distinct regional identity.

North Coast and Bay Area counties did split from the rest of the state in the October recall election. All except Del Norte County voted against the recall, and all except Del Norte and Humboldt voted for Bustamante. Bay Area voters (and I'm sure many on the North Coast) often feel marginalized at the state and national levels because of their progressive views. It has even been suggested, albeit somewhat whimsically, that the Bay Area form a separate nation. I'm suggesting in all seriousness that it form a separate state, and that the North Coast consider doing the same.

Up here in Siskiyou County, where I live, we've felt marginalized for a long time now. The powers-that-be in Sacramento are only dimly aware we exist — which, I grant you, does have its advantages. We return the favor by identifying more with the rural folks of southern Oregon that with the flatlanders to the south of us.

Having long been ignored and isolated, we not surprisingly hold political views that date back to the late 18th century. Our ranchers and farmers take the traditional view of the independent yeoman-farmer, going back to Jefferson's time, that the best government is the one that governs least. Yreka, the county seat, and the nearby ranchlands of the Scott Valley are hotbeds of libertarianism.

As a matter of fact we split from the state over 60 years ago, but of course hardly anyone noticed. Being libertarians, we didn't bother with the legal formalities of getting either the federal government's or the state legislature's approval. On December 4, 1941 we simply proclaimed our independence, inaugurating Judge John C. Childs of Yreka as the first governor of the new, appropriately named "State of Jefferson," which included two other rebellious California counties and one in southern Oregon. A torchlight parade followed the judge's inaugural address, and an official state seal was immediately adopted. It prominently featured a large "XX," a blunt reference to the dirty double-crossing politicos in Sacramento.

Three days later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the State of Jefferson was left still-born in the swelling chorus of national unity against a common enemy.

To this day there are echoes of that fleeting rebellion: Our Ashland-based radio station calls itself Jefferson Public Radio, and the Yreka-based Siskiyou Daily News regularly trumpets the secession cause.

Other regions of the state could benefit from secession. California's great Central Valley doesn't really belong in California. It's the Midwest with dry heat. Splitting off from the rest of the state would allow it to emerge from under the shadow of the Bay Area, to establish a separate identity that celebrates its flatness, its down-to-earth dullness, the soothing homogeneity of its sprawling suburbs and strip malls.

And what about that nascent political giant, Southern California, with its burgeoning Hispanic population? Legend has it that the southwestern United States was the Aztecs' original home. The legend carries with it a prophecy that this ancient land of "Aztlan" will be reclaimed by the descendants of the Aztecs, who will establish a flourishing civilization there.

At the very least, they'll have some darn good murals on their state buildings and more interesting and colorful governors than we've had lately. Which brings us back to Jerry Brown, California's last truly interesting and colorful governor, who is also the sort of governor the Bay Area might elect: bright, intellectually curious, and quirky, as befits a center of higher education and a greenhouse of alternative lifestyles. (A separate State of the Central Valley, on the other hand, might revive Gray Davis's political career.)

There is a solid legal precedent for this idea. West Virginia was given formal status as a separate state on June 20, 1863, after receiving the approval of both the Virginia state legislature and the U.S. Congress, as required by the Constitution.

I'm not saying that smaller governments will guarantee a return to pure representative democracy. But it could help counter the corrupting influence of big money by reconnecting the state's citizens to their government. If downsizing the state were to bring back direct contact between voters and statewide candidates, if it makes government more accessible to the average citizen, it'll be a step in the right direction.

(Tim Holt will be promoting his split-the-state idea on a speaking tour of the Bay Area and North Coast this May. He is also the author of a futuristic novel, On Higher Ground, which portrays a regional, agrarian-based society emerging in the Mount Shasta region, where he lives. For more details on his talks, call (530) 235-4034.)