(Newswire.net — January 29, 2017) — The movement “Yes California” that proclaims independence for the Golden State, received a green light on Thursday for raising signatures for leaving the United States.
A proposal has been submitted to revoke the part of the State Constitution that declares California to be an inseparable part of the USA
The approval came from Californian Secretary of State, Alex Padilla. If movement successfully manages to gather at least 600,000 voters who would like “Californian” to become a nationality, the plan will be put on the ballot, and in that case, California independence would be the subject of a referendum.
If the move meets all the criteria, the referendum on Californian sovereignty would not be scheduled before March 2019, if the movement succeeds to collect the necessary voter signatures.
In order to set up the referendum, the movement needs to meet two key criteria: at least 50 percent of registered voters must participate and at least 55 percent need to vote ‘Yes’.
According to the Sacramento-based Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), even if both conditions are satisfied, that still would not be enough for California to become a sovereign independent state. The measure requires the acceptance of a “newly-independent Republic of California” by the United Nations.
If recognized by the UN as an independent country, California then becomes an independent nation. Of course, the White House also needs to sign the approval.
“America already hates California, and America votes on emotions,” Marcus Evans, vice-president of Yes California, told to the Los Angeles Times.
Elaborating on the reasons behind the move, the movement leader, Evans, said being a US state is “no longer serving California’s best interests.”
“Not only is California forced to subsidize this massive military budget with our taxes, but Californians are sent off to fight in wars that often do more to perpetuate terrorism than to abate it”, the movement Yes California claims.
The movement believes the solution of the problem lies in abandoning the U.S. “The only reason terrorists might want to attack us is because we are part of the United States and are guilty by association. Not being a part of that country will make California a less likely target of retaliation by its enemies,” the campaign argues.
According to Reuters, the number of Californians who would rather exit the US escalated to 32 percent from 20 percent in 2014.