Rural GOP Siskiyou County in California votes to secede from the state
by David Atkins
This is funny:
The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 this afternoon to pursue seceding from California.
More than 100 people packed the supervisors’ chambers late this morning for a discussion on whether the county should issue a declaration that it wants to secede from the state. Nearly all those in attendance appeared to be for the move.
Among those in attendance was Erin Ryan, field representative for Rep. Doug LaMalfa. She said that she and other LaMalfa staff members supported the effort to secede, but she did not know LaMalfa’s thoughts on it.
Board Chair Ed Valenzuela was the sole vote against the declaration today. He said he was elected to solve problems within the system.
In August, county residents lobbied the board to consider separating from the state over a laundry list of complaints including a lack of representation in Sacramento for the Republican-majority county, issues pertaining to water rights and the rural fire prevention fee.
This is an empty threat, of course. There is approximately zero chance that the California legislature would grant secession to a Republican county that doesn’t like being part of an overwhelming liberal state majority, and doesn’t want to do a small part to pay the state back for protecting its residents from forest fires.
It’s not as if Siskiyou County would be able to survive better as an independent state. Like most Republican counties in California, Siskiyou gets more money from Sacramento than it pays in.
There is a certain strain of localism and libertarianism which says that each area should be free to govern itself as it pleases if it doesn’t like being a minority outcast in a politically hostile whole. But if that’s the case, then blue cities in red states across America should start declaring independence from their surrounding areas as well, and the makeup of Congress would need to be altered accordingly.
As long as we’re all in it together as a nation, areas like Siskiyou County will need to realize that the price of receiving the many benefits of being in a state like California is the obligation to help out with the common good–even if the good people of Siskiyou can’t fully pull their own weight in that regard.
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