By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-12 18:01:40 | Updated at 2024-12-23 09:04:53
1 week ago
The man leading the effort to split California into two separate states has explained why the differences between liberals and conservatives are irreconcilable.
Paul Preston, a former school administrator, founded the New California State movement and has been trying detach the rural counties from ultra left-wing cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco for years.
Unlike the enduring efforts from Texas to secede from the United States entirely, Preston wants his new version of California to stay in the union. His main problem lies with the Democratic supermajorities in the state.
'We recognized that we were in a tyranny,' Preston told Fox News this week, referencing how Democrats overwhelmingly control both chambers of the state legislature.
California Democrats have a trifecta - or control of the state house, senate and governorship - as well as a triplex, meaning the party holds the attorney general's office, the secretary of state as well as the governor's office.
Preston said California is a 'one party system' that disregards the needs of its rural citizens and compared the state to the communist regimes of North Korea, China, Cuba and Venezuela.
Preston said Democrats have failed on a number of issues, including the migrant crisis and the growing amount of fentanyl coming into the state via the southern border.
The new map of California that Preston has proposed would include nearly all of California's 58 counties and would exclude most of Los Angeles County, parts of Sacramento County and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Paul Preston (pictured) had led the effort to break California into two distinct states for years
Pictured: The New California State would be all the land in red. The original California is in yellow and includes most of Los Angeles County, parts of Sacramento County and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area
Preston told Fox News that the map isn't final and doesn't represent what the proposed 51st state's final borders might look like.
Crucially, Preston's rural Californian state would include San Diego and Imperial counties, both of which share a border with Mexico. This would theoretically give the new state the ability to decide how to deal with immigration going forward.
'I don't think anybody's going to tell California that we are free from invasion and we're free from domestic violence,' he said, talking about the migrant crisis and liberal reforms that critics believe have led to elevated crime rates in the state.
Notably, Preston and his New California State organization submitted an amicus brief with the Supreme Court related to a election fraud case filed by Raland J. Brunson.
In 2022, Brunson sued 388 government officials, including many members of the House of Representatives, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence, for not investigating alleged fraud in the 2020 election. The case has not been heard and requests for hearings have been repeatedly denied.
While Preston's idea for a California that would be more right-leaning has been around for years, most government officials haven't commented on it.
That could be because the process of actually forming a new state as put forth in the US Constitution is quite arduous. Preston would need the consent of California's state legislature and Congress, according to the Constitution's admissions clause.
Beyond issues with crime and illegal immigration, California has seen its cost of living skyrocket and people have responded by leaving the state in droves.
Santa Barbara, another major city in California, would be included in the seceded state, according to borders drawn by Preston
There is an acute homelessness crisis in California. (Pictured: Homeless people living in tents in Los Angeles' Skid Row)
There is also an acute homelessness crisis in the state. The number of people sleeping out on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities has increased to around 180,000, despite the government spending billions of dollars on the problem.
James Gallagher, the Republican leader in the state assembly, told Fox News he wasn't aware of Preston's New California State effort but said, 'I totally understand it.'
'I get the discussion,' he said. 'I think we might need to look into it. Maybe there should be two states.'
Gallagher, perhaps differing with Preston slightly, doesn't believe the divide in California is necessarily down to urban versus rural.
'It often feels like there are two separate states in California,' he said. 'That inland portion feels completely forgotten by Gavin Newsom and the supermajority Democrats. All the policies that come out of Sacramento don't really burden [Democratic lawmakers].'
Gallagher pointed to California's electric vehicle mandate that will require all new vehicles sold in the state after 2035 to meet zero-emission standards, which he said would hurt many rural residents.
Preston acknowledged how difficult it would be to secede from California, but he remains optimistic.
'We've been received very well in Congress, even by Democrats. It's interesting that people who are starting to see what we're doing are on board,' Preston said.
