California county pursuing secession from the state

September 5, 2013

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to pursue secession from the state of California. [Huffington Post]

To the pleasure of a crowd of more than 100 people fed up with California’s legislative direction, the board voted 4-1 to declare its support for secession from the state. The vote did not begin a formal secession process.

The board cited overregulation and a perceived lack of representation at the state capitol as reason for supporting secession. It urged other Northern California and Southern Oregon counties to join in an attempt to create a new sate.

“I haven’t had one contact in regard to this issue that’s in opposition,” Supervisor Michael Kobseff told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Many proposed laws are unconstitutional and deny us our God-given right,” said Happy Camp resident Gabe Garrison. “We need our own state, so we can make laws that fit our way of life.”

In order to secede from the state, a group of secessionists must gain approval from both Congress and the California legislature.

In 2011, a Riverside County supervisor called for 13 southern and eastern California counties to form a new state, splitting California in half.

A spokesman for Governor Jerry Brown called the proposal “a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody’s time.”

“If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there’s a place called Arizona,” Gil Duran said.