The California National Party believes it is necessary to peacefully and constitutionally liberate ourselves from the United States empire. California’s needs are ignored by Washington D.C. in favor of a few swing states whose votes actually matter, effectively leaving Democratic, Republican, and other voters disenfranchised.
California’s issues are neglected due to increasing political polarization and gridlock in the US capitol. I believe the major problems we face today are immigration, healthcare, education, and – critically – infrastructure. If California is able to secede from the United States, the California Republic can focus on tackling these issues; along with the many others we are unable to resolve as part of the imperial United States. The solutions won’t happen over night, but getting back the the $60-100 billion a year Californians spend on DC’s subsidies to other states and wasteful spending will get us off to a great start.
While many Americans are concerned about immigration policies and their implementation, no people are more concerned than those who reside in the Southwestern United States, especially Californians. California is home to more than 2.5 million undocumented immigrants, by far the most of any state. Donald Trump’s incoherent platform is full of inhumane and impossible strategies to quell immigration. The California National Party has an alternative approach, we support residency for all undocumented immigrants within California and citizenship for those that can prove five years of residency, as well as a guest worker program which would include protections and the right to organize. We understand that many undocumented immigrants have built their lives within California and contribute greatly to our economy, with over 3.2 billion in taxes paid to California in just 2013.
Many people across the political spectrum are upset with the Affordable Care Act, particularly the fact that it forces working-class people who cannot afford healthcare to pay fines and has left millions with either no health insurance or with insurance that is too expensive to actually use. It is essentially corporate welfare, justified with pseudo-leftist rhetoric. We would scrap that system in favor of a single-payer healthcare system based on the French model of healthcare which supports just over 60 million people.
This Universal health care plan would be based on not-for-profit entities competing in a regulated marketplace for the businesses of the people. The Californian government would regulate and negotiate prices in consultation with the industry. This leaves market incentives in place while preventing price-gouging like what we’ve seen from insulin and epipen price explosions or Martin Shkreli’s efforts at pirate capitalism. It would also save our citizens from being driven to bankruptcy by illness – even under Obamacare medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. The competition between nonprofit entities and consultation with government will not only control cost of lifesaving healthcare but also keep quality high.
Those visiting California, will be able to access our healthcare system with the same cost as the state would pay plus 10% which would open up medical tourism and a large influx of money from medical tourists from around the world. This healthcare model would also help businesses, as it would remove the burden of paying for employee healthcare, in turn removing a major barrier from startups and small businesses as well as helping businesses of every size by reducing one of their largest labor related costs.
We also have comprehensive proposals for education reform – something that is desperately needed since the quality of California’s K-12 education system is plummeting and the price of college skyrocketing. Currently many of the decisions of the day to day operation in K-12 and university are made by politicians with no experience in education. These logistical decisions need to be made by teachers, principals and those with teaching experience, and the solutions need to be based on evidence of what works. The CNP also supports major investments in STEM fields with focused investment in working class and historically marginalized communities. This is essential both from a social justice perspective and because California desperately needs more and better educated scientists and engineers to drive our high-tech industries.
We also support enforcement of class size caps, a more historically accurate history curriculum that reflect the diversity of California’s history, incorporation of online learning, universal pre-k education, and teacher retention programs and policies to reward dedicated teachers. Our priorities need to be reassessed when we spend over $50,000 a year on inmate and just over $8,500 per students in higher education. This is especially true because so many of the people in our prisons should not be there – nonviolent drug crimes account for half of California’s incarcerations and the morally bankrupt private prison industry continues to lobby for harsher sentencing. Instead, we should be invested in building trade schools, community colleges, and 4-year universities for a highly educated work force. The CNP also wants to offer free college for the top 50% of public school graduates and affordable access to a college education for everyone.
Instead of wasting our money on subsidies, wars, and incarceration; we believe California should invest in restoring, updating and expanding our crumbling infrastructure. We support the expansions of public transportation and the construction of a high speed rail, a shift into a post carbon economy by using green energy, and investment in water collecting and desalination systems in order to protect us from California’s persistent droughts and generally drying climate.
Many of these programs will help pay for themselves by creating new job opportunities, and closing the gap between the rich and the poor in California. Other funding can come from a new defense model that implements the best cost cutting practices of European countries. More sources of funding come from independence itself, we currently spend between $60 and $100 billion per year (depending on which sources you believe) funding agricultural subsidies and corporate welfare programs in other states. Californians will be economically stronger, healthier, and have an even more dynamic and rapidly growing economy once we are independent. To help us in our endeavor join us and make your voice heard as we build a stronger and more equitable California for all.
