Calexit: Canadians Invite Blue States On The West Coast To Defect

Democrats who threatened to move to Canada if Trump won the election, but don’t want to leave sunny California just yet now have a third option for their Calexit secessionist movement — kind of.

Artists, journalists, and ne’er-do-wells from our neighbor to the north have invited the entire West Coast of the United States: California, Oregon, and Washington to secede from the Union and join Canada.

Offers to defect to Canada began pouring in on social media shortly after Donald Trump won the American election and haven’t stopped since, as Kamloops reporter Chad Harris tweeted out, according to ThinkPol.

“Dear California, Oregon, Washington – I’m sure we can work something out if you want to join Canada.”

Fellow Canadian Craig Heber also had mercy on those seeking to escape a Donald Trump presidency and extended the olive branch of friendship to the world’s sixth largest economy, according to ThinkPol.

“Now is the time for Canada to prepare to add 3 provinces, Washington, Oregon and California.”

Still, other Canadians extended the offer even further, encouraging Nevada to join the growing Calexit movement and defect to Canada, as Calgary resident Andrew Mercier posted on Facebook, according to ThinkPol.

“Therefore WA, OR, NV, and CA you are now provinces [of Canada], also bring all the goodness that you have to us!!!”

Other Canadians had mercy on residents of Hawaii and invited the Aloha State to join California in seceding from the Union and escaping the horror of having Trump as president, as Rick Spence tweeted, according to ThinkPol.

“California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii. Don’t bother to count the votes. Join Canada. Just try us out for four years.”

If Cali secedes then that'd be like the equivalent of moving to Canada but getting to go somewhere warm #Calexit

— Alanna ? (@awkward_alanna) November 10, 2016

While the offer to defect to Canada may sound crazy at first glance, there are some similarities between West Coast residents and our neighbors to the north. We are both working to combat climate change, mandate health coverage for all, and legalize recreational cannabis.

The offer to defect to Canada may be humorous, but it does reflect the resentment of millions of West Coast residents. The Calexit hashtag started trending after Trump won the election last week, and residents in the Golden State began to confront the reality of having a Republican they deeply mistrust in the White House.

Californians are angry Trump won the election by appealing to residents of flyover states who don’t share the same values as those on the East and West coasts, as secessionists at the Yes California Independence Campaign argue.

“It is about the American people who elected him. If they could do such a thing, then the United States is not our country and Trump is not our president. We will vote to secede from the Union.”

It goes further than that. Because of the electoral college, a Californian vote doesn’t mean as much as a vote by someone in a rural state like Montana or Alaska; the Golden State hasn’t affected the presidential election since 1876, according to the Yes California Independence Campaign.

“Presidential election results are often known before our votes are even counted.”

Seceding from the Union is more difficult than creating a trending hashtag, however. The minimum a state would need to leave the U.S. is a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-thirds approval of Congress or the remaining states. The last time a state tried to secede from the union by force some 620,000 soldiers died.

That hasn’t stopped dissatisfied residents from trying to leave the U.S. and go their own way.

The idea of a California secessionist movement has been a fringe idea for years, but so has the concept of a free and sovereign Texas. There are residents of the Lone Star state who asked the government to let them go their own way after Barack Obama was elected president the first time.

Then, after Britain decided to withdraw from the European Union in the historic Brexit vote, secessionists tried to revive the Texas nationalist movement, and this year, three out of five Texans threatened to leave the country if Clinton won the election.

A free and independent California isn’t as crazy as it sounds. The Golden State has the world’s six largest economy and a population larger than Poland. The Yes California Independence Campaign is attempting to put the question of an independent Golden State on the ballot in 2018.

“The United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children.”

Should California and the West Coast secede from the United States?

[Featured Image by omersukrugoksu/iStock]