Opinion: Dear California: Take it from Alabama — you don’t want to try secession

To the editor: I read with great interest about the proposed secession of California from the Union. As a native of the great state of Alabama, I would think that the folks in California might want to ask some Southerners about how secession worked out for us. (“Break away from the USA? The effort to cleave California faces its own split,” April 16)

I remember a little misunderstanding called “the Civil War,” an oxymoron if there ever were one. It’s amusing to watch as some in California fight over “states’ rights.”

I will watch with interest the gyrations of California, but residents should understand that, given our our last little go-round with the Union Army, if a real shooting war breaks out, they’re on their own. We got enough fighting the last time.

Gene Martin, Dothan, Ala.

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To the editor: Interesting story about secession efforts in California. Can Colorado join and create the nation of California-Colorado?

But seriously, speaking of Colorado, do these “Calexit” proponents know what they plan to do with the Colorado River Compact and all the federal water projects in California? Are they going to buy them back from the U.S. taxpayers?

The would-be secessionists say much more money has gone from California to Washington than the other way around. What about the billions spent on water projects by U.S. taxpayers? There would be no Imperial Valley without the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. For that matter, there would be no California as we know it today without the federal water projects.

If Calexit were to happen, the Colorado River Compact would need to be renegotiated, and no one in California wants that door opened.

Douglas Crawford, Denver

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To the editor: The federal government owns about 48% of the land in California. It is very unlikely that the U.S. will graciously file a quitclaim for all that property as a housewarming gift to our nascent nation. But even if it did, Washington would almost certainly retain all military bases in the state, just as Russia kept bases in Crimea after Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union.

This makes it all the more easy at a future date, perhaps under the administration of President Barron Trump, for the U.S. to declare that California is blatantly discriminating against ethnic Americans and invade the breakaway republic. And why not? They’ll already have “boots on the ground” here and plenty of local sympathizers.

But this will never happen, because California is never going to become a nation. So let’s not waste any more time and money on foolishness and concentrate on making America, our country, great again — for real this time.

Jamo Jackson, Rainbow, Calif.

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