Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper believes that to better represent its citizens, California should be divided.
Draper has been pitching the “Cal 3” plan for years, but 2018 has given it the sort of traction it needs to get onto the November ballot. He has gathered almost twice the required number of signatures for its inclusion — roughly 600,000 as opposed to the minimum 365,880 he had struggled to amass in 2014 and 2016.
The three states would be configured as follows: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and San Benito counties would make up the central Californian state; Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, and Mono counties would form the southern one; finally, the 40 remaining counties would be lumped into a single northern California state.
“I think that these three new states are going to empower people to realize what’s possible in government,” Draper said in an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight. He believes that these divisions will enable a more accurate representation of the diverse populations congregated against the Pacific.
Further, to his mind, the division may enable California to solve some of its most pressing issues; namely, education. “The education system is just about the worst in all 50 states, and it’s the biggest state,” Draper said. “So it really does need sort of a revamp and a restart. And I think this is a good start to doing that.”