FBO: 'Acknowledges Plan for New California State -- Shared by Farmers, Hollywood and SF's Castro Street''

WE WANT TWO STATES!

Angry farmers in California's Central Valley have organized into overlapping groups of secessionists --Citizens for Saving California Farming Industries (CSCFI) and another called DOWN SIZE CALIFORNIA, which is a bit of misnomer, as what they really want is to SECEDE into a new state (hilariously including Los Angeles and San Francisco), apparently to be called "JEFFERSON."

Everything about this is gold.

The CSCFI is led by Visalia-native/politician Bill Maze, who told the Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News that last November's Proposition 2 -- affecting the housing conditions of poultry -- was "the last straw." The proposition passed, though was rejected in 41 of the state's 58 counties. Maze blamed it on "agriculturally uneducated city dwellers."

Meanwhile, at the recent World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, the "Down Size California" booth was inundated with "multiple thousands" of visitors, according to their website.

The goal of both groups is to cut off 13 counties from California -- from Los Angeles to Marin Country, pockets of conservatism book-ended by the nation's most liberal cities -- and separate themselves from what Down Size California's website describes as "the imposition of burdensome regulations, taxation, fees, fees and more fees."

The left-over part of California, per their website, would be called the New Revitalized California.

WHAT DOES THE FBO THINK?

The FBO sees this a bit like the adolescent scheme of "taking your ball home" when a sideyard football game isn't going the way you want. But we can't help but admire the gall of trying to include the country's most liberal city -- San Francisco -- into the Republican-led Agricultural Xanadu. One wonders if this is the best time to ignore a democratic election and put up walls and pour millions into building a new capitol in Visalia. But we're open to hear more from them.

We've emailed Down Size California on the matter, and hope to post an interview here shortly.

FBO Admin

Mobile HQ -- Woodstock, NY