Are Californians Near the Tipping Point?

I love California.

I’m not just saying that because I’m about to be rude about its government; I really, truly love California. A few years ago, when Scotland was considering leaving the U.K., I made the case to anyone who would listen that, while it was certainly true that the move would have made it easier for the English Right to win, I was against it anyway — for the same reason I would not want to lose a part of my body. Fairly often, Americans met this argument with a cynical remark. “Nah,” they would say. “Let ’em go. Perhaps it’ll inspire California.” This horrified me. I wouldn’t want to see any part of the United States leave. But that one? California is beautiful. It has sublime weather. Its people are inventive and unusual. It’s full of roller coasters. The food is good. It produces wine. It is the center of the world’s technological innovation. And, above all, there’s something ineffable about the way the light hits the trees that you just don’t get anywhere else. I have all manner of great memories of the place — from childhood up to now. When I’m invited to go there, I do so without much thought. As Ronald Reagan used to joke, “If the Pilgrims had landed in California instead of back East, nobody would have bothered to discover the rest of the country.”