Californians stopped paying federal taxes today. Not everyone, but most. The ones who still want to be part of the United States are mostly moving out.
“We just don’t feel like this is our country anymore,” said Freida Warner in Sausalito. “We’re going to start over here. Like we did in 1776. It was the same then, people from thousands of miles away telling us what to do, people who didn’t share our values. It was Britain then. It’s Washington D.C. now, but the attitudes are the same. We’re the boss, you have to do what we say. Well, you know what: No you’re not.”
The movement started a little over a year ago after a series of government decisions to cut social services, restrict voting rights, and prohibit abortions were backed up by the Supreme Court. It has gained steam as more people signed on. Today is tax day, the first day of the rebellion. The federal government has made it clear it will prosecute those who refuse to pay their taxes, but people like John Brown of Los Angeles say there are too many of them for that to be practical.
“They’re just going to have to let us go,” Mr. Brown said.
No one calls it secession, but that’s what it amounts to. Economic secession. The state government has not taken an official position on the movement.
“We’re going to do our best to keep the lights on and the water running,” said Governor Rodriguez. “We’re used to enduring hardship to gain freedom. This is nothing compared to working the fields of the Central Valley in the hot sun for little money and no respect.”
Will there be another Civil War? It seems unlikely that the federal government would choose to send in the army and become an occupying force, but no one knows.
“Whatever comes, we’re ready for it,” said Julie Newman of San Francisco. “They can have their bigoted sexist country if they want to, but we’re not going to be part of it anymore.”
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