After the election of Donald Trump, many people in California started to talk about secession. Although such talk has died down, recent studies suggest that if a ballot measure was proposed, roughly ⅓ of all Californians would favor secession.

Personally, I am strongly in favor of secession, for a multitude of reasons. Although my personal disgust for Donald Trump is certainly a factor in this decision, my belief in secession is not limited to his policies.

Whenever I am in a foreign country, and I am asked to identify myself, I prefer to say “Californian” in place of the more common “American”. I think that the word American has a very negative connotation- as many Americans are politically ignorant, lazy, greedy. Californians are seen differently- we are the more politically astute, intelligent citizens.

Secession means that instead of our tax dollars going to pay conservative states who then use those very tax dollars to subsidies oil and gas companies, that we can use our tax dollars instead to save the environment, stop wasting our money on defense. We can do what we as a state care about.

There are many arguments against secession. Primarily, people see secession as receding oneself from a larger community. The logic goes that it is better to stay together, to stand in unity against common problems. In my belief however, this larger community we are a part of is not the “right” larger community. Right now, the United States is the bully at the United Nations, and the UN is useless at stopping our interests, as we are too powerful. Communities are formed given an interdependence, and right now, the United States is too large to be dependent on the United Nations. Thus, the United Nations is not truly a community. If the United States were split up, however, the United Nations could emerge as an institution with more power to punish, to reward, to enact legislation.

The only way to solve global problems such as climate change is a global community of nations. If the United States, or any nation is large enough that the UN can not influence its policies regarding climate change, efforts to control climate change will be futile. Nations must be divided, because a vast collection of smaller nations can control each other given that they are interdependent on one another. It is this so-called “splitting theory” that I have advocated, and will continue to advocate for.

California needs to reject the leadership of the United States- we must secede, and in secession, we as Californians must join the United Nations and finally step into the global community.

The writer wishes to remain anonymous. 

Corrections: Updated March 15, at 11:40 p.m. A previous version of this article incorrectly used “succession” in place of “secession.”