Category: California Independence

Yes, peaceful secession is real. No, it can’t be done without the consent of Congress.

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Do California cities have to fly the U.S. flag?

ICI March 27, 2025

California’s state flag is a powerful symbol of resistance and unity in the face of a cruel, lawless presidential administration. Across California, people have been starting to take down their U.S. flags and fly the California flag instead.

What if Californians want our elected local governments to do the same thing?

At a first glance, they can’t; state law mandates all government offices have to fly the U.S. flag. But this law doesn’t apply in all cases. And it definitely doesn’t say we have to fly the U.S. flag right-side up!

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What it Means to be a Donor State

C.C. Marin March 14, 2025

Is it accurate to describe the federal funding California gets as California’s own money? Would the U.S. be poorer and weaker without California? Does California’s economy prop up red states? Is California one of the states least reliant on the federal government?

The short answer to all these questions is yes. But it’s pretty hard to win a debate with just one data point.

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Connecting California: California should force Trump to kick us out of country

ICI February 23, 2025

Joe Mathews: How do you get yourself thrown out of a ballgame? The late Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel, who was ejected from 40 major league games, believed in persistence and obnoxiousness: “You just gotta argue with the umpire until he gets tired of listening to you.”

How do you get your state thrown out of the country? If Californians want independence from the United States, they should follow the strategy of Stengel, who made his home in Glendale.

Inside the California Supreme Courts

Courthouse News: Breaking up is hard to do: California secession movement pushes forward on ballot question

ICI January 30, 2025

Alan Riquelmy: A poll released this month and commissioned by the Independent California Institute — which stated that its first principle is for California to become a “fully functioning sovereign and autonomous nation” — offers some support for secessionists.

According to the poll, 61% of respondents said the state would be better off if it peacefully seceded, and 63% supported using “hardball” tactics to gain autonomy.

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Press Release: 66% of Californians want an autonomy commission. It shouldn’t take an initiative to get them one.

ICI January 27, 2025

Carlsbad, CA: 61% of Californians said they would be better off California if peacefully seceded from the U.S. at some point in the next ten years, in a poll conducted in the weeks before Inauguration Day. This is the highest favorability towards secession ever recorded in a California poll.

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Poll: As Trump Is Inaugurated, Californians Seek Independence

ICI January 19, 2025

Highlights: 61% of Californians polled say California would be better off if it peacefully seceded. 77% say California should control its state borders “more like a country”. 63% support using hardball tactics in the U.S. House to gain autonomy. Californians now feel more Californian than American overall.

Please submit press inquiries to press@ic.institute.