California National Party

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California National Party (CNP)
Partido Nacional de California
ChairMichael Loebs[1]
Vice-ChairTheo Slater[1]
SecretaryYvonne Hargrove[1]
Founded2015; 6 years ago (2015)
HeadquartersSacramento, California
Student wingCNP Students[1]
Membership (August 2021)Decrease 400[2]
IdeologyCalifornian nationalism‌
Civic nationalism‌
Social democracy
Environmentalism
Political positionCenter-left
Big tent
Colours    Yellow and blue
Seats in the U.S. Senate
0 / 2
Seats in the U.S. House
0 / 53
Statewide Executive Offices
0 / 8
Seats in the State Senate
0 / 40
Seats in the State Assembly
0 / 80
Website
www.californianational.party Edit this at Wikidata

The California National Party (Spanish: Partido Nacional de California;[3] abbreviated as CNP) is a secessionist and civic nationalist political party in California. The CNP supports big tent, progressive policies and also campaigns for Californian independence from the United States.[4]

History[]

The California National Party was founded in 2015, with the intent of creating a political platform centered on California's needs and Californian identity.[5]

On 6 January 2016, the California Secretary of State's office sent a memorandum to registration of voters offices in all 58 counties of California to inform them that they had "received formal notification from the California National Party of their intent to qualify" as a political party on 7 December 2015, and thereafter assigned the party a code designation of "CNP".[6]

Formal organizing for the party did not begin until June 2016, when the CNP held its first convention and elections in Sacramento, California. At that convention, Theo Slater and Andria Franco were elected as Chair and Vice Chair. Jed Wheeler, founder of Californians for Independence, was elected Secretary as the two groups merged. The CNP adopted a new platform, based on the Californians for Independence platform, in September of that year;[7] and launched a website, mailing list, and recruitment drive.[8] The party re-filed with the Secretary of State in November 2016 and the new leadership was officially recognized[6] shortly after.

The CNP has publicly distanced itself from the Yes California's "Calexit" movement, which has been criticized for its suspected connections to Russia and for the ideology espoused by Yes California.[9] The CNP disavowed Yes California founder Louis J. Marinelli and Yes California's methods of advocating Californian independence.[10][5] Jed Wheeler, then Secretary of the CNP, stated in an interview with Politico that "Yes California isn't a Californian movement" and that "Yes California is a movement whose optics are all designed for a Russian audience to reinforce Putin", while stressing that the CNP is a progressive Californian party advocating "a raft of progressive policies, ranging from infrastructural upkeep to universal health care".[11][5]

As of August 2021, 400 California voters have registered as members of the California National Party.[2] To achieve qualified party status, the CNP would need 0.33% of total registered voters, or approximately 73,000 registered voters.[12][13]

Organization[]

The California National Party is organized as a general purpose committee with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (California's equivalent of the Federal Election Commission).[14]

Leadership Committee[]

  • Chairperson: Michael Loebs
  • Vice-Chairperson: Theo Slater
  • Secretary: Yvonne Hargrove
  • Treasurer: Lyra Porcasi
  • Chapter Coordinator (North California): Bill Skog
  • Chapter Coordinator (South California): Sean Forbes

[15]

Ideology[]

The party name and central purpose of the California National Party is partly inspired by the Scottish National Party, a social democratic, civic nationalist, center-left party that advocates independence for Scotland.[16][4] The CNP believes that "California politics should focus on improving the lives of Californians through infrastructure development, encouraging local economic growth, and protecting our land and people".[17]

The CNP's stated "core values" are "building and defending California", "fact-based, compassionate policy", "individual rights and social responsibility", "locally-focused political empowerment", and "prosperity for all Californians"[17]

The CNP supports greater powers and funding control for local government.[17]

Political positions[]

Civil rights[]

The California National Party has a platform of increasingly guaranteed inclusivity of historically marginalized and oppressed demographic groups including Women, the LGBTQ+ population, First Nationals, and peoples of color. Special attention is given to the socio-economic anchors that limit these groups and policies such as: prevention of violence and abuse, medical and prescription equity, increase criminal penalties for discrimination and denial of services against aforementioned population groups, and creation of Federal reparations programs for the wrongdoings of the United States against ethnic groups.[18]

Environmental issues[]

The CNP supports expansion of the California cap-and-trade carbon market. It also supports investment into infrastructure along the California coast to minimize the effects of sea level rise.[19]

It supports the expansion of the California State Parks, to include both recreational parks and conservationist reserves.[19]

The CNP attributes a failing PG&E as a major threat to environmental and public safety. As such, it advocates for mandates to increase building efficiencies and creation of localized renewable energy production.[20]

Water and Agriculture[]

Protection of littoral and inland waterways is a key component of the CNP's environmental plank. It supports a permanent moratorium on offshore drilling along California's coastal seas. The CNP also supports universal public access to all of the beaches of California, based on the freedom to roam principle established when California was under Spanish law. The issue of water access and agriculture are in complement to their beliefs on climate change. The CNP believes in supporting farmers who switch to more environmentally sustainable practices as well as pushing back against large corporate agriculture.[21] Incentives for urban rain and gray-water collection to offset water needed for agriculture is also advocated for.[20]

Education[]

The CNP supports universal access to education from child-care and primary school to higher education. It advocates that all public schools, colleges, and universities in California should be run by administrations led by educators or former educators with teaching experience, not politicians or third party managers.[22] It supports better hiring and compensation practices for educators.

The CNP platform advocates for access to bilingual education across all California public schools.[22] It promotes the goal of bilingual fluency among all Californians, facilitated by official bilingualism in education between English and Spanish. It similarly supports greater access to foreign language education to promote greater levels of language education, as well as subsidization of foreign-exchange programs.[22]

Primary education[]

The CNP supports free, universal access to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten education, advocating the expansion of California public schools to include pre-k and kindergarten.[22] The party platform supports the inclusion of "California studies" in all levels of public education, covering topics including California's history, geography, peoples, and cultures; in addition to greater funding of teacher salaries from the Californian government and supports creation of career programs to attract high performing teachers.[22]

Higher education[]

The CNP advocates that California Community Colleges (CCC) should be free for all Californians and guaranteed offers of admission for all Californians to the California State Universities (CSU) and to the University of California (UC) for all students who meet their respective entrance requirements.[22]

Healthcare[]

The CNP advocates simplifying currently existing programs into a "Medi-Cal for all" system, which includes expansion of access and automatic enrollment.[23]

Immigration[]

The CNP platform proposes the Californian government take a greater role in the attraction of immigrants to California, whether for work, study, or residence. It supports the right of California to participate in the issuance of visas for immigrants alongside the U.S. federal government.[24] It also proposes that the Californian government enact a strategic plan for immigration to California.[24]

The CNP advocates the access of all public services as a right of all California residents, regardless of immigration status.[24]

The party opposes the construction of the "Trump wall" along California's southern border with Mexico.[24] It also supports the freedom of movement across the countries of North America.[24]

The CNP's party platform also supports the creation of a guest worker program to allow for fluctuating levels of temporary immigration for labor shortages not met by the local population or other permanent resident immigrants.[24]

Housing and infrastructure[]

The CNP proposes a constitutional amendment to enshrine affordable housing as a civil right. This is aimed to incentivize construction of housing where demand is highest, with state subsidization if need be. Additionally, the CNP believes California should learn from housing policies that have been effective in other cities, states, and nations; in particular, Singapore with the promotion of large scale government-funded housing construction, and Tokyo which has had success with substantial liberalization of zoning laws.[20]

The California National Party supports the expansion of statewide transportation and consolidation of local transit agencies for streamlining efficiency and interconnectivity.[20]

Voter reform[]

The CNP supports the adoption of ranked-choice voting for all California-wide candidate elections and will work for its adoption in county and local elections. To ensure the integrity of California elections, the CNP supports hand-counting of paper ballots in smaller counties and municipalities and in larger locations, for circumstances in which hand-counting is not feasible, to exclusively use non-proprietary open-source voting (OSV) platforms with the production of paper ballots on devices that are never connected to any computer network.[25]

Independence[]

Main article: California independence

The California National Party (CNP) works for policies that strengthen California while simultaneously laying the groundwork for ever-greater autonomy, self-determination, and ultimately independence.[26]

Elections[]

2020[]

In August 2020, the CNP endorsed Scott Schmidt for Los Rios Community College District Trustee (Area 7).[27] Schmidt won 37% of the vote, but was defeated by opponent Tami Nelson.[28]

2021[]

Main article: 2021 California gubernatorial recall election

Party chairperson Michael Loebs ran as a replacement candidate in the 2021 recall election.[29][30] Loebs received 25,468 votes, which was 0.35% of the statewide vote. His best performance was in San Francisco, where he garnered 1% of the vote.[31] The CNP considered Loebs's candidacy an overall success, stating that it will continue to endorse "No party preference" candidates and urging members to register more voters.[32]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Leadership". California National Party. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Registration by Political Bodies Attempting to Qualify by County" (PDF). sos.ca.gov. August 30, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
  3. ^ "We Build Opportunities – Not Walls!". California National Party. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b Mike Pearl. "Meet the California Separatists Leading a New Movement to Secede from the United States". VICE. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b c Melia Robinson (31 January 2017). "Californians are calling for a split from the US — but one secessionist group has odd ties to Russia". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Political Body: California National Party" (PDF). California Secretary of State. 6 January 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  7. ^ "The California National Party Platform". California National Party. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Report of Registration of California Counties (as of 10 February 2019)" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  9. ^ Alexei Koseff. "These 578 voters want California to form an independent country". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  10. ^ "Statement on Yes California's Russian Embassy and the Crimean Model". California National Party. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  11. ^ Casey Michel (15 January 2017). "Why Russia Loves the Idea of California Seceding". Politico. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Political Party Qualification". Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  13. ^ "Historical Voter Registration Statistics for 15-Day Reports" (PDF). elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov. California Secretary of State. August 30, 2021.
  14. ^ California Fair Political Practices Commission - Drawing Schedule: General Purpose Committees 2019
  15. ^ "Leadership". California National Party. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  16. ^ Jim Miller. "California could see new political party with independence goal". Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  17. ^ a b c "About the California National Party". California National Party. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  18. ^ "Platform CR 2020". California National Party. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  19. ^ a b "Environment platform". California National Party. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  20. ^ a b c d "Platform HI 2020". California National Party. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  21. ^ "Platform Env 2020". California National Party. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  22. ^ a b c d e f "Education platform". California National Party. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  23. ^ "Healthcare platform". California National Party. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  24. ^ a b c d e f "Immigration platform". California National Party. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  25. ^ "Platform Leg 2020". California National Party. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  26. ^ "Platform Ind 2020". California National Party. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  27. ^ 2020 California National Party Convention, retrieved 2021-07-22
  28. ^ "Sacramento County - Election Night Results". results.saccounty.net. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  29. ^ Ting, Eric (June 18, 2021). "This SFSU lecturer and California secessionist may be Gavin Newsom's most fascinating recall foe". SFGATE.
  30. ^ "Official Certified List of Candidates September 14, 2021, California Gubernatorial Recall Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State's Office. July 21, 2021.
  31. ^ Weber, Shirley (22 October 2021). "STATEMENT OF VOTE, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL RECALL ELECTION" (PDF). Office of the California Secretary of State. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  32. ^ Lescure, David (September 28, 2021). "Our Own Michael Loebs gets 25,000 votes for Governor — Now Let's Register More Supporters!". California National Party.

External links[]

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