It's one of the most fundamentally undemocratic aspects of American democracy: the state of California, with a record 38 million residents, gets the same representation in the U.S. Senate as Wyoming, which has 570,000 residents. Now one big-time venture capitalist is leading the charge to redress the balance with an eyebrow-raising ballot initiative to split California into six states.
"Political representation of California's diverse population and economies has rendered the state nearly ungovernable," reads the proposal by VC Tim Draper, which he is expected to submit to the state's attorney general this weekend for inclusion in the next state ballot, pending signature collection. "The citizens of the state would be better served by six smaller state governments."
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Draper is the founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a 28-year-old VC firm that invested in Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX and Box, among many others. This isn't his first foray into state politics; he served on the California Board of Education in the 1990s. Still, six Californias is a little more out there than the school choice initiatives he previously championed.
Six Californias, which has its own website and is seeking volunteers, would split the state thus: Jefferson (the northernmost counties near Eureka), North California, Central California, West California (containing Los Angeles), South California (Orange County and San Diego), and the Bay Area — here renamed Silicon Valley.
Critics have detected a distinct libertarian streak to Draper's proposal. Indeed, the veteran VC seems to be focused on lower regulation and more competition among the new states. However, he may want to be careful what he wishes for. In a Silicon Valley state, the technorati would be vastly outnumbered by the liberal voters of San Francisco, San Jose and the East Bay.
Quite apart from the controversial decision of where to draw the boundaries (does it make sense to separate Marin and Napa from the Bay Area, or LA from Orange County?), Six Californias faces a number of major hurdles. Even if it makes it onto the ballot and passes, the state split would need to be ratified by Congress itself. It's hard to imagine the Republican majority in the House accepting a proposal that might add as many as 10 new Senators from a solid blue state.
On the other hand, the GOP would be sure to gain Senators from the more conservative east and south of the state. The proposal isn't entirely without precedent: As Draper points out, Congress was ready to ratify the splitting of California into two states in 1859, pre-Civil War. California tech leaders have offered a number of alternate government arrangements in recent years, such as uber-libertarian PayPal founder Peter Thiel's plans for a floating island and a cruise ship full of startups.
The proposal, first unearthed by TechCrunch, is embedded below.
Six Californias Proposal

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Image: Flickr, naixn; SixCalifornias.info