Oh, the Silicon Valley billionaires. They are so unique. These tech moguls and venture capitalists got it into their heads that having oodles of money somehow legitimizes their insane ideas. (Peter Thiel, for example.) The latest Silicon Valley billionaire to push a harebrained idea on the public with the zeal of someone who has figured out the secret of life is Tim Draper. This venture capitalist is using his own money to push a ballot initiative in California to split the state into three.
Billionaire Tim Draper would like to see California divided into a northern state with San Francisco as its capital, a smaller but very populated state centered around Los Angeles, and a southern state that encompasses San Diego and wraps around Los Angeles to include the agricultural area of the Central Valley.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
This isn't Draper's first plan to divide California. His first proposal involved splitting the Golden State into six states. Apparently, he thinks splitting it into half as many will be appealing to voters.
A political consultant told The San Francisco Chronicle:
"This just goes to show that a billionaire with a wacky idea can get about anything on the ballot."
Yeah, that seems about right.
Draper is overlooking the fact that a larger state like California has a ton of clout not just in the U.S. but around the world. California has bent environmental regulators to its will and has enormous influence in Washington, D.C. Draper's kooky idea would weaken the state at a time when it would do nothing but hurt California and its residents.
Draper spent more than $5 million on his last effort to divide California. Just think about how much good that money could have done elsewhere. There is a huge homeless crisis in California, but Tim Draper thinks getting his idea on the ballot is worth spending many millions on.
