The California National Party (; abbreviated as CNP) is a

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

ist and

civic nationalist Civic nationalism, also known as liberal nationalism, is a form of nationalism identified by political philosophy, political philosophers who believe in an inclusive form of nationalism that adheres to traditional liberal values of Freedom (po ...

political party in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The CNP supports

big tent A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined i ...

, progressive policies and also campaigns for Californian independence from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

The California National Party was founded in August 2015, with the intent of creating a political platform centered on California's needs and Californian identity. On 6 January 2016, the

California Secretary of State The secretary of state of California is the chief clerk of the U.S. state of California, overseeing a department of 500 people. The secretary of state is elected for four year terms, like the state's other constitutional officers; the officeho ...

's office sent a memorandum to all 58 county elections offices informing 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". 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; and launched a website, mailing list, and recruitment drive. The party re-filed with the Secretary of State in November 2016 and the new leadership was officially recognized shortly after. Since then, Party leadership has been elected annually by the membership. All leadership candidates must reside in California per the bylaws. The CNP has publicly distanced itself from the

Yes California Yes California is a Californian political action committee that promotes the Partition and secession in California, Independence of the state of California from the United States. It was founded in 2015 by Louis J. Marinelli, a right-wing poli ...

's "Calexit" movement, which has been criticized for its suspected connections to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and for the ideology espoused by Yes California. The CNP disavowed Yes California founder Louis J. Marinelli and Yes California's methods of advocating Californian independence. Jed Wheeler, then Secretary of the CNP, stated in an interview with ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'' 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". As of January 2022, 413 California voters have registered as members of the California National Party. To achieve qualified party status, the CNP would need 0.33% of total registered voters, or approximately 73,000 registered voters.

Organization

The California National Party is organized as a general purpose committee with the

California Fair Political Practices Commission The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) of California is a five-member independent nonpartisan commission that has primary responsibility for the impartial and effective administration of the Political Reform Act of 1974. The Commission's ...

(California's equivalent of the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

Leadership Committee

* Chairperson: Sean Forbes * Vice-Chairperson: Yvonne Hargrove * Secretary: David Lescure * Treasurer: Lyra Porcasi * Chapter Coordinator (North California): Bill Skog * Chapter Coordinator (South California): Chloe Caldasso * External Communications Coordinator: Theo Slater

Ideology

The party name and central purpose of the California National Party is partly inspired by the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

, a

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

center-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

party that advocates

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. 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". 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" The CNP supports greater powers and funding control for

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

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 LGBT 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 marginalized ethnic groups.

Economy

Taxation and Universal Basic Income

The CNP supports a simplified tax code, with a taxation system that combines

negative income tax In economics, a negative income tax (NIT) is a system which reverses the direction in which tax is paid for incomes below a certain level; in other words, earners above that level pay money to the state while earners below it receive money, as ...

for the most economically vulnerable; a progressive tax on wages, investments, and inheritances above a certain baseline, with a top marginal rate of 50%; a tax on net wealth in excess of $50 million to encourage investment instead of over-accumulation; a 22% corporate tax rate; and monthly

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

payments to all California citizens beginning at the age of eighteen or upon legal emancipation. Under the UBI system proposed, all Californians would receive a monthly amount regardless of income level. In addition to this, the CNP also proposes a

, under which those Californians with an annual income below $40,000 will receive a guaranteed tax return. Together, these two policies are intended to replace the current social welfare system, to reduce bureaucracy, and save money. When combined with monthly UBI disbursements of $500, all individuals with California residency would have an annual guaranteed minimum income of $26,000 and an untaxed income from wages and UBI of $46,000. This would be to ensure that food, housing, and other needs are accessible to all Californians. The general increase in the quality of life and the resulting decline in crime, homelessness, and other consequences of poverty will bring benefits to all Californians. While California remains under the federal tax and welfare system, they propose the immediate enacting of UBI, a tax on inheritances in excess of $1 million, and a tax on net wealth above $50 million, as well as negotiations with the United States to alter California's taxation relationship with the federal government.

California Public Bank

The CNP supports the creation of a state-owned Bank of California. Such a public bank is intended to provide an alternative to high-interest payday loans and check-cashing businesses that charge fees for basic services and are primarily used by people with fewer financial resources. It would also provide access to banking services for industries that are legal in California but remain illegal or over-regulated in the United States. All California residents would automatically have an account with the California public bank, with the tax refunds and UBI payments directly deposited into these accounts. In addition to holding California’s reserves of gold and other precious metals, this bank would manage the Innovation and Equity Funds and provide loans and financial services to new, community-based California businesses. At least one branch will be located in each county which, along with secure electronic banking access, will ensure that all Californians have access to banking services in their local communities. This bank will be subject to independent audits every 5 years.

California Innovation Fund

The CNP advocates for the creation of an Office of Innovation to administer an Innovation Fund that will provide funding for scientific research and technological development. California will then retain patents on technology created, license those patents to businesses that pay taxes in California at a discount in order to encourage tech companies to locate there. The profits from these patents would then be applied towards an endowment for the fund to help it grow and become self-sustaining over time. The CNP supports funding for such projects as: Research aimed at improving desalination and clean energy technologies that are critical for California’s long-term resource security. City and county developed publicly-owned broadband services, designed to be woven together in order to create a California-wide system of public broadband that should seek to be the fastest and most affordable broadband in the world, especially emphasizing increased connectivity in underserved rural areas. Deployment of

autonomous vehicles Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise).Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,Group Coordinated Control o ...

and any required infrastructure changes, as well as thorough studies that can result in sensible regulations and legislation regarding their use. Investigating ways to leverage technology to make all levels of California government more responsive, efficient, and democratic.

Education

The CNP supports

universal access to education Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnic background or physical and mental disabilities. The term is used both in colle ...

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. It supports better hiring and compensation practices for educators. The CNP platform advocates for access to

bilingual education In bilingual education, students are taught in two (or more) languages. It is distinct from learning a second language as a subject because both languages are used for instruction in different content areas like math, science, and history. The t ...

across all California public schools. It promotes the goal of bilingual fluency among all Californians, facilitated by

official bilingualism An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

in education between

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. It similarly supports greater access to foreign language education to promote greater levels of language education, as well as subsidization of foreign-exchange programs.

Primary education

The CNP supports free, universal access to

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

and

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

education, advocating the expansion of

California public schools The educational system in California consists of public, NPS, and private schools in the U.S. state of California, including the public University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges systems, private col ...

to include pre-k and kindergarten. 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.

Higher education

The CNP advocates that

California Community Colleges The California Community Colleges is a postsecondary education system in the U.S. state of California.California Education CodSection 70900(added to the Education Code by Chapter 973 of the California Statutes of 1988Assembly Bill No. 1725 sectio ...

(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 The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

(UC) for all students who meet their respective entrance requirements.

Environment

The CNP supports expansion of the California cap-and-trade carbon market. It also supports investment into infrastructure along the

California coast Coastal California, also known as the California Coastline and the Golden Coast, refers to the coastal regions of the U.S. state of California. The term is not primarily geographical as it also describes an area distinguished by cultural, economic ...

to minimize the effects of

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

. It supports the expansion of the

California State Parks The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

, to include both recreational parks and conservationist reserves. The CNP attributes a failing

PG&E The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...

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.

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 Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the te ...

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 The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness ...

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. Incentives for urban rain and gray-water collection to offset water needed for agriculture is also advocated for.

Healthcare

The CNP advocates simplifying currently existing programs into a "

Medi-Cal The California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal or MediCal) is California's Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and childless adults wi ...

for all" system, which includes expansion of access and automatic enrollment.

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

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 The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...

. It also proposes that the Californian government enact a strategic plan for immigration to California. The CNP advocates the access of all public services as a right of all California residents, regardless of immigration status. The party opposes the construction of the "

Trump wall The Trump wall, commonly referred to as "The Wall", is an expansion of the Mexico–United States barrier that started in the U.S. during the 1980’s to keep help enforce immigration laws in the United States. Prior to Donald Trump, border s ...

" along California's southern border with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It also supports the

freedom of movement Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country,Jérémiee Gilbert, ''Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights' ...

across the countries of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. 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.

Legislative and Electoral Reform

Voting

The CNP supports the adoption of

ranked-choice voting Ranked-choice voting may be used as a synonym for: * Ranked voting, a term used for any voting system in which voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference * Instant-runoff voting (IRV), a specific ranked voting system with single-w ...

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.

California Legislature

The CNP supports a voter-approved amendment to the California Constitution to enact an increase to the size of the

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

to enable each member to represent, and be more directly accountable to, a smaller group of Californians with shared economic, social, and geographic conditions. Rather than fix a number of members, each member must represent no more than 100,000 people. As of 2020, this would set the number of

members at 396. The amendment would also Increase the size of the

California Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Due ...

to 50 members, with elections by

Party List Proportional Representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

, In this system, all Californians would either vote for a party, each of which would produce an ordered list of candidates, or an independent candidate who must receive 2% of the total vote to be seated. Parties would receive one Senator for every 2% of the vote.

Autonomy and 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.

Elections

2020

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

2021

Michael Loebs, then party chairperson, ran as a replacement candidate in the 2021 recall election. Loebs received 25,468 votes, which was 0.35% of the statewide vote. His best performance was in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he garnered 1% of the vote. The CNP considered Loebs's candidacy an overall success, stating that it will continue to endorse "

No party preference An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

" candidates and urging members to register more voters.

2022

The Los Angeles County chapter of the CNP formally endorsed two candidates running in the Long Beach City Council election, Carlos Ovalle for District 7 and Steven Estrada for District 1.

References

External links

* {{California political parties California secessionism 2015 establishments in California Political parties in California Progressive parties in the United States Secessionist organizations in the United States Social democratic parties in the United States Political parties established in 2015 Pro-independence parties