In reply to Geoffrey Andersen's question, "Why should a loyal Californian oppose this proposal?"

I will start by stating the obvious; No one cares about Delaware. As a happy (and loyal) resident of California and a former resident of Delaware I can say with confidence that the June proposal would be bad for California. The proposal would effectively turn California into 54 Delawares. I could list all the many reasons this sucks, but most of them should be self evident. When is the last time a presidential candidate bothered to campaign in Delaware? Not even Biden would be foolish enough to waste his time in his home state for a measly 3 electoral votes. The plan you support would give you 1 electoral vote!! Far from increasing Republican interest in California policies, energy or otherwise, Presidential canidates would reallocate any attention they paid to California voters to Ohio voters. Why should they bother paying any attention to the well gerrymandered California districts when they are all sure things anyway. Even if you paired this with Prop 77, (a proposition with striking similarities in political support) and all the districts stood on the knifes edge of Red vs Blue, the candidates would have to mount 54 campaigns for little pay-off (why campaign to 700,000 Californians for 1 vote when you can campaign to 700,000 Delawareans for 3). The end result is that the 54 California districts would fit on the priority list for candidates somewhere between D.C. and Utah. Last time I checked the Federal Government didn't give a crap about either of them. At least Delaware would still have It's huge over-representation in the senate (42 to 1 and rising, Barbara Boxer is far less influential than Joe Biden and she has received more votes for public office per election then any other senator). While your support for enfranchising California Republicans is a nice show of loyalty to California, it has not been shown that these Republicans are under-represented. They have they're Congressional reps (Go Duke!!) and California may become a swing state if the party chooses to nominate a moderate. The status quo gives Republican Governors of California a huge advantage for presidential runs and thus California Republicans can reap the benefits of one of there own in the White House! How much more influence do you think they need?!? I hate the primary system as it stands, but Reagan came from California, not Iowa. If it's California's Influence you want to protect then you should avoid this proposal like the plague.

That's my answer if you care to read it. I would love a response.

Here are a few fun propositions that would address California's under-representation if you really think that is a problem;

1 Abolish the US Senate

2 Split into multiple states

3 move to single day national primaries and make them winner take all

(3 is the only one that would ever be possible but they are all pretty far-fetched)