Can California Be the Most Successful Country on Earth?: The State Should Lean Into Independence and Serve as America’s Western Firewall (Joe Mathews, May 12, 2026, Zocalo)
Look at the history of our independence. For decades, California has effectively operated with a level of economic, regulatory, and moral autonomy that rivals most sovereign nations. That autonomy is perhaps most visible on environmental matters.
California has established protections for endangered species and the coast (check out this terrific documentary) that go far beyond what the rest of the country provides. California has capitalized on waivers from the federal Clean Air Act—which allowed it to set tougher emissions standards to fight smog—to build its own highly skilled regulatory agencies.
The results are stunning. While the U.S. doubles down on coal and oil and gas, California’s power grid is increasingly powered by wind, solar, and battery storage, sometimes hitting 100% renewable usage. Electric cars have proliferated, tailpipe emissions have been controlled, and greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2020 met. In 2024, California completed the largest removal of ecosystem-destroying dams in U.S. history on the Klamath River.
California’s independence also raises global standards. California has forged its own foreign policy, clinching treaties to boost trade and investment with China, Canada, Mexico, and various European countries. The state’s groundbreaking climate rules, now two decades old, have touched off similar planning in subnational and local governments worldwide.
Our commitment to independence benefits Californians in other areas, too. California has set its own, far-reaching labor regulation standards that treat gig workers and fast-food employees as citizens of a modern social democracy rather than economic cogs. California’s California Consumer Privacy Act effectively governs how Silicon Valley treats data worldwide. And when the federal government repealed “net neutrality” rules, California imposed its own law to prevent internet service providers from favoring specific content.
California is an essential independent force for human rights in an America that is abandoning those rights.
California is too large for optimal nation size.