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The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Sunday, December 18, 2016

A QUESTION BORN OF DESPERATION

Is it possible to be a citizen of California without also being a citizen of the United States?  I would be willing to pay a hefty entry fee if it were.  I mean, as Jerry Brown keeps pointing out, California has something like the fifth largest GDP among the world's nations.  

8 comments:

Richard said...

Were not the citizens of California at one point in time not citizens of the United States? So it is possible, just not at the present time.

Anonymous said...

sow* division

Chris said...

Perhaps just become a citizen of Asheville?

David E. said...

With respect to what Mr. Anonymous posted, yes, the Alt-Right is quite interested in secession. Texas and Alaska (Palin's husband, even) have their share of secessionists. And in my readings of the Alt-Right (or better, the rebranded-with-a-catchy-new-name Neo-Nazi movement), the idea of "subsidiarity" or "states' rights" or "nationalism" is built into their dry, crusty Kuchen.

THAT SAID... What is good for the goose is good for the gander. If Americans were relieved by the dissolution of the Soviet Union (with US encouragement), it is understandable that the Russians might return the favor by at least some wishful thinking along those lines.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS -- the United States has been at LEAST two separate countries since the Civil War. And the size alone creates despair and a feeling of alienation in everyone who lives in it.

I'd apply for Californian citizenship too, if it were available.


Anonymous said...

Say what you want about social and political divisions in the country, but Trump was only elected by about 20% of the population (28% of eligible voters). Balkanization is the surefire way to amplify the nightmare of the coming Trump administration and those on the left should be wary of playing into it.

I really don't see how the independence of former Soviet satellite states is really comparable to American secessionist movements. I don't think there are "ethnic Californians" or "ethnic Alaskans" in the way that there are Estonians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, etc.

Anonymous said...

No. The Civil War settled that issue.

Ludwig Richter said...

Professor Wolff, I'm wondering what your son, Prof. Tobias Barrington Wolff, thinks of the paper recently published by Norman L. Eisen, Richard Painter, and Lawrence H. Tribe on how Donald Trump is on a collision course with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. The paper is called "The Emoluments Clause: Its Text, Meaning, and Application to Donald J. Trump" and can be found here:

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/gs_121616_emoluments-clause1.pdf

Robert Paul Wolff said...

I will ask him.