California is not a good example of political independence: they have a super majority of Democrats in all branches of government.
"Independence" means variations on the Left; the Right can be completely ignored as they are politically powerless—largely due to ~1M Right-leaning voters exiting California for over a decade now.
"Independence" means variations on the Left; the Right can be completely ignored as they are politically powerless—largely due to ~1M Right-leaning voters exiting California for over a decade now.