Calexit movement gaining momentum

Calls for California to secede from the United States gained traction after President-elect Donald Trump won the election, and the group spearheading the efforts took a formal step forward Monday by submitting a proposed petition to put the question to a vote.

The Yes California Independence Campaign hopes that the question, which asks if Californians want to strip the state constitution language that says the state is an "inseparable part of the nation," will gather enough signatures to make the November 2018 ballot.

"We’re doing it now because of all the overwhelming attention," Marcus Ruiz Evans, vice president and co-founder of Yes California, told the Los Angeles Times.

The movement has tried for more than two years to spread the idea of secession but so far has failed in getting initiatives to institute California as a separate nation and rename the governor "president" of California on the ballot. But their cause went viral on social media after the elections with the hashtag #CalExit, reflecting the accumulated frustration and isolation some Californians feel from the rest of the country.

"In our view, the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values, and our continued statehood means California will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment," the group wrote in a statement after the elections. "California could do more good as an independent country than it is able to do as a just a U.S. state."