Letter to the Editor: Trump does not represent California voters

In response to the result of the 2016 presidential election and the outspoken reactions from the community, the Daily Bruin is running a series of submissions from readers. Click here to read more.

Fellow Californians and UCLA students, I write to you with a heavy heart. We woke up on Nov. 9 in a reality we did not know existed. A Trump administration and Republican control of both chambers of Congress now threatens our way of life. Our voices have essentially been silenced.

California has a history of bucking federal authority and promoting gun control, marriage equality, marijuana legalization and progressive immigration policies. Those policies are now threatened.

But there is an alternative. It may seem foreign but in this new reality, it is an exciting possibility: Secede from the United States.

When Californians passed Proposition 59 to encourage our elected leaders to overturn Citizens United, we did so knowing that little would come from it. Instead, it was a healthy outlet to express our frustration with an obviously undemocratic Supreme Court ruling.

We now have a chance to again express our deep disapproval of where America is heading. It must be done now, before the federal government comes for our undocumented students and residents, bans gay marriage, takes away our recently legalized marijuana – a medically used drug which the Drug Enforcement Agency still considers a Schedule 1 substance – and resets the progressive clock 20 years.

I believe our legislative leaders in Sacramento said it best: “Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land.” We need to take a stand and let the rest of the world know that California is not America, and Trump does not represent us.

Schulenberg is a fourth-year geography student and veteran U.S. Army staff sergeant.

Click here for full coverage of the 2016 election and reactions at UCLA.