Colbert grills Tim Draper about his six Californias initiative
The architect of the plan to break California into six separate states faces a hilarious line of questioning from the Comedy Central talk show host.
Stephen Colbert put his magic touch on venture capitalist Tim Draper's plan to split California into six separate states. The comedian hosted Draper on his Comedy Central talk show on Wednesday to discuss the outlandish idea.
Dubbing Draper the "Silicon Valley billionaire and evil stepfather in a Lifetime movie," Colbert described the six-state initiative as "a great new plan to make California whole again by breaking it apart."
Draper revealed his idea in December calling for a breakup of California into six self-governing states: Jefferson, North California, Central California, West California, South California, and Silicon Valley. Of note is Draper's inclusion of Silicon Valley as a separate state, which would become the richest state in the country per capita, while neighboring Central California would become the poorest.
The central thesis of Draper's initiative is that the state has become too unmanageable as 38 million Californians vie for the attention of the local government. The state's education system, prison population, and poverty levels are unsustainable, says Draper, and could benefit from different governing.
"It's an opportunity to reboot, but just like restarting Windows, it might take a few years," Colbert said on Wednesday.
Since he first proposed the idea, Draper has collected the 807,000 signatures necessary to get the proposal on the 2016 ballot.
"Do you think that these eventual other states will keep California's insane proposition system, where anyone can get something on the ballot?" Colbert asked.
Draper took the jokes in stride and told Colbert he has no intentions to enter government if the plan goes through.
"You're just gonna set the charge, blow it apart, and say not my &$#*ing problem," Colbert said.
If you missed the show, two clips can be seen below.