硅谷的風(fēng)投資本家抱有一種奇特的觀念。他們認(rèn)為賺了一大筆錢，就可以讓自己那些異想天開的想法變得精妙絕倫。他們實(shí)在太富有，因此自己那些關(guān)于世界應(yīng)該變成什么樣的輕率思想，不僅應(yīng)該在這個依托現(xiàn)實(shí)的世界里得到公平的聆聽，還體現(xiàn)了他們超越常人的智慧。

投資者蒂姆·德雷珀就打算用金錢實(shí)現(xiàn)這樣一個想法：用公民表決把加利福尼亞州一分為三。如果他能成功，加利福尼亞就會變成一個以舊金山為中心的北部州，一個與洛杉磯為中心、區(qū)域更小但人口更稠密的中間州和一個包括大部分產(chǎn)糧區(qū)中央山谷和圣迭戈的南部州。

德雷珀很聰明。他原本希望把加利福尼亞州分成六個州。但他認(rèn)為少一半或許可以吸引更多支持者。反對德雷珀這種胡鬧的一名政治顧問對《舊金山紀(jì)事報》（The San Francisco Chronicle）表示：“這只表明那些異想天開的億萬富翁可以通過公民表決煽動任何事情。”

德雷珀似乎沒有意識到強(qiáng)大統(tǒng)一的加利福尼亞州對美國和世界的作用。例如，它能讓環(huán)保部門讓步屈服，對華盛頓特區(qū)的美國政府也有巨大的影響力。這個州需要團(tuán)結(jié)起來、齊心協(xié)力，而德雷珀的做法會削弱它的實(shí)力。

德雷珀上次花費(fèi)了超過500萬美元來分裂加州。想想這筆錢如果用來幫窮人果腹，給無家可歸者庇護(hù)之所，或是為風(fēng)投資本家謙遜的投資提供支持，會產(chǎn)生多大的積極意義。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

Silicon Valley venture capitalists are plagued with a strange affliction. They believe that having made gobs of money somehow makes their kooky ideas brilliant. They’re stinking rich, so their hair-brained concepts of what the world ought to look like not only deserve a fair hearing in the reality-based world but somehow are examples of their superior thinking.

The investor Tim Draper has such an idea he’s using his money to push: a ballot initiative to split California into three. If Draper has his way, California would be cleaved into a northern state with San Francisco at its core, a smaller but populous center built around Los Angeles, and a southern state encompassing much of the breadbasket Central Valley plus San Diego.

Draper is nothing if not nimble. He originally wanted to split California into six states. Somehow he thinks half that will be more appealing to voters. A political consultant who has opposed Draper’s shenanigans before got it right when he told The San Francisco Chronicle: “This just goes to show that a billionaire with a wacky idea can get about anything on the ballot.”

Draper seems not to have noticed that a big and powerful California holds tremendous clout in the nation and the world. It bends environmental regulators to its will, for example, and has tremendous influence in Washington, D.C. His maneuvering would weaken the state at a time it needs to pull together.

Draper spent more than $5 million on his last effort to split up California. Imagine how much good that money could do feeding the poor, housing the homeless, or funding humility courses for venture capitalists.