The war between the state
Northern Colorado wants to become the 51st state. The reasons? The rural north has different politics and economic concerns than the more urban south, and feels the latter is crushing it and ignoring its needs.
I don’t think this will fly, although I think it’s an interesting effort. The most recent previous precedent—West Virginia vs. Virginia—occurred in the context of the Civil War and opposition to slavery, which was the major stated reason for West Virgina’s secession from Virginia and its admission as a separate state in 1863.
Maine is another example with some unique characteristics. Not one of the original thirteen states because it was part of Massachusetts, Maine was nevertheless not contiguous with Massachusetts, with little New Hampshire in-between. In 1819 Massachusetts allowed Maine to secede if Maine voters chose to do so, which occurred shortly thereafter in 1820. Maine (somewhat like West Virginia) was admitted to the US because of concerns connected with slavery, in Maine’s case as part of the 1820 Missouri Compromise. It was a free state balancing out the entry of Missouri, a slave state.
Kentucky left the mother state of Virginia very early on, and was admitted in 1792, and Tennessee(1796) had a very similar history vis a vis North Carolina.
I’m unaware of any other states that have been formed by secession from already-admitted states. It would be highly unusual at this point in time; hasn’t happened in 150 years.
What’s more, the particular beef that northern Colorado has with southern Colorado is similar to the issues that roil many other states today. For example, New York, Maine, and New Hampshire (just to mention a few that I know rather well) have north-south dichotomies where the north is more rural and conservative than the south. California has a coastal/inland split, Illinois a metro-Chicago-versus-everything-else difference. Although I’m not aware of the details (just as, prior to this news about northern Colorado, I knew next to nothing about the differences between Colorado’s north and south), I would imagine there are many other states with similar disagreements between their different areas.
But whatever northern Colorado wants to do , not only does the rest of Colorado have to agree, but Congress has to approve, as well. I just don’t see that happening, because I think the fear would be increased Balkanization of many states that could try to follow suit, resulting in (among other things) more representation for rural, conservative areas as opposed to urban ones.
Conservatives may like that idea, but I don’t see why liberals would. For example, the state of New York is reliably Democratic, but if it became two states (each with its own senators) the senate would probably gain two conservative members, because the urban southern part would continue as before (liberal) but would no longer be able to dominate the north. I can’t quite imagine any liberal or Democrat in Congress voting yes to that sort of arrangement.
I can think of 2 other examples of attempted state mitosis. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan had a secession movement to create the “State of Superior” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_(proposed_U.S._state)). And some folks in the rural regions of northern California, plus bits of southern Oregon were pushing for separation as the State of Jeffersion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_(proposed_Pacific_state)), which had a rather serious push in 1941, but the US entry into WWII stopped that.
Texas has the ability to split, arguably at its discretion, into 5 separate states. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/11/texas_secession_how_the_lone_star_state_could_mess_with_the_rest_of_us.html
All of these movements to form a new state are symptomatic of a larger issue; the irreconcilable differences between the left and right. And they are irreconcilable because the left’s entire philosophy is antithetical to traditional American views. There is no ‘live and let live’ for the left. At base, the left’s ideology is totalitarian and expansionist, a case of ‘there can be, only one’.
Since the 1930’s, the left has incrementally and seditiously indoctrinated the majority of liberal minded Americans and it is the left’s liberal supporters who have provided the means for the left to increasingly impose its vision upon America, seeking to fundamentally transform America by whatever means are necessary.
Which inevitably leaves but three options; capitulation, secession or civil war.
The Republican Establishment has chosen capitulation.
The secession movements; whether through the formation of new states or actual separation and ‘divorce’ are increasingly popular among conservatives and, are symptomatic of the growing perception among conservatives that, the left’s use of highly unethical and even constitutionally illegal means is accelerating and, that the left is now seeking to disenfranchise Americans, so as to nullify our fundamental liberties in a bid to increase its political power into a permanent majority.
However, in a country evenly divided, secession is impractical and in a world of totalitarian ideologies; i.e. China, Russia and Islam…secession is dangerous.
Which leaves civil war.
A swelling sense of disenfranchisement achieved through unethical/illegal methods is what led to the American revolution. The same perception arguably led to our first Civil War.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” A Jewish carpenter
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Abraham Lincoln
“So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot.” George orwell
Seriously: California needs to be split into 3 states — Southern (capital Los Angeles), Central (capital San Francisco), and Northern (capital Redding).
Not-so-seriously: and then the Central California state needs to be driven into the sea.
Seems to me that the biggest divide is that urban/rural split that seems to echo political divides pretty tightly. I’d love to see that split formalized and see cities have to survive on their own.
I grew up in Lakewood, a western suburb of Denver. The state has changed radically (pun intended) in the last 20 years mainly through an influx of Kalifornicators. Every time I visit I am struck by the changes.
What surprises me is that more of the mountain and southern counties do not join in this movement. I could see Denver, Arapahoe, Adams, Broomfield, Douglas, Boulder (of course), Jefferson, Summit, and Eagle being isolated from the rest of the state.
You forgot one. Vermont was carved out of land that was claimed by both New York and New Hampshire. The British government granted the territory to New York, which led the New England settlers to rebel and break away.
Back to the subject of Colorado, given the two party system in this country you would have to create new states in pairs. Perhaps the Republicans could get Northern Colorado in exchange for Puerto Rican statehood, or giving DC senators.
Baltimoron:
No, I did not forget Vermont. I had looked it up, and although Vermont was carved out of several other colonies in colonial times, by the time of the revolution if was a little republic. So it never split off from any state already admitted to the union (although it was not one of the original thirteen states). So I omitted it, because it never went through that process of secession from another state.
The Zimmerman case is a perfect example of the liberal left being impossible to safely live with, making some the rest of us look around for the exit door. There but for the grace of god goes any of us who ever challenged a shadowy creep outside of our home on a dark night. Whether, in this case, the teen was innocently walking home or looking for a place to break into is not the point. The point is that it wasn’t long ago that you could say, “Hey, what are you up to?” with expectation that you would 1) not be attacked and 2) be able to defend yourself if you were attacked. When I was a teenage miscreant, if you were caught in the act, you lied and slithered off – you didn’t administer a beatdown. Oh but wait – I don’t happen to be a member of any victim groups, so maybe you did and I just didn’t have membership rights to do so.
Ultimately, that’s the problem with the liberal left. Victimhood is such a foundation of their ideology that there have to be victims, who get special treatment, which mean that there have to be non-victims, who by definition represent the Forces of Evil against victims and therefore get special penalties. There is nothing about the liberal left that involves individual empowerment, rising above, or improving one’s lot in life, and anything that results in true equality is the opposite of the world they want. They don’t want the rule of law – they want special favors for their victim groups and kicks in the teeth to the rest of us. We were partway to a world where people were people, not skin color, back when I was a teen in the 1980s, but the liberal left has set back race relations by decades and made everything worse for everyone.
It is becoming obvious that we cannot live together anymore and it being 2013, there are few places to which one can flee. The prospect of carving up the territory we already have is increasingly attractive to those of us on bottom side of the shoe.
My apologies
Baltimoron:
No need to apologize. I hadn’t mentioned Vermont, so you had no way of knowing I’d researched it.
The split in most states was historically urban vs rural with regard to public funds etc. But in Colorado and in other states like Washington, Oregon etc. it is now suburban vs rural. The new residents are drawn to places like Denver for the outdoor recreation and tend to see the rural areas as a playground not a place where people live and earn a living. The newbies are bikers and skiers not hunters or snowmobilers. Typical of the left, they have little tolerance for other views. This is happening in the Adirondacks in New York where a small civil war in ongoing between people that live in the area vs Manhattan greens.
Might makes right. The southern states had a right to secede, but were crushed.
This kind of restructuring of the Republic would really mess up their Demoncracy’s totalitarian utopia.
It might not destroy the back of the Leftist alliance’s power, but it would hurt. A lot.
I thought people would wake up in 2012, but that was wishful thinking. 2014 is the last chance. Otherwise, the only peaceful solution is an amiable divorce, but the left and their pet rinos would never allow that to happen. I don’t know what the future holds, but I fear it may involve collapse and starting over.
It’ll take at least 100 WACos for anyone to even begin waking up to do anything in the US.
I have yet to see enough body bags to constitute 25%. Although perhaps 10% (riots, shootings, bombings, rapes, crimes) may apply as being body bags.
The southern states had a right to secede, but were crushed.
The Southern States were ruled by a bunch of Democrats, in league with their Northern Dems, that used a bunch of white patriots and black slaves as tools in their war for power, glory, and wealth. Same as usual.
Let’s do this.
The one thing almost every state could use is a way to create city states. Divorce the metro areas from the rest of the state and there would be radically different tax policies, education policies……..pretty much everything policies. Probably both would be better off. This is pretty much what the Colorado thing is about and Washington, Oregon, Arizona are the most obvious cause they have metro areas that overwhelm the rest of their states. Probably once it got started multi metro states would start to want to do the same thing. There would even be some new ones that included parts of more than one existing state. Kansas City, Portland, Charlotte. The original idea of states made lots of sense at the time but now the organizational needs are completely different.