I'm Outta Here

That's what rural areas in some liberal states are saying:

The map says this is northern California, so mapmakers and visitors might be a bit confused about a sign claiming this is the State of Jefferson.
"The State of Jefferson, as originally envisioned, would be the same size as, say, New Mexico," said Geri Byrne, Chairman of the Modoc County Board of Supervisors, which passed a resolution in September to leave California and help form the State of Jefferson. "It would be, like, the 44th largest state, and the 44th largest by population, too."
A newspaper poll in Siskiyou County next door showed overwhelming support after that county's board also voted to leave California: 66 percent for secession, 22 percent against, 11 percent not sure.
And the sentiment is spreading to other counties across northern California.
It is fed by anger across rural America . . . a mood of us-against-them, against big cities that increasingly dominate state legislatures, passing laws some say ignore rural needs.
Bryne said that regulations on agriculture and timber harvesting have a direct impact on their community. "Our local economies in rural California are basically dependent on ranching, farming, timber, hunting, fishing. And every time, you know, we make bureaucratic decisions that impact that, we destroy the economies of northern -- the North State."....
Listened to or not, these modern-day movements are popping up from Maryland to the upper peninsula of Michigan to northern Colorado.
In northern Colorado this Tuesday, voters in 11 counties will decide about letting their county commissioners explore breaking away from the state. Opinions are mixed.
"It's divisive," said one man. "Pretty soon, we'll have 100 states, potentially."
Joy Beuer told Petersen the Colorado counties should be allowed to secede. "Because we are not getting heard," she said.
A forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, drew a full house in Weld County.
"Something's changed in the last decade," said county commissioner Sean Conway. "The Colorado we grew up in, the Colorado we love, has changed."
Chuck Sylvester's family started a farm in 1869, which he and his wife, Roni, still run. Now he lives in a Colorado with legalized marijuana, new gun control regulations, and civil unions for gays.
"In my job that I had, I had many people of different sexual preferences," Sylvester said. "And some of them were like sons and daughters to me, I thought so much about. But it is defined by God in the Bible that marriage is between a man and a woman. Don't change that."
"So that wasn't your culture when this was being dealt with, as in your beliefs?" asked Petersen.
"Yeah, that's very correct," he replied.
Petersen asked Brinkley, "When I hear the word 'values' by people in rural areas, is this part of what's at play, that our culture has really changed dramatically?"
"Absolutely," he replied. "Anybody who's a hardened secessionist, in the end, you're going to find just doesn't like 'the other.' And 'the other' tends to be people with different colored skin or different cultural values than the ones they grew up with in their particular county."

I hate to break it to them, but most of these areas would be worse off on their own.  They get lots of money for their roads and schools from people in the other parts of their states.  They pay less in taxes than what they get back in spending.  And they want out mainly because of the gays and the blacks.  Well these rural folks have to realize, they are a minority, too.  Suck it up.  A couple laws you don't like aren't enough to screw yourself over about.  I was hoping that one positive outcome (the only one) from the flooding in Northern Colorado would be a realization that we're all in this together, and that while we might not agree on everything, at least when we need something, people are there to help.  Apparently, that wasn't an outcome of the flooding.  What would be interesting is if, say Research Triangle said screw all these rural idiots in North Carolina, we're setting up our own state.  That would highlight how dependent rural areas are on the more prosperous and populous areas of their states, and that dissatisfaction with a political majority cuts both ways.