Folks Along the California-Oregon Border Want to Form Their Own State
It happens every few years. Some people get an idea in their heads that they'd like to secede from the United States or local government and form their own state. They're mad about this or that, and next thing you know, one of them proposes the idea. It snowballs from there, until enough people are chattering about founding their own government that they begin to take formal action. And then… Nothing. But the folks involved in a secession attempt involving communities on the border of Northern California and Southern Oregon, don't want to hear that. They've got a new state on their minds, and are the latest group to make a run at it.
The main driver of this secession fever can be found in Siskiyou County, California. People living there claim that the city-dwelling government of California are ignoring their needs, and so it's time to form their own state, which they plan to call Jefferson. This month the county's government voted 4-1 to create a group that would be the basis for Jefferson.
Mark Baird owns a radio station in Siskiyou County. He told the Associated Press that the movement to create a new state has been in the works for awhile, and people are finally ready to do something about it. "People have wanted to do this for a long time, but the types of legislation coming out of Sacramento this year literally caused people to say, 'This is the time,'" said Baird. He added that "This has nothing to do with political parties," even though it 100 percent does.
Baird is right about one thing, though: The California/Oregon secession discussion has been around for years. In fact, the first attempt began all the way back in 1940. That movement was spearheaded by the mayor of Port Orford, Oregon. He wanted the citizens of Port Orford, Curry, Josephine, Jackson, and Klamath to join with the California counties of Del Norte, Siskiyou, and Modoc. But then the mayor died and the attack on Pearl Harbor grabbed everyone's attention. And everyone kind of forgot about it.
Of course the people behind the new Jefferson movement think this time is different. They think that creating a government and then paying for everything that goes into a new state will be easy. "We know it's an uphill battle," said the Siskiyou County Supervisor, Michael Kobseff. "The economic feasibility of it is a question. But my reply to that is, 'I don't know how we're going to survive under the current environment.'"
It's a cute thing, secession. Seemingly normally functioning adults actually think they can just make a new state, no big deal. But just as fast as these ideas come up, they disappear. Eventually reality sets in, and if reality is an enemy of anything, it's absurd ideas created in the minds of morons.
[Pic via Flickr - Jason Sturner]
