51st State - Pima AZ group wants to secede from Arizona - We're Tired of the Extremism

[RamboLiberal]

TUCSON, Ariz. -- It's the ultimate protest against actions by the Arizona legislature. Secession.

Not from the United States, but from Arizona, making Pima County a separate state.

Some well known Tucsonans are now openly trying to start a secession movement.

Over the last couple years, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and State Senate President Russell Pearce have said some things and passed some bills that have made national headlines. To those on the other side of the political aisle, that's not a good thing.

"We're tired of the extremism that's been portrayed to the rest of the country. and we feel we're different down here," said Paul Eckerstrom.


http://www.fox11az.com/news/local/Tucson-group-wants-to-secede-from-Arizona-116831163.html

Start Our State (SOS) has been formally established as a political
committee registered in Pima County. SOS is dedicated to creating
the 51st American state in Southern Arizona, separating us from the
extremists in Phoenix. Our mission is to establish a new state in
Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional
machinations of the Phoenix-controlled Arizona legislature and to
restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open
to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors. Our first and immediate
goal is to place a referendum before the voters of Pima County on the
2012 ballot on the question of statehood.

We welcome other Arizona counties that wish to join this effort. In the
meantime, we shouldn’t forget that, with a population of 1,020,200
(2009), Pima County has more people than Montana, Delaware,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming. With
an area of 9,189 square miles, Pima County is bigger than Vermont,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode
Island. There is legal precedent for the separation of a portion of an
existing state from the original state in order to form a new one. In
1820, Maine split off from Massachusetts and was admitted to the
Union as the 23rd state.

SOS Co-chairs: Paul Eckerstrom, Peter Hormel
SOS Treasurer: David Euchner

http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/02/23/movement-starts-to-create-americas-51st-state-splitting-pima-county-off-from-arizona/

http://www.facebook.com/startourstate

[damntexdem]

1. And West Virginia split from Virginia when the latter tried to split from the U.S.

In many senses, a much-closer analogy.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Proud to be an ex-Pima County/Tucson resident.

[Bok_Tukalo]

3. The Constitution is pretty clear on this issue

Article IV

...

Section 3.

New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.



Those are big hurdles to overcome.

[Lyric]

6. And unlike the West Virginia/Virginia situation, Arizona is not openly in rebellion. Yet.

The basic core of how Lincoln and the Union-loyalist western Virginians managed to get around that to form West Virginia was this:

1. The government of Virginia (the Richmond one that voted to secede) was declared illegitimate.

2. A new "Virginia" government was set up in what's now Wheeling, WV, called "The Restored Government of Virginia". Lincoln recognized THAT government as the legitimate government of the state of Virginia.

3. The Restored Government in Wheeling then gave the permission that the Constitution required for a new state to be created from Virginia's western and northern counties, and the Restored Government became the new government of the state of West Virginia.

It only worked because the Richmond government of Virginia was in open rebellion. That gave Lincoln and the leaders of the counties that are now West Virginia the excuse they needed to transfer legitimacy from Richmond to Wheeling, where the Union-friendly government was waiting and willing to give the permission needed for the creation of a new state.

However, if the Pima folks can convince Arizona's legislature to give them permission, then the idea of a new state being created is not entirely out of the question. Getting that permission is unlikely, but maybe if the Pima folks can frame it as "getting rid of the liberals", they might manage it.

[joeunderdog]

4. Form a new country. I got about 20 states I wish they'd take with them.

Who needs ya, anyway?

[47of74]

5. Can they design the state so that it includes the Grand Canyon?