In November, seven Illinois counties voted "Yes" on a referendum that asked whether they should explore “the possibility of separating from Cook County to form a new state and to seek admission to the Union as such.”
The measure passed overwhelmingly. The vote was just the latest in the organized effort to make legal what 50% of the state's population of 13 million know is reality: Chicago Democrats govern Illinois, and will be in charge for the foreseeable future.
Illinois isn't the only state with a secessionist movement, of course. PJ Media has followed the secessionist efforts in California, Idaho, Texas, New Hampshire, Alaska, and several other states. Newsweek reported last summer that there are 12 states with active secessionist movements with varying degrees of organization.
Grant Dahl, co-host of the Secession Speakeasy podcast, wrote that "ruling classes stiffly the traditional avenues of political change, namely elections and electoral opposition." Indeed, with more than 90% of House members returned to power every election and gerrymandered district lines assuring minimal competition for members, there is little room for reform.
The Founders made legally seceding from a state exceedingly difficult. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says, “no new State 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.”
That's an extremely high bar for the secessionists. The Idaho secessionist movement is a little different. They don't want to form a new state or new country; they want to join a neighboring state. The "Greater Idaho Project" seeks to separate eastern and central Oregon's rural and conservative counties from left-leaning cities such as Portland and Salem. The idea is to merge them into Republican-controlled Idaho.
In Illinois, there are now 33 counties that want to secede and form a new state. But in January, Indiana Republicans agreed to a legislative plan to create a commission to examine a merger between Indiana and the rebellious Illinois counties.
"Our governor claims we're in Illinois," said Loret Newlin, who is director/coordinator of Illinois Separation Referendum. "But those of us who live outside Cook County know we aren't and haven't been. We don't see a way to fix it."
Joining Indiana may be even harder than seceding from Illinois and creating a 51st state.
Indiana Republican House Speaker Todd Huston's proposal for Illinois counties to join Indiana was a surprise to the organizers pushing for secession across the border.
"I think it's awesome that he's taking this seriously," G.H. Merritt said. She is the chairman of the board of New Illinois, a grassroots group in Illinois pushing for counties to leave the state.
"But there are things about this that it didn't seem he was aware of," Merritt said, in a phone call with 13News.
Rather than a realistic scenario, the secessionist movements across the nation represent a revolt against the dominant radical left culture. For many in rural America, the United States of America seems alien to them. Tens of millions of people didn't buy into radical gender ideology, the elimination of tradition, the complete secularization of the nation, and other cultural outrages that many millions of ordinary Americans refuse to accept.
Because the left never understood this, they were once again shocked by Donald Trump's victory in November. The people in rural America, in forgotten America, support him because he promised to wreck the system that they hate.
That destruction is fully underway. When the dust settles, will the secessionist movements gain or lose adherents?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member