Voters in 11 rural Colorado counties expressed mixed feelings on Tuesday when then voted on whether or not to remain part of the 137-year-old state or “secede” and form their own 51st state.
For now, Colorado will remain Colorado and not Colorado vs. “North Colorado,” a proposed 51st state. On Tuesday, voters in 11 rural counties went to the polls to decide whether or not to move ahead with a proposed initiative to secede from Colorado and form their own state. The results of the election were fairly evenly divided, with the secession movement winning five counties (Cheyenne, Phillips, Yuma, Kit Carson and Washington) and six counties (Weld, Lincoln, Sedgwick, Logan, Moffat and Elbert) rejecting the idea.
In spite of Tuesday’s election results, however, backers of the movement remained upbeat and determined.
Jeffrey Hare, organizer of The 51st State Initiative said the vote “…signifies a very disenfranchised group we need to give a voice.”
According to Hare, many of Colorado’s 5.2 million citizens are fed up with what they see as a “failure of democracy in the state,” especially those living in the rural areas where they’re tired of the urban areas “asserting their will” upon them. Hare says he “…compares what’s happening to something akin to taxation without representation. The rural communities do not have a voice to block things that are being forced upon them.”
Earlier this year Colorado’s Democratically-controlled legislature passed two wildly unpopular pieces of legislation which target rural areas. One involves new, restrictive gun control measures. The other is an energy bill that not only raises the cost of electricity, but mandates rural areas must produce at least 20% of their energy from renewable sources.
And while Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway notes that his and other rural counties are not “renewable-energy unfriendly,” the mandate unfairly favors urban areas while putting a more severe, expensive burden on those in rural parts of Colorado. “Urban legislators imposed one standard on rural Colorado and exempted themselves out of that same standard for their urban constituents. One might call that tyranny.”
Barbara Kirkmeyer, another Weld County Commissioner, also spoke up about the discontent these pieces of legislation have caused in her county. “In the 13-plus years of service as a commissioner, I’ve never seen folks this frustrated, this discontent, this feeling of being disenfranchised.”
Supporters of The 51st State Initiative hope that the initiative will not only send a message to legislators, but also serve as an inspiration for others around the country who are feeling disenfranchised and seeking to start their own movements.
Weld County Commissioner Conway says he gets regular phone calls regarding the initiative from citizens around the country interested in starting their own secession movements. But talk of secession isn’t new. From North Carolina to Arizona, Michigan, Texas to California and now Colorado, there’s been an increase in secession movements within the past decade as a result of growing frustration with what is occurring at all levels of government.
Conway “…hopes that there is recognition that a disconnect exists, not just here in Colorado, but in other states and that we need to begin to address these problems.”
Unfortunately, with partisanship running rampant and extending throughout all levels of government all the way to the top, it’s unlikely these problems will be addressed anytime soon. Case in point—last month’s 16-day shutdown of the federal government.
But the “secession movement isn’t about politics,” according to 51st Initiative Organizer Jeffrey Hare. In comments made to CNN Hare said “It’s about having a government that is responsive to the needs of its communities, and what we’ve seen at the state level is an urban-based legislature forced their will against rural Colorado time and time again. We think this is a healthy response to this urban-versus-rural divide that’s not just the case in Colorado. It’s really throughout the country.”
Although the movement to create a 51st state failed in Colorado, some backers remain optimistic. Perhaps their new motto will be “If at first you don’t secede, try, try again.”
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