Since for both Oregon and Washington, the only reason they were blue was because of the few urban counties near the water, and most all the rural counties were solid red, I would suggest that you take all the blue counties. You will have all the big urban centers, and the reds will have most all the rural areas.
You can keep all the government regulations you love, including the DOE, the EPA. You will have an interesting mix of people: some of the nation’s neediest, as well as some of the most brilliant. You just put those brilliant minds to work figuring out how to pay for all those food stamps and such.
Since you figure all that money just comes from a printing press, that part should be easy. Since you probably figure all groceries come from a Safeway, you should have no problem with food, either.
Us reds will have most of the self-reliant folks, where a hand-shake is better than a contract, and we know how to turn a natural resource into a usable asset. We are a little tired of being your private playground, where you can tell us how many wolves we need.
You just keep those cities, and leave us alone for a while. I could really warm up to this secession idea. Proud to be a logger (and a Neanderthal).
