Jefferson Parish Official Calls for Secession from United States

CNN just reported this. In an age of trade/economic integration that makes political boundaries less meaningful, I'm surprised we don't see more movements to secede from the United States. California would be a major economic and political power on the planet as an independent nation, for example. And what exactly does New England have in common with the Deep South? Kerry could be President of a United States of New England. And does anyone recall the novel, Ecotopia that was constructed around the secession of the Pacific Northwest from the United States? I still think of myself as an Oregonian and had a lot of sympathy for the idea behind Ecotopia (if not the writing). Indeed, if secession had ever been on the ballot (and Oregonians love ballot measures and take them far more seriously than they do here in New England, where politicians often ignore the will of the people in such matters) while I was living in Oregon, I would have voted for it.