# Kick a state out of the Union. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704 "2012-11-02T21:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/121 "2012-11-13T11:09:37Z")
Hah! I voted Texas before reading any of the posts in this thread and Texas is in the lead. No doubt, it’s that whole “Texas is Almighty” attitude far too many people have encountered with Texans that led to that. Of course, no state will ever get kicked out of the Union. Look at that kerfluffle when a few, including Texas, actually tried to leave. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/122 "2012-11-13T12:56:52Z")
Perhaps we can start with [these states.](http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/11/secession-petitions-flood-white-house-website-149291.html) From the article: > [@](#): > > As of Monday, residents of Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Missouri have all expressed interest in dissolving their relationship with the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/123 "2012-11-13T13:53:22Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Great, another thread where Dopers can pile on Texas. Well, yeah. Texans spend so much time talking about how great Texas is that we could fill the entire message board with threads like this without upsetting the balance. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/124 "2012-11-13T15:03:45Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > There’s Angola, Brunei, Kiribati, Malaysia, Russia, and the UK, off the top of my head. And Spain (for some definitions of split) and France… do the Dutch still have any overseas bits? New Mexico can’t be kicked out, can it? I mean, I have absolutely nothing against New Mexico but all those Americans who think it’s not part of the US would be terribly surprised to hear it’s been kicked out, they might have brain-bleeds and hopefully raise the national IQ by several points… I did love the proposal to kick Arizona and put a fence on the US side of it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/125 "2012-11-13T15:50:00Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Yes, they made those rough bits of American culture more palatable for the white kids of Yankeeland. Thank goodness- poor Elvis was so unpalatable that nobody bought any of his records, and he died a penniless, unknown sharecropper. ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/126 "2012-11-13T15:55:19Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > (snip) > > Serious Answer: Minnesota. A bunch of half-witted dough balls wandering around a gigantic mall eating hormel chili from a can while voting for a conspiracist ex wrestler for governor and Stuart smalley for senate. Seriously the smell. If you have ever been forced to travel by bus on a overnight trip you know “that smell”, the smell of a hundred unwashed sweaty human cattle lolling in their seats. Well ALL of Minnesota smells like this, from the crack house behind the has station in Coldspring to the Cargill mansion. And it’s starting to leak out into the rest of the country via the Mississippi. Must be stopped. OUCH! Aren’t personal attacks forbidden outside the Pit? 😉 I’m dumping California for economic reasons. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/127 "2012-11-13T17:37:48Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I voted for Arizona, which is just a bunch of rich white old people on Medicare who vote Republican, who aren’t even from Arizona. You know my brother?! ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/128 "2012-11-13T17:46:38Z")
I’d vote for the UP and/or Maine. Then let them join Canada if they want. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/129 "2012-11-13T18:08:19Z")
You know, if we even propose to let Texas go, the Mexican gov’t is going to be calling up, extremely irrate about the idea of having that thing independent on their border. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/130 "2012-11-13T18:23:04Z")
I say trade Hawaii for Puerto Rico. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/131 "2012-11-14T03:09:43Z")
For most of the states, I can see an argument for kicking each one out for one reason or another. But who’s the joker who voted Connecticut? What have they ever done? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/132 "2012-11-14T04:35:57Z")
We could answer this historically: Hawai’i: Not really in the Americas anyway, had a functional kingdom once. Put it in commonwealth status and get on with our lives. California, Texas, Nueva Mexico (that is, “the Southwest”): Occupied Mexico, seized at swordpoint. In the interest of peace and justice, return to Mexico, _sans_ Utah and East Texas, which are the most solidly Anglo parts. The western watershed of the Mississippi-Missouri: The Louisiana Purchase. The treaty selling the colonization rights to the Yankees was illegal under the terms of Spain’s cession of Louisiana to France. Remedy unclear, but due to pre-existing contract, cannot be considered legitimately part of USA. Return to France or Spain. The eastern watershed of the Mississippi: Occupied Quebec. Hand it over to Canada so those poor people can get socialized medicine and delicious maple syrup. There you go. The USA will consist of the eastern seaboard, “the Floridas,” East Texas, Alaska, and a western bit stretching from Utah to Puget Sound. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/133 "2012-11-14T10:52:01Z")
Florida was totally ripped off from Spain by filibusterism. Much as Hawaii was ripped off from its own people. By **foolsguinea** ’s criteria, Florida ought to be second in line to be returned right after Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/134 "2012-11-14T13:16:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > For most of the states, I can see an argument for kicking each one out for one reason or another. But who’s the joker who voted Connecticut? What have they ever done? 😕 [That was me.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15666268&postcount=97) Childish, I know, but I wanted a 100 on my spelling test damn it. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/135 "2012-11-14T13:57:30Z")
Utah. Let the Mormons be free to practice polygamy, setting up a booming international commerce in the divorce industry. Get eight wives in Utah, divorce three in Nevada, rinse and repeat. That, plus fewer automatic electoral votes for the Republican nominee. Second choice- Texas for giving us W. Third choice- Nebraska because my Spartans got hosed by the officials in their game against Nebraska on the 3rd. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/136 "2012-11-14T20:44:36Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Florida was totally ripped off from Spain by filibusterism. Much as Hawaii was ripped off from its own people. By **foolsguinea** ’s criteria, Florida ought to be second in line to be returned right after Hawaii. Ah, I wasn’t sure about Florida. OK, so just the Eastern Seaboard from Georgia north, and the Northwest? (And East Texas, because Mexico shouldn’t have to put up with them.) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/137 "2012-11-14T21:41:36Z")
Fuck it. Give them all back to the indians. They couldn’t do any worse with it. And think of the casinos! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/138 "2012-11-14T23:09:45Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > … do the Dutch still have any overseas bits? Yes, some Caribbean islands are part of the country, but the Netherlands and Belgium also each meet the criterion of having bits of land disconnected from the main part of the country but accessible without crossing any body of water. [This article](http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/02/most-complicated-border-town-world/1267/) discusses Baarle-Hartog, a series of Belgian “islands” in a “sea” of Dutch territory – as well as the fact that there are Dutch enclaves within various bits of the town! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/139 "2012-11-15T02:15:31Z")
With all this potential for hard feelings, I think it’s important for people to remember the real nature of the [fifty states](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h68UJaHvG_c). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704/140 "2012-11-15T03:37:02Z")
Utah. Sorry Utes. And as of right now, the most popular states (or at least the least offensive), with no votes, are: Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-a-state-out-of-the-union/639704.md?page=8)