This was quite amusing, but I have a long memory and in 2004, this nuttiness was being expressed by....disappointed liberals facing down four more years of Dubya. Does nobody else remember the caterwauling, the screams of "I'm moving to Canada!"???? Right here on Salon, too.

Well, fast forward and nobody went to Canada, and the sky didn't fall (though the economy crapped out) and the Democratic party didn't wither up and die, but gee whiz, came back gangbusters and put a black candidate into the Oval Office. Miracles can and do happen.

But don't be so naive as to think this doesn't work BOTH WAYS. That's the beauty of a two party system; one election cycle you are down and things look bleak, and your followers start talking about secession or Canada, and a mere 48 months later (a hiccup in terms of actual history), the shoe is on the other foot.

It was equally hilarious when blue staters were screaming about secession, and how they'd break off and take all the colleges and high tech industry and educated workers with them.

There is still a divide in US culture, between red and blue, Democrat and Republican, and conservative and liberal. Maybe it's time we accepted that hey! we have differences...people never think exactly alike, and maybe our differences are good -- or at least better than a uniform society of conformists who are afraid to speak out. And that maybe our differences are what makes us stronger, as long as we accept dissent and dialog, instead of insisting on "political correctness" and group-think.

*****

Still and all -- @Bryce Anderson -- seriously, buddy, you want "life extension" so that wrinkly old rich white people will live forever? Because you can't seriously believe that any sort of "life extension" will be handed out to poor urban blacks, or the teeming masses in Calcutta or Sao Paulo?

The earth is groaning under a population of over 6 billion, which is probably about twice what it is set up to comfortably house, feed and provide jobs for -- but YOU want all those people to live forever....while squeezing out evermore babies. Where pray tell will all those future generations live, while the old white geezers live on forever?

This would be even funnier if it was less pathetic and self-serving.

They aren't nerds, they're just pre-pubescent boys who were spoiled by their parents.

And "just off the coast" or in SF Bay isn't going to work. US territorial waters extend at least 12 miles offshore.

it is that he is way smarter, thoughtful, well mannered, and wise than either Michael Lind or 90% of the people who comment on Salon.

...and after reading the lunacies of its "NO GIRLZ ALLOWED" founder (who really should go rebuild his treehouse), I'm glad I can make that claim. What a goof!

If Mr. Friedman thinks he & his well-heeled friends can set up a floating city 'in San Francisco Bay' & not have the state of California and/or the city of San Francisco pass laws to regulate/tax it, then he's been smoking some better stuff than I.

As for the Repubs in Texas, just keep on riding that crazy train boys.

Please link proof that an elected Governor representing one of the so-called blue States openly threatened secession in 2004.

I reckon the conservatives chat about seccession cause they figure that that action would preclude societal parasites from leaching off the host. In a similar manner, you will never see liberals advocating seccession. I mean, what would the San Franciscos, NYCs, Detroits, and Michigans of the world do without hard working conservative hosts to feed off of.

i look forward to a manful republic of manly men, doing manly things together in a manful fashion, with other men!

-- gzuckier

LMAO!!!!!! Best. Post.

Wants to leave the US. Or at the least become part of neither VT nor NY.

Yeah, that's why the majority of blue states are "donors" -- ie, give more than they take -- to the federal system while red states are the "takers," yet their leaders are the ones screaming about bootstraps and personal responsibility. For instance, Sarah Palin and Alaska, which is gets $2 for every $1 it contributes.

@Paul in KY:

If Mr. Friedman thinks he & his well-heeled friends can set up a floating city 'in San Francisco Bay' & not have the state of California and/or the city of San Francisco pass laws to regulate/tax it, then he's been smoking some better stuff than I.

Exactly true. San Francisco Bay is part of the internal waters of the US, and is legally US territory. You can bet that the IRS would laugh off any attempt to avoid taxes based on the fact that their floating city was "sovereign". At a minimum, they'd have to get offshore to the 12 mile limit, and even then, I think it's likely that they'd be arrested for tax evasion if they ever set foot ashore. And depending on how much money was involved, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that their "floating city" could be boarded and they inhabitants hauled off to tax court no matter where in the world they were. This whole thing is all so much pie-in-the-sky, which is too bad in a way... I'd be happy to see them all go.

...or whatever, do they plan to just die out? That's cool. :)

I've rarely heard such juvenile, delusional tripe in my life. Everything Friedman uses and owes his very existence to, including-but not limted-to clothing, shelter, transportation, food production, utilities, telecommunication (most notably the fucking INTERNET he uses to post his pubescent fantasies), military protection, medicine, education et al are made possible by a civilization based upon the existence of a government and social system. DUH! Why does anyone need to explain to these idiots that all they're proposing is being able to take a piece of what already exists and which was created by and worked for by others, use it as they wish and have absolutely no responsibilitie whatsoever in exchange? Take away they're commercially manufactured clothing, make them responsible for raising or hunting their own food, smelting ores for metal, creating tools with which to build shelter, etc. These assholes would be dead in a week. "Libertarian" my ass, these jerks are Live Action Role Players. "I wanna be Gandalf!" "NO, I wanna be Gandalf!" Soembody needs to force them to read Lord Of The Flies.