Secession bill introduced in New York State Senate

Here we go again. The age-old pseudo-feud between Western/upstate NY and downstate is again reintroduced. And as silly as it sounds, I've spoken to a few people that are taking these clowns seriously.

Should upstate New York go its own way? And what would we call ourselves — Upstatonia? Newer York? Adirondackiana?

These are just a few of the questions raised by a bill recently introduced by a handful of Republican state senators calling for a referendum that would ask, “Do you support the division of New York into two separate states?"

The bill, which you can read in its entirety after the jump, is co-sponsored by Joseph Robach (R-56th District), William Larkin (R-39th District), Michael Ranzenhofer (R-61st District), James Seward (R-51st District) and Dale Volker (R-59th District). Coincidentally, all are upstate legislators and represent largely rural districts.

Whenever I hear nonsense like this, and worse yet, when I think of the tax money wasted on nonsense like this, I am reminded that many of our elected officials are fools. And I'm not calling them "fools" as a taunt, or because I enjoy name-calling. I mean, these people are operating a few fries short of a happy meal.

Just off the top of our heads, we can think of a few implications of upstate becoming the 51st state — and we’re assuming that’s how it would be done geographically, as opposed to, say, drawing the border down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Republicans would almost certainly find themselves back in power positions.
The governor of upstate would probably do most of his work at the Capitol.
The New York Times would need a new city to kick around in its editorial headlines (e.g. today’s MTA-related “Thanks a lot, Albany”).
The members of the Long Island branch of the state GOP would find themselves feeling very, very lonely.
The so-called “Bear Mountain Pact” — the unspoken rule that, y’know, what happens in Albany stays in Albany — would have to be renegotiated.

The idea of the state splitting into two over ideological reasons is nothing new, but there is no possible way that such an event (as unlikely as it is) would benefit any if its residents. Yes, upstate carried more than its share of the financial burden during some economic tough times for the city in the 1970s and in the 1980s, but in boom times downstate that debt has been repaid with the greater NYC area benefitting less and having a higher net tax burden than the remainder of the state. A few years ago, it was found that the City of New York gave $11 billion more in tax revenue than it received back.
If anything, Western New York/upstate and the downstate have a unique symbiotic relationship that you don't find in many other states, like my former home of Michigan where the Upper Peninsula has no natural relationship to the lower one.

In the end, the division of New York into two states is impossible. It would be crippling to New York get into some dysfunctional Western NY/upstate/downstate divorce where we would wrestle for custody of state assets. Do these State Senators understand what a very intricate puissance they would be disassembling?

And now, with much of Western NY in pretty much of a permanent recession, these areas need downstate more than ever. However, I think it is high time to discuss ways of rebooting the State's economic priorities to help give Western NY/upstate a needed shot in the arm. Putting a high-speed rail line to connect the entire state would help and extending this line down along Lake Erie into Ohio would help even more, as it will coalesce the nanotechnology alley that runs from Cleveland to Syracuse. And to do so, the western part of the state will need the tax resources from downstate.