It's not from The Onion, it's for real. Weld County in Northern Colorado has put a vote on the ballot this November to secede from Colorado and to "pursue becoming the 51st state of the United States of America." Apparently, because the state government is too repressive on... wait for it... guns and fracking.
First, here's the news, straight from the horse's fox's mouth:
County commissioners in Weld County approved an initiative to allow the county to secede from the state Monday morning.
[...]
The initiative reads: “Shall the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, in concert with the county commissioners of other Colorado counties, pursue becoming the 51st state of the United States of America?”
Corroboration of the same news is provided by
the Denver Post and
local community radio - I add these links to make sure it's for real.
The initiative also has a rather entertaining Facebook page.
The county commissioner, Sean Conway, feels that...
the state government has been ignoring values of rural counties when passing recent legislation including gun control measures, expanding oil and gas production and creating new renewable energy standards for rural areas.
(image source: Weld County website)
I'll leave the exercise of guessing which party dominates the county board to the reader.
Weld County is the third largest (by area) in Colorado, quite a bit larger than Delaware, with about 250,000 people living there.
Other counties have been mulling similar measures, and in a few, it can even make it to the November ballot this year.
Let me note that, regardless of the vote, the initiative will have to be approved by the Governor of Colorado and by the US Congress.
Among the names quickly proposed for the newly-seceded 51st state by various Internet wits are "Fracktopia," "Weldistan," and "Tancredonia". Let hilarity ensue.
Update. Follow this link to find what Bender Bending Rodríguez (R for "robot") said when interviewed on the subject.
12:17 PM PT: One of the aspects of the planned vote is that, of course, while it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell to lead to real secession, it wastes real taxpayer money - and is initiated by people who most likely spend a lot of time talking about saving that taxpayer money.