S. Florida Officials Talk Secession Over Failure To Address Climate Change

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Officials in sunny south Florida are the latest to jump on board with the secession trend.

South Miami Vice Mayor Walter Harris proposed a resolution that would split the state in half and make South Florida the 51st state in the union, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday. That resolution passed the city commission by a vote of 3-2 on Oct. 7.

Secession talk had notably bubbled up in far northern California and in northeast Colorado last year, with the latter state actually holding a vote on a 51st state initiative in 11 counties. Five of those 11 Colorado counties voted in favor of seceding from the state by strong margins.

In both those states, secession advocates cited a lack of representation in a state government controlled by Democrats as motivation for breaking away. But Harris suggested a major motivating factor behind his proposal was the Republican-controlled state government’s failure to address the effects of climate change on south Florida, where sea levels are rising at a rate that may put Miami underwater by the end of the century.

“We have to be able to deal directly with this environmental concern and we can’t really get it done in Tallahassee,” Harris said, as quoted by the Sun-Sentinel. “I don’t care what people think — it’s not a matter of electing the right people.”

South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, who once called Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) an “idiot” because of his views on climate change, concurred.

“It’s very apparent that the attitude of the northern part of the state is that they would just love to saw the state in half and just let us float off into the Caribbean,” Stoddard said, as quoted by the Sun-Sentinel. “They’ve made that abundantly clear every possible opportunity and I would love to give them the opportunity to do that.”

As will all proposed secession measures, however, individual counties would have to approve Harris’ resolution. The state legislature and U.S. Congress would then have to approve of the split.

Image via Shutterstock / GeorgeMPhotography

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