Most would just ship you off.
Posted on 11/17/2004 8:30:09 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
ITHACA--The 2004 Presidential election may be decided, but that doesn't mean everyone is pleased.
The divide between the red and the blue states (states were divided by color depending on whether they voted Republican or Democrat) seems to run even deeper than simple political lines. Some Cornell University students are looking to help New York secede from the Union.
"After the election we were all sitting around commiserating in the office and conversation turned to this divide between the red and blue states," said Harsh Vishwasrao, a graduate student in the applied and engineering physics department at Cornell University.
Vishwasrao says the ideas to create a flag contest for a new United States of Canada and to write a letter of secession to Paul Martin, the Prime Minister of Canada, about their plan were the brainchild of post-doctoral students Rebecca Williams and Liz Rhoades.
The students are currently working on a draft of their letter to Martin and plan to include a copy of the winning flag from the contest.
There is no criteria for the flags other than that the blue states join Canada and the red states remain on their own.
"There is a flag with a Smurf holding the Canadian maple leaf," Vishwasrao said. "Some flags are serious, some are whimsical."
Passersby simply put a checkmark on the bulletin board to indicate their choice judge the flags, and judging follows an honor code.
"We hold an honor code that you only vote once, which didn't hold in our election, but we hope will hold in our flag selection," Vishwasrao said, adding that judging seems to be wrapping up this week.
He added that there is no formal statement that the group is trying to make. The whole contest originated from a casual observation of the division of the United States in terms of politics.
"The thing that was really interesting," Vishwasrao said, "was that after this came about I was talking to a friend on the Internet who was sitting in an office in Seattle who said, 'We had the same idea over here.' So we're not just the local leftist nuts."
Vishwasrao stresses that the division of the Democrat and Republican states has been present "since the Civil War" and is not something new over the past two presidential elections.
"The blue states have more in common with the political ideology of Canada than we do with the red states. Make of that what you will," he said. "It's not treason or anything; we're not saying it's a serious course of action."
No way that you can get either of them. Florida is a raging red state and Minnesota is in a state of transition from a blue to a red state. giving them to you guys will make you live next door to a Canada clone in 10 years time.
How about Massachusetts, People's Republic of Washington (state), and People's Republic of California mate?
The folks at Cornell University are not that well educated the question of secession was debated & settled between 1860-1864. It was in all the papers as big news back then they called it THE CIVIL WAR !
The short answer is YES
Avs are great.......I love the jobs they did on the Wings.
Hey, we NEED more red states up here! Not more blue states.
I'll pass on Massachusetts, trade you Quebec for California, and put a buy on Washington (I think they may be salvageable).
Nothing quite like the phrase
Red Wings Suck
eh?
I sympathize with your situations (well we are in the same shoes as you), but looking at respone by the gentleman Zag79 at pot#97, I'm afraid you guys will see lots more of them than Rush Limbaugh in the future of your country. You see, they want eparation from the "red" United States and then join you.
Please accept my condolence to everyone of you in advance. I pray that you will have a Roger Douglas come out when things go o wrong you are on the verge of receiving IMF emergency aid. ;-)
Hehe trade with Yanks, they are responibe for this transaction. I'm from the other side of the world. (look at my tag) ;-)
Boy, those two teams hate each other.
True. It is quite presumptuous. Canada doesn't want these guys. Ontario runs things and won't put up with competition from New York or Chicago or Boston. Quebec's position in the confederation is shaky and they don't want anyone diluting their influence in the country. The Maritimes are supported by the other provinces and couldn't bear to see their position jeopardized. However much Canadians like taxes and subsidies, nobody up there is going to want to pay for the problems of Detroit and other American cities.
For all the talk of the Civil War and the "Red State/Blue State" divide, the American revolution marks an even greater division, the great gulf between docile, timid Canadians, and brash risk-taking Americans. So the whole idea is a foolish non-starter. Seen from Ottawa and most other Canadian cities, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia don't look that different from Dallas or Phoenix or Houston.
The Darren McCarty/Claude Lemieux incident was just the spark for the powder keg. After that it was goalies fighting at mid-ice, and everything imaginable.
It was one of hockey's golden moments.
Ah... the Red Wings. They still suck.
Ditto that. Good riddance. If I had the $, I'd lend it to them to get out. That simple. They are more than welcome to immigrate. A great thing immigration. One of the keys to history. Meanwhile, the USA and its terra firma will remain right where it is. If they have any problem with that, I refer them to the eternal 600,000 (Civil War dead). They can have an internal dialogue with them and their sacrifices to keep the Union together (at ALL costs). Sure wish I could tap into that conversation. But...guess I'll just have to settle for staying put on good ol' American soil.
Wish us well, my friend.
It's hard to see how the Yankees or anything in New York City could be seen as well wishes.
Maybe we could partner with Christchurch or something, eh?
Gotta go. Good to talk with you (even if only briefly).
Canadians like taxes??????
Looking at the reactions of a Howard Dean leftist gentleman at post#97, I gauge they are saying "Me too! We want to get out of red America!" ;-)
Don't forget Crawford vs Bowman.
Yep, the Dead Things still suck.
South Island (Christchurch) traditionally has been a bastion of chardonnay socialists while North Island (Auckland, Wellington) has many welfare dependencies. We are just living in a virtual hell over here.
Most would just ship you off.
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