Get real....

Hearing set for splitting Washington into two states


A hearing on a bill that would split the state of Washington into two states will be held in Olympia on Feb. 22.

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, is co-sponsoring Senate Joint Memorial 8009, which would ask the U.S. government to establish Eastern and Western Washington as separate states.

Kline said a "disproportionate amount" of tax revenue generated in the western part of the state goes to the eastern part.

"Why should the western half continue to subsidize the east? We could use that money right here for job creation, education and health care," Kline said in a statement.
The state would be split using the crest of the Cascade Mountains and the western borders of Okanogan, Chelan, Kittitas, Yakima and Klickitat counties.

The hearing is set for 10 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room 2 in the John A. Cherberg Building in Olympia.

The latest state-splitting proposal in the state legislature would slice Washington along the Cascades, making the Seattle area and the coast one state and everything east of the mountains another state.

There are some serious problems with the idea, however. For example, the United States Senate would have to approve the new state. That’s not likely to happen because it would create two new Republican senators, and Democrats would likely try to keep that from happening

Much of Western Washington is defined by urban centers such as Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and the capital, Olympia.

Eastern Washington is rural-esque.

Western Washingtonians love their non-fat half-caff triple-grande quarter-sweet sugar-free vanilla extra-foamy caramel whatchamacallits.

East of the Cascades folks just want a cup of joe. Black. No sugar
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Much of the western side of the state embraces the message of the Democrats, while Eastern Washington tends to toe the conservative line. This political divide, it would seem, is the very thing that so powerfully fuels cockamamie talk about doing to Washington what the man in the circus does to the poor lady in the box.
Sawing the state in half makes sense, Morton says, because people who think alike should be united.

But really, by that line of logic what would come next?

A separate state for paranoid neo-Nazi freaks to pump the sky full of bullet holes? A home for PETA activists who want their own furless fiefdom?Even when the politicos try to get serious to justify turning one Washington into two the whole thing can get a little cross-eyed.State Sen. Bob McCaslin, a Republican from Spokane Valley, told the world he believes "from my heart, mind and soul that Eastern Washington could survive beautifully without Western Washington."A respected Democrat wasted little time rebuffing McCaslin by astutely pointing out how much tax revenue generated in Western Washington flows east. " Maybe Kline's sly point is that Eastern Washington ought to be careful what it wishes for.The truth is any provincial thinking would be a detriment to any collective sense of statehood. Washington would not be Washington without all of its imperfect, disparate parts, without the Elysian fields of the Palouse, the sleepy country towns east of the Cascades, the hurly burly of Seattle or the political fisticuffs in the very left-leaning capital. Those places, along with the ongoing philosophical tugs of war pitting reds against blues -- with presumably the Libertarians and Greens somewhere in the mix -- make this mossy corner of the country infectiously kinetic, as dynamic and interesting as it can be enervating and ridiculous. Lawmakers keen on changing the state need to first change their state of mind. More pressing matters of governance face the Legislature than the silly bit about a state split.
Even though there are a lot of feelings running around out there on this subject, It wont happen. First because Eastern Washington really does not want this. Yes the Western part of Washington is holding the Eastern side up financially, the tax base is much bigger over here than over there. There is a physical divide that separates us. And that is the Cascade Mountains. We are greener and wetter over here, Eastern Washington is dryer and a lot browner. They are desert, we are trees. They have SPACE we have people. They have CROPS we have highways and airports to get their crops to market. They listen to COUNTRY we listen to CULTURE and ROCK, NPR and JAZZ. We have pretty sunsets they have pretty sunrises. They are colder and hotter, we are temperate. ( The Above was stolen from several sources on the internet)

I remember in the 70’s when this was talked about with great fervor. The talk back then was to take Western Washington and merge it with British Columbia, and parts of Alberta and create 1 big state called CASCADIA. That did not go any where either. It is a frivolous bill. In this day and age, when there are people in our cities going homeless, and hungry. When our Children are not learning in school anymore, when families are not parenting and caring about their own, we need to be concentrating our resources and our efforts on improving the quality of life of all citizens. We should not be electing representatives that are abusing their political power by wasting time and money on this kind of thinking.

The splitting of this state, or any state right now just undermines the unity of this country. I would hate to think that this Bill will actually get some Senate consideration. What a waste! Some one needs to set priorities for this man, as he obviously can not do it for himself or his constituents.

I do not have any problem with 51 states, but I think it should come from one of our few territories, like Puerto Rico, or Guam.

If Western Washington is concerned about Eastern Washington not having enough taxes to pay their bills, (which they wouldn’t if we split) we could help them get more population, by closing down Western Washington, allowing no more growth, (YES!!) and sending everybody to Eastern Washington. I am sure that all of these Californians that are getting all of our rain, would like to dry out. Eastern Washington could do that. There is no rain over there. There is only cactus and coyotes and apple trees. There is also a big river running through it, so they would still have waterfront property. Keep them all away from here, as all they are doing is driving our real estate prices up way beyond our means, and causing our taxes to rise.

You just watch. There will be a mass migration North and soon we will become even MORE Californicated than we have been in the past 25 years.

Split Washington into two states. BAH!!!!!!!!! Get real guys.