Residents of Pima County, Ariz., wrote a proposal in 2011 to form a new state called Baja Arizona. The population boom in urban areas such as Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs near the District, the Boulder- 
 
 Denver areas in Colorado, and in Detroit have filled state legislatures with liberal policymakers pushing progressive agendas out of sync with rural residents, who feel increasingly isolated and marginalized. The region is home to two of the state’s top ten wealthiest counties, Frederick and Carroll, but Washington County is ranked 17th out of 24 in poverty and Garrett and Allegany are the 21st and 23rd poorest counties in Maryland. Annapolis could care less about the people in the five western counties. Yes 
 
 % No% Cast your vote Results from an unscientific survey of Washington Post readers 
 
 The Facebook page has drawn more than 2,200 likes, with residents from western counties chiming in with ideas and offers to help. The only two things we can count on from Annapolis are: they will assault our rights and our wallets,” Strzelczyk said. Martin O’Malley’s office declined to comment on the effort and Rep. John Delaney’s office, which represents four of the five counties named in the Western Maryland initiative in the 6th District, called the idea “utterly ridiculous.” 
 
 The last time a state successfully seceded from another state was in 1863, when the western counties of Virginia decided to become another state instead of leaving the Union. We have not given consent to the oppressive laws and regulations imposed by Annapolis on the five western counties.” 
 
 Maryland Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) has said that he doesn’t agree with the secession movement there, but his public comments on the issue suggest that the efforts are at least seen as real.
– Secession is all the rage these days, and the latest movement is taking shape in Maryland. The Western Maryland Initiative, a group led by Scott Strzelczyk, is looking to break off the five western counties from the rest of the state, the Washington Post reports. Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick, and Carroll counties are more rural; their residents are mostly white, earn less than their fellow Marylanders, and are largely Republicans in a very blue state. With about 650,000 residents, they make up just 11% of the state's population; that's about the size of DC, notes Think Progress. Strzelczyk envisions a state—called Western Maryland or West Maryland, reports the Sentinel—with more "personal liberty, less government intrusion." He's personally pro-gun, anti-Department of Education, and OK with medical marijuana. "If you don’t belong in [the Democratic] party, you’ll never have your views represented" in Maryland, says Strzelczyk. "If we have more states, we can all go live in states that best represent us, and then we can get along." (He doesn't want to move to another state, however.) But secession is notoriously difficult to achieve, and the Sentinel points out that the 3,000 people who have "liked" the group's Facebook page make up fewer than 1% of the area's 407,000 registered voters. Political experts say the effort isn't likely to see results, and Strzelczyk knows he has a ways to go—his effort doesn't even have a website yet. (When it comes to possible secession, Northern Colorado's attempt is currently the furthest along.)