The Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle brought this romanticized and mythical land back to the fore:

"Some folks around here think the economic sky is falling and state lawmakers in Sacramento and Salem are ignoring their constituents in the hinterlands.

Guess the time is ripe to create a whole new state.

That's the thinking up here along the border between California and Oregon, where 12 sparsely populated, thickly forested counties in both states want to break away and generate the 51st star on the nation's flag - the state of Jefferson."

Now, I am all for an imaginary romantic utopia one weaves easily into conversation in an alpine meadow, or paddling a canoe, or wandering with friends in tall timber, or taking a long walk along our gorgeous shores, or enjoying a campfire. I think philosophical discussions and geopolitical theories are all good clean fun. Especially the kind that have the lure of local lore and history.

However, let us not lose sight of the twentieth century motivation behind Jefferson. According to remarks prepared for the 1980 State of Jefferson Mathematics Congress, it contained the noble notions of the best of Oregon ideals, but there was also a catch. The 1941 movement was designed to develop the region and exploit the land:

"The event constituting the real beginning of the State of Jefferson occurred on October 2, 1941. Gilbert Gable, the mayor of Port Orford, Oregon, appeared before the County Court of Curry County, with a delegation of citizens from that city. Claiming that "apathetic state leadership" had failed to develop the mineral resources...

Many people felt that we would be involved in a Pacific war within two years. The government was slowly building up its arms production, not only in expectation for a coming war, but also to supply the non-Axis belligerents in Europe. There was a need to step up production of strategic minerals such as chromite, cinnabar, and magnesite, which the Curry County delegation felt were in abundance in that county...

At the end of the month Cable and his delegation met with California's Governor Culbert Olson. They outlined their complaints against the state of Oregon: lack of harbor development, lack of roads into the interior, no state institutions in the county, no citizens of the county appointed to state positions, and lack of support for the development of the lumber and mineral industries."

Those days were well documented by journalist Stanton Delaplane. My guess is that large mining concerns, petrochemical giants, power companies and timber conglomerates would have loved to help them craft regulation in their new state in the 1940s. If the military industrial complex had actually taken over, not only would the Klamath Basin be dry now, it would be long destroyed by pollution and development.

Urban people must insist that our rural neighbors are heard and represented under our current system. I hate to burst any bubbles containing Ernest Callenbach fantasies, but the new movement of great intentions is probably very similar to the last one. This beautiful nearby place of abundant geothermal, wind and solar energy needs to be a cradle of green technology. It should not be broken up by earnest locals, sold to the highest bidder and stripped of resources.

Now, like I said, the idea that folks feel special or sacred in a place makes perfect sense to me. The idea of having strong political voices from all over our state does too. Like my reservations about the 1941 movement, my current concerns are almost entirely environmental. I see big energy, multinational timber and sprawling developers getting yet another way around the ever shrinking rules.

On the other hand, if the Alaska Independence Party is successful, we might just welcome our old southern friends as the new number fifty. We can start by suggesting a different flag. There is an eerie resemblance between Jefferson and Tomania.