The 51st State, Western Maryland: How To Succeed Without Seceding

The mountain natives are restless in Maryland. They want to have it their way, though they represent just 10 percent of the state’s population.

Here are a few things that annoy them:

• A stream of tax increases (including one on rain!) from Annapolis.
• State restrictions that devalue their land.
• Tougher gun-control laws.
• A bleeding-heart law that does away with the death penalty.
• A state law legalizing gay marriages.
• Political map-makers who deprive them of their conservative congressman.

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