Why would out-of-towners ever write off Arizona as a place just full of bozos and lunatics?
Well, the petition to the White House requesting that the Obama administration let Arizona secede from the Union and start its own government is a good place to start your research.
Someone posting by the name of "Nicholas M." from Gilbert started the petition on the White House's "We the People" website, which is a cute thing set up by the Obama folks to make it appear that they're actively considering input from people submitting petitions on the Internet.
A healthy portion of the petitions just ask for the Obama administration to legalize weed, but here's what more than 12,400 people have signed on to request:
Peacefully grant the State of Arizona to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.
As the founding fathers of the united States of America made clear in the Declaration of Independence in 1776:
"...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government..."
The citizens of the great state of Arizona have the right to stand for their principles. That man is granted unalienable rights, which are not the dispensations of the government, but find their beginnings in God and come from God alone. These are the principles that our forefathers stood for, the principles upon, which our Constitution is based, and those in which we firmly place our belief and resolve.
Just to make one of the many points illustrating how moronic this is, the state's budget for next year (appropriations report here) relies on the federal government for 34 percent of all spending (page BH-11).
That's not to imply that any actual thought went into this petition, except for Obama sucks, man!, but luckily for the rest of Arizona, there are people in other states who are also trying this, including Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and others.
(Note to the the first three: You've already gone through with this once, and you got your asses kicked. To its credit, Texas is 1-for-2 on serious secession attempts.)
All of these petitions were started within days of Obama's re-election, so there's really no guesswork involved in figuring out the motivation behind them.
Unfortunately, the petition doesn't list the full names of creators or signers, or we'd ask "Nicholas M." how he came up with this brilliant idea.
To join one of the most pathetic secession attempts in American history (the first line doesn't even make sense) -- or to just see the petition -- click here.