Could or Should a City Secede from America? – Revolt: The Secession of Mill Valley, a thought-provoking political satire, is the story of Sean Cogan, a frustrated political malcontent living in Mill Valley, California, who is convinced that America has become irreversibly mired in slime. Citing a dysfunctional Congress, the influence of Wall Street, the power of lobbyists, and massive invasions of the privacy of ordinary citizens, he believes we are no longer a country “of, by and for the people,” – a principle that he calls “as dead as the Founding Fathers” – and that we have instead evolved into a Nation held in a vice grip by billionaires and powerful special interests. He thinks most people are too ambivalent, frightened, and distracted do anything about it. He believes reform movements are a joke, that there is no hope in working within the system, and that if something dramatic doesn’t happen the very concept of self-government will become obsolete. Unwilling to simply accept this, he decides to shake things up.
He meets with a group of close friends, writes up a ballot initiative, and launches a campaign for Mill Valley to secede from the rest of the country and establish its own independent government. He leaflets cars, announces a town meeting and meets with a local reporter. When word of this spreads to power brokers in Washington. things quickly spin out of control. – www.raybourhis.com