The Free City of New Orleans

The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg has written a tongue-in-cheek article about all the talk in the south about secession. Like many Northerners, he sees a number of benefits in the proposal -- the South could focus on what Southern politicians seem to believe in (doing away with taxes, getting death row inmates on to the electric chair, etc.), and Northerners could focus on things they seem to believe in (universal healthcare, culture and the arts, etc.).

Frankly, his proposal sounds tempting to me. I especially like the part about my hometown:

New Orleans might have to be made a “free city,” like Danzig (now Gdańsk) between the world wars.

I'm not sure how NOLA would fare after independence (Gdansk did not fare well), but at least we would not have the US government to blame anymore. Having said that, some New Orleanians might prefer the status of a French colony to independence.