I very much agree with all that. I think another part of it is that a lot of people buy into the whole myth of rugged individualism that Americans are brought up into, and have deep mistrust for having a central government. As material conditions continue to decline, people are increasingly blaming the federal government for all their problems. They don't understand how a modern economy works, they don't know where the goods they consume come from. The have this romanticized frontier mindset that if their state splits off then they'll just be completely self sufficient.