So this past Sunday, a group of New Yorkers rallied to split up the state. 

In their ideal world, the top half of New York would be New Amsterdam, and the bottom half-- composed of the city's five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, and Rockland Counties-- would be New York.

The champions of this movement, according to Gawker, are the far right Tri-County Tea Party and local Oath Keepers.

They're protesting with the hopes of "reclaiming the economic opportunities Upstate has lost and restoring the liberties Upstate residents once enjoyed."

What lost liberties, you're wondering? None other than fracking and unfettered access to guns. 

SCOPE NY is one of the prominent groups in the New Amsterdam movement, and it sprung up in opposition to the SAFE Act, a group of gun control laws Governor Cuomo signed after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Seceding from New York is not a completely novel idea. Vermont only became a state after it broke away from New York in 1777.

Via Divide New York State Caucus Inc.

But the Tri-County Tea Party Members and Oath Keepers don't want to form their own state. 

They want New York and New Amsterdam to become self governing regions with a "token state government" reigning above the two, which "would have about the same power as the Queen of England," according to a representative of the Divide New York State Caucus.

Their petition has 3,381 signatures at this moment, but in order for this movement to succeed they'll need the state government's signature too. 

All of that being said, we highly doubt they'll get the state government's signature, considering New York City is upstate's most lucrative source of revenue.

In 2009 and 2010, NYC paid $12 billion in tax dollars to the flailing upstate.

So they need us. But even if they didn't, can't we all just get along?

Check out 4 Upstate NY Weekend Getaways to Cross Off Your Summer Bucket List. 

[via Bullets First]