By day, Scott Strzelcyzk is an IT consultant in this rural Appalachian corner of the US state of Maryland. By night, he’s something of a modern-day American revolutionary.

“It’s time for a 51st state!” declared Strzelcyzk at a town hall meeting in Cumberland, rallying support for an “amiable divorce” from the coastal state’s more urban eastern half.

The United States hasn’t added a state since 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states, but Strzelcyzk is optimistic that western Maryland — five counties — could strike off on its own in as little as three to five years.

The area is not alone. In other states like California, Colorado or Michigan, regions are itching for statehood, often for the main reason Strzelcyzk cites — frustration with government.

“I think of myself as an average citizen who is sick and tired of being sick and tired,” said Strzelcyzk, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/08/secessionist-movement-emerges-in-rural-maryland/