Alaska Independence?

It seems that Sarah Palin is a former member of some sort of an Alaska secessionist movement known as the Alaska Independence Party and went so far as to send them a nice video:

All of which once again raises the question of whether John McCain did even cursory vetting of his Vice Presidential nominee. And it also raises the question of Alaskan independence — is it a good idea? The case for would be that “very small population” works well for a number of countries rich in natural resources — Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Norway — since you have fewer citizens among whom to spread the wealth. On the other hand, I believe Alaska is a very large net recipient of federal funds. And of course resource-rich states have a tendency to become corrupt autocracies, so maybe it’s good for Alaska to be part of the USA.And then of course there’s the other issue — was it such a hot idea to make Alaska a state in the first place? All that oil-related revenue could be going straight into the federal kitty. And Alaska’s representatives to the federal legislature haven’t exactly distinguished themselves as broad-minded statesmen.