I was reading up on the Austrian states, when I noticed this in the Wikipedia entry about Vorarlberg:

In a referendum held in Vorarlberg on 11 May 1919 over 80% of those voting supported a proposal that the state should join the Swiss Confederation. However, this was prevented by the opposition of the Austrian Government, the Allies, Swiss liberals, the Swiss-Italians and the Swiss-French.[1] There are approximately 352,000 inhabitants in Vorarlberg’s 96 municipalities.

Isn’t that sad? A state voted to secede from the republic, but nobody wanted it. It’d be like Washington voting itself into Canada and Canada saying “no thanks.” Although, in the case of Canada, they’d be stupid not to suck up that Microsoft economy, so maybe that’s not such a good example. Maybe it’s more like Maine deciding it wanted to be in Canada—that’s more likely to meet with a stiff forearm a la The Heisman Trophy than would Washington State.