But what about a sparser alternative, nestled between California and Nevada, with prime views of Lake Tahoe's southern shore?

A new proposal, put forth by a resident and supported by at least one former county leader, would have El Dorado County secede from California and become its own state.

The idea is being spearheaded by county resident Sharon Durst, who spoke alongside former county Supervisor Ray Nutting at a community meeting last month, the Mountain Democrat newspaper reported.

Durst also laid out the case for secession in a more than 7,000-word post published May 26 on newsletter platform Substack.

"El Dorado relies mostly on its income from tourism and on the unhappy people from Sacramento, the Bay Area and Los Angeles buying residential or second homes away from the crime-ridden metropolitan areas," Durst wrote.

"The people of El Dorado County want their former livelihoods restored and their rural way of life respected. Even without its geographical major economic drivers, the people of the county are economically resilient and self-sustaining."

The post, which opens with sentences mirroring the Declaration of Independence, makes clear that the proposal is to secede from California and become an independent U.S. state rather than secede from the United States.