A proposal that would divorce Chicago from the rest of Illinois is making waves. Republican State Rep. Bill Mitchell introduced a bill that, if passed, would turn Illinois into two states.

This is not a new complaint that is surfacing. Every election brings issues of political alignment to light. Chicago tends to lean Democratic, while downstate Illinois is largely Republican.

Even so, the proper response is not to ask for the secession of Cook County. The proposal is patently absurd and should not be considered an actual solution to any concerns.

We are not living in an exceptional situation. Many states have large urban centers that vote differently than their rural counterparts. What if New York City were to separate from New York? What if Pennsylvania decided it wanted to get rid of populous Philadelphia?

Were Chicago to actually enter the United States as its own state, there are logistical considerations that would have to be overcome. Chicago would have to hold new elections for state officials and write new laws specific to its region, among other tasks. Downstate Illinois would have to do the same. Congress would have to welcome more members, and the electoral college would have to be restructured to accommodate the addition of a 51st state.

This is not to mention that by separating Illinois from Chicago, it loses its economic engine. In pursuit of resolving the “irreconcilable differences” in spending philosophies of Chicago and downstate Illinois, have we made any real fixes to Illinois’ dire budget crisis?

But if we chalk it up to disagreements in functioning in the current economic climate, chopping Cook County off Illinois would cost far more than sitting down and actually trying to solve the state’s budget crisis, as the politicians were presumably elected to do.

The idea of creating a new state should not be brought up as a politician’s plaything, a magical solution to solving divided partisanship within a state. The “Cook County as a state” proposal is unsustainable, too expensive and an unreasonable solution to Illinois state politics.