Many years ago, Key West seceded from the US, declaring itself the Conch Republic. The government instantly cut off electric power and water and set up passport controls on the only road into the keys. The government reacted with dead seriousness and the rebellion fizzled out.
Below is a Wiki article supposedly about the rebellion and it does not match my memories of actually being there. The article justified the actions. My take is it was a bunch of hippies who thought they could run a better country. The passport control, which I was caught up in, occurred after they rebellion was declared. The article is not correct.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic
LOL! I have been to Ket West, and I was too young to have this news event register with me.
It seems like a tongue-in-cheek thing, from Wikipedia, but if electricity was turned off, it was taken as a quasi-legitimate uprising by Reagan.