Eastern Oregon County Sets Vote to Secede, Becoming 12th to Join of “Greater Idaho” Movement
In related news, Oregon’s population declines for first time in 30 years and state economist warns of significant revenue loss.
The last time I reported on the Greater Idaho movement—whose goal is to obtain enough signatures and election success to persuade Oregon, Idaho, and the federal government to allow 15 counties to leave a blue state for a red one without having to move—two counties were slated to vote on the issue Nov. 8th.
The votes were tallied, and the Greater Idaho movement has expanded.
Two more eastern Oregon counties have reportedly voted in favor of the Greater Idaho movement.
Its purpose is to convince state legislatures to move the Oregon-Idaho border, turning conservative counties of Oregon into counties of Idaho.
In a Wednesday news release, the movement said it had seen victory in Morrow and Wheeler counties, clinching 60% and 58% of the votes as of that morning, respectively.
At the present time, 11 counties have officially approved the measure. Now, a 12th is poised to take a vote on the issue.
Earlier this week, the Greater Idaho movement submitted a petition that could potentially add its ballot initiative onto Wallowa County’s ballot in May 2023.
Greater Idaho advocates are pushing for the states of Oregon and Idaho to move their borders so that Oregonians who live in more conservative counties can be a part of Idaho, which has historically been dominated by Republican voters.
According to Oregon’s Election Division, new measures are placed on ballots as long as the petition received enough valid signatures.
If Greater Idaho’s petition is successful and makes it onto the ballot, Wallowa County could be the 12th Oregon county — out of the 15 included in the proposal — to vote in favor of moving the state lines. Wheeler, Klamath, Harney and Malheur counties are among the counties who have supported the movement in past elections.
It appears the separation could be amicable.
The movement’s volunteers are asking Oregon Senate president nominee Rob Wagner to allow a hearing on their bill in January. The bill would invite Idaho to begin talks with Oregon on the potential of moving the border. A January 2022 SurveyUSA poll showed that 68% of northwestern Oregon voters thought that the Oregon Legislature should hold hearings on the idea, and only 20% opposed.
The poll also found that a mere three percent of such voters think keeping eastern and southern Oregon in the state is worth the cost. The movement estimates the cost at $500 per northwestern Oregonian wage earner annually.
In related news, Oregon joins the long list of blue states that have seen their populations decline. Interestingly, the last census showed that the state lost people for the first time in over 30 years.
Josh Lehner, an economist with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, sounded the alarm bells on what the consequences of this decline would mean.
That might sound like good news to Oregonians who are tired of competing for jobs and housing with out-of-staters. But Lehner said Oregon needs this growth to support local businesses, as well as to grow tax revenues that fund public services like transportation, roads, public health and education.
It also means Oregon economists might need to seriously rethink the math in their economic forecasts, which give lawmakers an idea of how much money they can spend on public programs in the years ahead. The most recent statewide forecast, released in November, expected a positive net migration of 33,757 in 2022 — a sharp difference from the reality. It also calculated state revenues based on a total population of 4.3 million people, about 54,000 more people than the census’s current estimates.
I wish the people of Oregon a ton of good luck in 2023! Like us in California, they will need it.
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Comments
Why does the proposed border run through several of the counties rather than along county lines?
In the case of one county, they want to give the city of Bend (once a logging town, now infested with leftists relocating from the People’s Republics of Portlandia, Seattle and CA) to the Marxist portion, but much of the rest of the county is conservative.
Exactly. Also to be stuck in Marxist Lesser Oregon will be transplant-heavy Sisters and vacation spot Camp Sherman along the Metolius River. North of that, the boundary pretty much follows the Deschutes River, which results in splitting a couple of counties.
The other day in Harney County I saw a pickup truck with an “Idaho Is Full” sticker on the back window. Dunno if that’s a reaction to the Greater Oregon movement or to the number of Californians who are now infesting Boise and Coeur d’Alene.
Personally, I’d rather form a 51st state with parts of Eastern Washington, and some Northern California and Northern Nevada counties. Get two Senators and our own presidential electors out of the deal.
Unfortunately, never gonna happen……
There was something about Idaho sticking it to HOA laws censoring political signs… I suspect it’s a jab at Karen California. Developers love building HOA communities with all sorts of regulations so commies will feel at home. Very shrewd of the legislature to stomp that out.
Thanks for the info.
I pray they do it, it will begin the great division amd maybe we can separate as a Country more ambically than a real civil war.
I love my family but too many are too woke and they will never bend, hell, they won’t even talk to you about much anymore than the weather
I want my grandchildren to grow up in a Country proud of its heritage proud to be a true American
They can name their country the Wokeland.
Let’s get this rolling
I agree. The logical conclusion of all this is secession, not necessarily civil war. An example is the USSR, which merely disintegrated. Same could happen to the US, and probably will.
Given Biden’s handlers have (and McConnell’s) have steered us towards war with Russia (the Russian invasion into Ukraine was COMPLETELY preventable – and in fact, it was urged by Biden’s handlers). Now that Biden’s handlers have put US troops ON THE GROUND IN UKRAINE), Biden’s handlers are pushing Putin into an all-out war they think they can win.
While Putin’s non-nuclear forces can’t match the US’s, Putin’s nukes can. The clowns in the “Biden” administration believe they can ‘win’ a limited nuke war with Russia. This is a delusion fed not by analysis, but by greed: the TRILLIONS being laundered in Ukraine are making their way back into the pockets of Biden’s handlers and their benefactors.
This blatant corruption is the sickest series of historic events perhaps in world history.
but too many are too woke and they will never bend
It’s a religion. And not one that takes well to “convincing” others via dialogue. It much prefers to indoctrinate children, to weasel via media, and to force where it must via the power of the state.
My condolences on dealing with your family.
Good luck to them as well. Might spur other states to do similar. When two peoples simply can not abide one another and have no common ground and no chance of reaching any, this can be a peaceful remedy.
Yes, just so.
Is there anyone out there in the 80% Middle Pennsylvania willing to join up with us in Middle New York?
From those I’ve known coming from western Maryland they could probably fit in, too.
A new & improved big beautiful state, with any necessary political & bureaucratic powers dispersed and diluted.
I have always liked the pan handle of Md. Frostburg through Grantsville all the way to Oakland. Very similar to middle Pa. Actually starting west of Cumberland.
I’m waiting for southern Illinois to secede from Chicagoland and join Greater Indiana.
It doesn’t matter how many are willing. Are the NY, PA, and MD legislatures willing to let them go? If not, then the wishes of the people in those counties are irrelevant.
Sad but true.
Get enough of us, and angry and aggressive enough, sure it can matter. I believe the legislature now dominated by Marxist Democrats might actually be pleased to cut us loose from the power centers that truly matter to them. (Easier than rounding us up for the gulags.)
Even a long journey must begin with but a single step, Grasshopper.
Pretty sure SE Ohio would like to join KY or WV. We get neglected by our legislature and the blue cankers (Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland) get all the credit.
The surprising thing about this is that it shows, once again, the country is primarily red, but the overly populated areas are primarily blue and they’re driving policy that impacts the red portions of the country.
The US is going to collapse as the USSR did. Wait till food shortages start, and compound that with economic collapse – with a cherry on top of an EMT attack on the US by Russia or China.
With the US communication systems in shambles, the states – and smaller subdivisions within them – will be on their own.
If you think the BLM riots of 2020 were something, wait till you see what’s coming.
I believe you mean EMP?
Nope. Even the Emergency Medical Technicians are armed to the teeth now. Deputized by the IRS. And I just made that up.
Yes, and segregating according to ideological lines is an excellent idea–let the left live under its chosen totalitarian utopia and let the rest of us limp along trying to resurrect love of country, love of place, civic pride and responsibility, all that good stuff that’s being replaced by forced grovelling worship of manufactured “identities” and Maoist struggle sessions (publicly recanting blasphemy against the orthodoxy after being publicly humiliated, bankrupted, and silenced) that enforce compliance.
Talkng about reapportioning states, this thought experiment ffrom years ago: https://fakeisthenewreal.org/reform/
Aside from puttting places of my interest into their own regions: Adarondak,Ppocono, and Allegheny, across the board it chips occupied hinterlands off from the state-level mini-imperial cities.
Another interesting map is the Nine American Nations take, which gets revisited every decade or two. One take for me is noting that the boundaries of these “nations” don’t track with state borders. For example, down-state NY is part of the Puritan righteous nation, imposing thenselves ffrom their enclaves on unruly lower casts out in the hinterlands. Like Oregon, California, and Illinois, in NY we have folks who will never go there imposing on others from afar things that can’t work but feel good to say.
Kinda federal imposed utopianism writ smaller. Everybody cribs from President Wilson, it seems.
What happens if sub-units easily could vote with their feet to join a better next-scale associiation at will? The abusive capture seems to operate at all scales. I remember when viable natios were vying to get into the EU.
I don’t know, this could be good, or not. Despite my screen name I’m actually a California refugee now living in Idaho. Yes, Idaho is red, but in terms of state government it’s very much RINO red from my perspective. Taxes aren’t particularly low, the Governor called a special session last fall just to hand over another one-half billion dollars to the government schools, the schools and libraries are infested with CRT and LGBTQRS+, etc. The Idaho Republican Party doesn’t feel threatened with losing elections, so the old cronies take care of themselves. They couldn’t even repeal the sales tax on groceries or manage property tax reform last year despite a huge budget surplus, inflation and property valuations doubling.
Every US public school should be considered compromised, corrupted with neo-Marxist ideology.
Every teacher being credentialed is thoroughly indoctrinated with Friere’s educational ideology and tacitly agrees with and advances the agenda to “liberate” gays and transsexuals by “subverting heteronormativity” and confusing the ignorant about sex and sex expression.
This is on top of the racist dogma that demonizes whites and advocates segregation based on lies about “institutional racism.”
P.S.
Any secession movement must include alternatives to federally funded public schools and the current teacher credentialing process.
Amazing how inept republicans in deep red states (KANSAS) can become. Lions that live at the zoo never learn how to hunt.
The Peoples’ Republic of Portland will never voluntarily allow the subjugated hinterlands to be free.
Subotai Bahadur
And I venture they won’t hesitate to call the ruling Marxists in Washington to send in our now woke military to massacre these patriots. By the thousands, if needed.
Although, they simply might heavily arm Antifa first, and use the state and leftist urban police (whom we saw during Covid will loyally back their Communist paymasters) to reinforce them.
We have the 2nd Amendment for just this sort of thing.
“But Lehner said Oregon needs this growth to support local businesses, as well as to grow tax revenues that fund
public services like transportation, roads, public health and education” leftists woke and transgender policies.FIFY
Mainstream media owned by huge corporations that are controlled by a minute portion of the population that resides at the apex of the socioeconomic hierarchy.
Those very powerful people mostly operate the media to benefit their own class and ensure the USA remain a corrupt system of embedded power systems that ensures the elite class remains in power and control allowing a large portion of the national wealth to rise ever-upwards into the hands of the few at the top.
Admittedly, USA life is better than many other countries but that is due to our main cultures and the society they create. That along with the 2nd-amendment. Remove the weaponry from the masses and expect tyranny to quickly gain total control and enslave We, the People.
The Dems have won ten straight gubernatorial elections in Oregon–the latest by a lesbian, who succeeds a woman who identified as bisexual. So the average Oregonian has never seen a Republican governor in his lifetime. After a while they get to see the handwriting on the wall and throw in the towel–either by leaving the state or getting the state to leave then.
If this happens, hold on to your seats and hats: Greater West Virginia will be the next battle ground, as demographics in both Western Maryland and Virginia (west of I-81 and South of the counties that border Maryland and possibly, very southeastern Ohio) could easily overcome the Commonwealth’s integrity.
I believe that as America “Self-Segregates” Greater Idaho will only be the first of many realignments of state borders.
Pick up a copy of Colin Woodward’s excellent book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America to see why I make this prediction.
Author Colin Woodard
Country United States
Language English
Published 2011
Publisher Viking
Media type Print
ISBN 978-0-670-02296-0
Website colinwoodard.com/americannations.html
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
Read it and see the future of America.
So what needs to happen is “collections” of these states need to form some core infrastructure – ie power grids and ports- w/out federal control. As was pointed out the TVA is now starving TN for energy in favor of a green cult fantasy.
This is all fantasy, until someone answers why the Oregon legislature would agree to this.
The only reason being proposed is that these counties actually cost Oregon money, and it would be better off without them. In that case why would the Idaho legislature agree to accept them?
The same applies to the other ideas being thrown around in the comments. In all cases, changing a state border requires the consent of the state legislatures on both sides of the change, as well as the US congress. Why would any state ever consent to that?
From a practical standpoint it is unlikely for all the reasons you list. From the standpoint of withdrawal of consent by the governed it is more than theoretical cos play. When the Citizen population of entire regions within a State effectively tell their current State govt ‘no thanks, we would rather be governed from another State capital’ it’s a big deal.
While a step short of an actual declaration of independence this is a very strong message. It’s also a useful way to frame the debate. The Citizens in these areas are generally unappreciated and disdained by their State Capital and by the population of the blue enclaves. Why insist on keeping these areas and their Citizens? That’s the better question, IMO.
Your argument is leftists are concerned about fiscal consequences? That dog won’t hunt.
They won’t let it happen because it would further weaken their electoral college standing (weak already) and strengthen a red states by a wide margin. It would also open up HUGE amounts of real estate for people fleeing blue states… as noted “Idaho is full”
Andy, it would have no impact in the EC, because Eastern Oregon’s congresscritter is a Republican. As for real estate, it’s not about land it’s about jobs. Eastern Oregon’s economy has been moribund for decades.
Thanks for posting what I would have posted. This is a lose-lose-lose proposition, and will not be adopted. No one has asked Idaho. Why would they want 300,000 people on 50,000 or so acres, and the responsibility for Eastern Oregon’s roads, schools, medical care, courts, prisons, and fire fighting?
Eastern Oregonians who now pay no sales tax would be more than a little chagrined to learn that Idaho has a 6% state sales tax, with local options for more. Income tax is pretty much the same until you hit the high brackets, and in Eastern Oregon there aren’t many of those.
I live right across the river from Oregon, and my other half is a legal resident. I strongly sympathize with Eastern Oregon’s grievances, but this is a fantasy that will not and more importantly should not be realized.
“I wish the people of Oregon a ton of good luck in 2023! Like us in California, they will need it.”
Leslie is nice than me. I wish both states to have crushing economic deterioration, a complete collapse of housing values, and a continued escalation of the criminality and lawlessness which characterizes their self-induced decline.
You are nowhere near the bottom that would change the minds of your left wing lunatic politicians and their suicidal supporters.
This won’t happen.
#1 Leftists don’t like to give up control. Letting part of the state go would be like admitting they suck at governing. They aren’t going to do that. (this is also why I do not believe there would ever be a peaceful divorce in the country)
#2 They will never give it up because of the electoral vote. Yes it’s just one (or maybe two) they would end up handing to Idaho but it could be the difference between 270 and 269 in a close call. As much as the left gripes about the electoral system they pay close attention to it and they play it just as well.
#3 If this was successful this would lead to other areas trying the same thing. The left can’t have that because of #2.
Democrats are never going to allow it to happen.