Seven rural counties in Oregon have voted in favor of seceding to Idaho

Oh, yes please. Let the Republicans gerrymander themselves into Idaho, and from Idaho to Wyoming or somewhere of their choice, until they are all in one state, gathered together ready for God’s dustpan and brush. And for us atheists out there, make sure there are a couple of fault lines and an active volcano so it looks natural. Or build a dam: dams are good.

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welcome to the west, i guess. Nevada and California also have grumpy libertarian rural whackos like this (see the Bundy family, for instance). it won’t go anywhere. also, i find it amusing how he slips “our gun rights” in there as a separate list item from “our values” to pad it out a bit.

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It’d set an interesting precedent.

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The US’s fine tradition of gerrymandering gets a weird new twist.

Instead of having it done for them, some districts are now trying to do it for themselves.

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They have a website greateridaho dot org.

They disagree with the drug decriminalization we’ve done at the state level (which is funny because “real” libertarians want drug decriminalization, which means these are just rural conservatives).

They disagree with the failure to use more brutal police violence against “rioters”/protesters. So they’re authoritarians and at least fascist-adjacent.

They disagree with Oregon’s progressive income tax that doesn’t penalize poor people with a sales tax.

Idaho has less business regulation and lower cost of living. But you get what you pay for. I’ve visited Idaho, it’s not great. Sure you can get a cheaper house there (though prices are rising) but then you’ve got to live and work in Idaho.

They dislike that they have a low population compared to the Willamette Valley so they are a political minority in the state legislature.

Ironically, they admit that their counties are subsidized by the Willamette Valley counties.

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The main impact would be slightly decreasing the population of Oregon and slightly increasing the population of Idaho—which would make things more equal, since Oregon currently has more than twice as many people

It’s like redistricting, it shouldn’t be a problem or a big deal, and it wouldn’t change anything in Congress

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It is too bad that it impossible in the US for a person to move from one state to another /s.

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I know this seems unlikely, but I wonder if New York City would rather be part of NJ (or CT?) than the rest of upstate NY?

Idaho is such a shithole. I say let those OR counties secede. They’ll be singing a different tune when they realize that Idaho has nothing of value to offer them.

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“Libertarians” who are upset that the police aren’t brutal enough and that drugs are legal.

If that’s libertarianism, then you’ll eat my hat.

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Ironically, they admit that their counties are subsidized by the Willamette Valley counties.

This was the first thing I thought of. Would Idaho actually want them?

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Oregon native here, luckily not in one of the seven counties (although still in a rural county). It’s basically a grudge that the rural areas tend to be Republican / conservative, but the bulk of the population lives in Democratic / liberal Portland and Eugene. And so our government is largely Democratic and liberal. The complaint I’ve heard all my life is, “So people in a few cities make rules for everybody, and they don’t know what life is like in the country.” It’s not entirely without merit.

The state determines land use and timber use laws, and it affects rural counties. There were water-use laws passed in the mid-00’s that only affected agricultural areas, with basically no input from the people who lived there, and the impact on farming and irrigation was severe. Keeping in mind that conservatives have long memories and carry grudges, the Spotted Owl is still trotted out as a hated symbol of environmentalism and liberal over-reach. Remember the Spotted Owl from the 1980s? My neighbors do!

But Oregon enjoys a zero percent sales tax. Idaho has a 6% sales tax. I think there will be some serious buyer’s regret if it happens. Plus, it would signficantly shrink Congressional District 2, which was represented by Greg Walden (R) for the last 20 years, and is now represented by Cliff Bentz (R).

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Kick-ass song, though. B'52 - Private Idaho - HQ - YouTube

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it would make both states more liberal

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@Mongrove. Portlander here. Thank you for writing clearly about the “industries” issue. I moved here from the midwest where rural = agriculture, and it was interesting to find (as well as agriculture) rural = resource extraction.

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Curious: How many people would have to move from safely blue counties in blue states to nominally-red counties in red states in order to tip the electoral college vote—and more importantly, the allocation of senators—into resembling the reality of the popular vote?

Reminds me of the “Leviticans of Ameristan” in Neal Stephenson’s “Fall”

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I do, too. I’d see bumper stickers on rusty Chevy pickups that read “You can’t wipe your ass with a spotted owl.” That’s from up here in north Northern California.

Another thing these county folk would need to learn to do is pump their own gas. Isn’t across all of Oregon and you’re not allowed to touch the pump? It’s the only state in the Union that has that level of job protection.

Other thing about Northern California is the State of Jefferson’ers. They want to create a new state with pieces carved out of mostly California and a small part of southern Oregon. Whenever I see the “great seal of the state of Jefferson”, the dos equis (two X’s), I just feel sorry for these folks.

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I know of no Ny’r that yearns to be part of either Connecticut or New Jersey.