(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – A conservative movement to secede from Oregon and join neighboring Idaho is gaining traction in the eastern part of the Democrat-run ultra-liberal Pacific state, reveals a report ahead of a county vote on the issue.
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The idea that pro-Republican counties in the rural, eastern areas of Oregon should secede and become part of Idaho, forming a Greater Idaho, has existed for a while, but now “there are signs [it] could be taking root more widely,” AFP writes in a report.
It points out that in February, Idaho’s House of Representatives adopted a non-binding resolution to discuss redrawing state borders.
At the same time, the residents of 11 out of the 15 counties in Eastern Oregon have already held votes requiring the local authorities to consider the Greater Idaho plan.
“Out in the rural east [of Oregon], many voters are tired of what they describe as feeling dispossessed by the urban elite who live along the Pacific coast,” commented the report.
It came ahead of a Tuesday vote in Wallowa County, the twelfth to hold a ballot on a similar measure.
The residents of Eastern Oregon have a long list of complaints about how the state has been run by the Democrat elites on the Pacific Coast – ranging from the “‘one-size-fits-all’laws that ignore their rural way of life” to regulations on fossil fuels and the timber industry.
“The diesel ban is a horrible idea, and I think it would destroy our economy,” said Garrett Mahon, a 41-year-old logger, referring to a plan in California that Oregon could follow.
“I don’t think we’ll actually be able to not be Oregon: there’s so much still involved in trying to get it done,” he added.
Yet, Mahon also clarified his hopes that if locals keep voting for the Greater Idaho project, “politicians will have to listen.”
The report stresses that the Greater Idaho “dream” “remains highly improbable” since a change of state borders would require the consent of the Oregon and Idaho legislatures, plus the US Congress in Washington, DC.
It adds the last time there was a county secession was the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War in 1863, while California has seen over 200 failed attempts to divide it.
Democrats from Eastern Oregon “openly mock” the Greater Idaho initiative, including with gestures such as giving cardboard moving boxes to locals who wish to secede from the Pacific state.
“America’s democracy is in trouble… There are so many culture wars,” commented Devon Maxwell, a 27-year-old paralegal and Democratic Party member.
“What the greater Idaho movement is ultimately doing is inflaming the situation and the divides that are already in the community,” Maxwell claimed.
However, according to 67-year-old Curt Howell, a farmer, the Oregon secession movement could spill over way beyond the state.
“You could redraw the lines all over the West… living amongst like-minded people is always easier,” he said.
“If in Oregon, something doesn’t get better in the next five to 10 years, it could become ugly,” Howell warned.
