So they are voting with their feet. Or trying to.
Several counties voted earlier this month to consider joining Idaho, which has long been far more conservative (and sane) than its uber liberal neighbor, though admittedly, the prospect of actually getting to join Idaho is a long-shot (if the current rules are followed, that is).
Voters in Malheur, Sherman, Grant, Baker, and Lake counties approved various measures that require county officials to take steps to look into moving the Idaho border west to incorporate the counties.
The grassroots group Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho is aiming to have the eastern counties—which are mostly rural—join Idaho because they believe they would be better off with Idaho’s more conservative political leadership.
“This election proves that rural Oregon wants out of Oregon,” lead petitioner Mike McCarter said in a statement. “If Oregon really believes in liberal values such as self-determination, the Legislature won’t hold our counties captive against our will. If we’re allowed to vote for which government officials we want, we should be allowed to vote for which government we want as well.”
Last year, McCarter told the Oregonian that the effort to leave the state for the less regulatory, more self-reliant atmosphere of Idaho is based on a "lifestyle/values judgment" that divides urban and rural residents.
The secession effort, which is really what this amounts to, began last year when voters in Jefferson and Union counties in Oregon approved measures to move to Idaho. In fact, the Move Oregon initiative also wants to take in some Northern California counties for the same purpose -- they are mostly rural and their values of constitutional freedom and liberty more align with those of Idaho's residents.
In an interview last year with Fox News, Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little said that many Oregonians are "looking at Idaho fondly because of our regulatory atmosphere" and "our values."
But it's not just Oregonians who want to be in Idaho. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Gem State grew at the second-fastest pace over the past decade.
"According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 1,839,106 million people now call themselves Idahoan. The Gem State's population grew by 17.4% since the 2010 Census, when Idaho was the nation's fourth-fastest growing state and had a population of 1,567,582," KTVB reported.
"The bid, however, appears to be a long shot as it would require a formal vote in the Democratic-controlled Oregon legislature. If that goes through, Oregon and Idaho would have to come up with a deal, which would then have to be ratified by the U.S. Congress," The Epoch Times added.
Fat chance of any of that happening, of course. But, as The Epoch Times adds, it's not unprecedented: "In 1792, Kentucky was created from Virginia’s territory, Maine was created from Massachusetts in 1820, and West Virginia in 1863 was admitted into the United States when Union states and counties separated themselves from the Confederate ones during the Civil War."
When Virginia seceded to become the seat of the Confederacy, residents in the western portion did not want to leave so they 'seceded' from Virginia; the state was never formed and ratified in the traditional manner.
So could counties in parts of Oregon and California essentially do the same thing today? No -- not if they followed the rules as they currently exist.
But what if the diabolical deep state changes the rules again in the 2022 and 2024 elections and steal more elections? Wouldn't that amount to a betrayal of the existing system?
Sure it would. And right now, frankly, if Americans in authoritarian states and enclaves want to be free again, they may just have to do what our founders did and declare themselves so.
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