Greater Idaho- How to create a White Conservative Christian heterosexual Paradise

Making America Great Again from White Conservative Christian cisgender heterosexuals

When you can’t get your way, you take your ball and go to the next town.

For at least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.

• Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays, Vol. I: 1920-1925

It is only because of their stupidity that they are able to be so sure of themselves.

• Franz Kafka

I’d hoped to avoid this subject, primarily because of its abject silliness- Conservatives not getting their way and deciding to move…without actually moving. Alas, it appears to be picking up steam and attention in the mainstream media. “Greater Idaho” is an idea that’s been bouncing around here in the Pacific Northwest for many years. Though few have taken it seriously, it took the Trump Era and the advent of whiny, self-entitled Conservatives to breathe new life into what had a moribund idea.

Why work within the system when you can Make America Great Again by creating a Paradise for White Conservative Christian cisgender heterosexuals by moving borders?

“Greater Idaho,” in its simplest form, is the idea that eastern Oregon counties are more politically and ideologically aligned with deeply Conservative Idaho. Most of Oregon’s population is concentrated west of the Cascade Mountains in the Willamette Valley and is pretty left of center. This has long been a source of deep frustration for lightly population counties east of the Cascades that historically trend more Conservative and often feel ignored by politicians in Salem, the state Capitol.

Red Oregon doesn’t want Blue Oregon’s ideas about gun control, abortion rights, marijuana legalization, and other hot-button issues forced upon them by Liberal legislators who they feel don’t give a damn about what they want.

Of course, they make up only 10% of the population, so their wants, needs, and opinions aren’t topmost in the minds of legislators from districts west of the Cascades. That’s the way representative democracy works.

It’s universally acknowledged that most right-wingers are entitled babies who hate when the world doesn’t always function according to their personally restrictive views. Conservative residents of eastern Oregon feel greatly put out because the majority of the state’s population supports Democrats and pro-democracy policies.

Look, most of Oregon’s population is in the northwest, and we’ve sort of got a democracy going on here. Oregon Democrats haven’t artificially gerrymandered their dominance like the right-wing fascists in Wisconsin. This is straightforward addition. Meanwhile, the entire southern United States is an ongoing example of white conservatives imposing what we generously call “values” on the Black population. Mississippi is 37 percent Black, and Louisiana 32 percent. The Republicans there don’t even try to understand Black residents and actively attempt to silence their voices. Hell, DC has the highest percentage of Black residents and is denied statehood and any congressional representation. So, it’s hard to empathize with whiny ass white conservatives in eastern Oregon.

It’s a simple case of majority rules, and Conservatives hate democracy…unless they’re coming out on top. In the case of eastern Oregon, they’re in the minority when it comes to Oregon as a whole, so they want to take their ball and bat and go to Idaho. Or, more accurately, make the borders of Idaho come to them.

There’s historical precedent for this, and the Constitution allows for it, though it’s not something that happens with great frequency. No, we’re not talking about something like India and Pakistan divorcing in 1947 and multitudes of people dying as a result. But it would be inconvenient and create boatloads of problems, at least initially.

One plan would take part of northern California, as well.

Of course, people dissatisfied with the “repressive” Liberal political atmosphere here in Oregon could pick up stakes and move to Idaho, right? It’s not like anyone’s holding a gun to their heads and forcing them to stay here. But, instead of taking the initiative and doing the logical thing, they want the government to cater to them.

Does this sound like any Conservatives you might know??

They could just move next door to deep-red Idaho but that’s probably too hard. What if Idaho just took over the red part of Oregon? That’s apparently much easier.

The Greater Idaho Movement has been a mad right-wing dream for a while now. A couple years ago, Mike McCarter proposed stealing some of blue Oregon’s beachfront property and creating some Otisburgs along the new Idaho coast. That was not well-received. After all, the Democratic-controlled Oregon legislature would have to stop laughing long enough to approve the proposal, and the legislature won’t and never will.

Nonetheless, at least 12 counties in central and eastern Oregon have supported local ballot measures compelling county leaders to consider moving the border about 270 miles west. The existing proposal, more moderate than McCarter’s Bond villain scheme, would give Idaho custody of 14 Oregon counties, along with parts of others. Oregon would keep its two US senators and lose some of the more irksome Republican state lawmakers, who barely show up for work anyway.

Let’s not ignore the racial aspect of all this. Oregon is notoriously very white, but eastern Oregon makes Portland look like Zamunda. According to The Washington Post, “In nearly every county that has voted to explore joining Idaho, White residents account for more than 80 percent of the population.” Portland, in contrast, is an estimated 69.5 percent white, and that might explains some of the less-than-coded language from conservative lawmakers.

Of course, as with many things Conservatives object to, there’s a racial component.

I know; shocking, eh? Who could have seen that coming??

What we’re looking for is local control, not foreign control. And by foreign I mean Portland, Salem and the rest of those in the west who have decided they know better than we do how to run our lives.

• Oregon state Sen. Dennis Linthicum

Granted, if you come to Portland, you’re not going to be overwhelmed by jungle drums or whatever Sen. Lithicum might fear. But Oregon east of the Cascades is as White as an SS rally, and it sounds like Lithicum wants to keep it that way.

Why the “less-than-coded” racist language might be considered necessary is a mystery because most folks in the “Greater Idaho” movement are pretty transparent in their racism. When you hear words and phrases like “foreign control,” you know you’re not dealing with great intellects well-versed in the fine arts of coded racist language.

There’s also (surprise!!) another component to the “Greater Idaho” movement.

There’s also a compelling financial reason why Oregon conservatives would prefer Idaho come to them, rather than simply moving to Idaho. Right-wingers who’ve moved to Idaho to escape the tyranny of abortion rights, decriminalized marijuana, and basic gun safety have contributed to rising housing costs in the Gem State. Wages are stagnating in rural Idaho. Escaping hippies comes with a steep price.

Conservatives in Eastern Oregon seem to think that escaping Oregon by having Idaho come to them will create a Conservative Paradise for them…but they might want to be careful about what they ask for.

Every change often creates an equal and opposite (and often very unwelcome) change.

ONTARIO, Ore. — The Snake River has formed the border of Oregon and Idaho for more than a century and a half, slicing through fields of onions, sugar beets and wheat that roll out for miles through Treasure Valley.

Here on the Oregon side, where Bob Wheatley has lived his entire life, are a collection of high-end cannabis shops, a new Planned Parenthood clinic, and gas prices a dollar higher than those just over the river.

Across the river in the town of Fruitland, in western Idaho, new housing subdivisions stretch out for miles from the main streets. Agriculture, bottling and construction businesses that just months ago were based in Oregon are thriving. One of Fruitland’s new problems is building enough schools to accommodate the out-of-state arrivals, many of them from Oregon.

“Things have changed,” said Wheatley, who retired recently after five decades as a local pharmacist. “And it’s the politics that have changed fastest.”

The Snake River may represent the border between Oregon and Idaho, but Ontario and Fruitland may as well be on two different planets. In Oregon, both marijuana and abortion are legal. Over the river in Fruitland, both are very much NOT legal. Nonetheless, people do cross from Idaho to Oregon to obtain both.

Yes, Conservatives will complain about Liberal values…until taking advantage of them serves their purpose.

Hypocrite much??

But the Snake is not just a river. It represents the yawning gulf between red and blue America, perhaps more than any other border in America. In a span of less than a couple of miles, the Snake River doesn’t just separate the small towns of Ontario, OR, and Fruitland, ID. It separates two widely divergent philosophies of life and politics.

These twin towns across an old border straddle a seam in the nation’s deepening political polarization, neighboring opposites living under starkly different laws. The river separates states that, perhaps more than in any other part of the nation, embrace the two parties’ most extreme positions on gun control, abortion rights, environmental regulation, drug legalization and other issues at the center of the American political debate.

The result in eastern Oregon, from the volcanic Cascade Range to this border town, is a sense of profound political alienation. The disaffection among conservatives has spawned a movement to change the state’s political dynamic in a novel if quixotic way — rather than relocate or change the politics, which seems impossible to many here, why not move the border and become residents who live under the rules of Idaho?

This is no small task.

Indeed, it’s not. For it to happen, the Idaho and Oregon legislatures would have to approve a border shift, which would be the most significant west of the Mississippi since the mid-19th century.

Then the issue would go before Congress…and with Congress being the highly toxic clown car it is these days, it’s difficult to get a read on how the issue would be received. I don’t know if anyone has yet to analyze how it would impact representation in Congress, but that could be a factor in how and/or if “Greater Idaho” obtains approval in Washington.

Economically, Oregon wouldn’t lose much by letting the eastern part of the state go. With most of the state’s population and heavy economic activity west of the Cascades, the Beaver State’s tax base wouldn’t take much of a hit. I’m not sure that most Oregonians would oppose letting people east of the Cascades go, either. Most of us are tired of hearing people in eastern Oregon whine about being ignored when it’s a simple numbers game.

I understand the frustration, but in a democratic system, the majority rules, and if you don’t like that system, you can A) move or B) do what the “Greater Idaho” movement is doing.

So far 12 counties in central and eastern Oregon have voted in favor of local ballot measures that compel county leaders to study the idea of moving the border about 270 miles west. The movement envisions 14 full counties joining Idaho, along with parts of others.

A 13th county is scheduled to take up the question on the May 2024 ballot. The region accounts for less than 10 percent of Oregon’s population, but most of its territory.

The push to change the border is rooted in policy differences and a sense that, in Oregon, there will be no way for conservatives to influence the laws and regulations made by the elected representatives of the far more numerous Democratic voters who live on the western side of the Cascades.

Idaho offers a much more comfortable political home for eastern Oregon’s conservatives, who live in many of the most racially homogenous counties in the state. In nearly every county that has voted to explore joining Idaho, White residents account for more than 80 percent of the population.

So, let ‘em go. If people think they’ll be happier living in a red state, let ‘em go. If they’re tired of feeling “oppressed” because they’re only 10% of Oregon’s population and never get what they want, let ‘em go.

A view along the road exiting Ontario, Ore., into Idaho. (Joseph Haeberle for The Washington Post)

I’m tired of Republican legislators walking out in Salem because the Democratic majority is not giving them what they want. So, they decide to hold the legislative process hostage by throwing a hissy fit. It’s silly, counterproductive, and immature. Worse, it only delays the inevitable…and they gum up state government while exercising their tyranny of the minority.

Many people in eastern Oregon see themselves as more in tune with the Conservatism of Idaho, and they’re probably correct. The Snake River has increasingly come to resemble a more peaceful version of the divide between India and Pakistan. Oregon Conservatives increasingly feel like they’re caught behind “enemy” lines.

Conservatives are correct when they say that in Oregon, there’s no way for them to influence laws and regulations. They can have input, but being a majority Democratic state, they won’t be able to pass the laws they want. So, no anti-abortion, pro-gun, or other Right-wing priorities are likely to become law.

Oregon Democrats have a more than 30 percent edge in voter registration over Republicans, and Joe Biden won the state by 16 percentage points in 2020. Idaho offers a mirror image: Republican voters outnumber Democrats more than 5 to 1, and Donald Trump defeated Biden by 30 percentage points. Both states have sent two senators from the same party to Washington — Democrats in Oregon, Republicans in Idaho….

In many parts of the country, the divide between red and blue has prompted a re-sorting in which moving states has seemed simpler to tens of thousands of people than changing the party in charge.

The Greater Idaho movement may be among the most extreme versions of this trend. But deep-blue California is also experiencing pockets of red resistance to dominant Democratic rule.

El Dorado County, which bumps up against the southern tip of Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border, has been the venue recently for boisterous town hall meetings over whether to secede. Last year, San Bernardino County supervisors voted to study creating its own state. A movement to carve out a new “state of Jefferson” from parts of northeastern California has been simmering for more than a half century.

Here in Oregon the divide is geographic and political.

There was a time, not so very long ago, when I found the idea of “Greater Idaho” to be pretty absurd. It seemed wasteful, impractical, and just plain ridiculous. Now, the odds of success for the “Greater Idaho” movement seem much higher. It’s years down the road, of course, but the movement has momentum it didn’t have just a few short years ago.

The sad thing about “Greater Idaho” is that it represents the increasing desire of Conservatives to wall themselves off from those not like themselves. The increasing fears of cities and the “foreigners” contained within seem to create an ever-greater reluctance on the Right to be exposed to diversity. Thus, the drive to create what appears to be trending toward a homeland for White Conservative Christian cisgender heterosexuals.

Nearly 9 in 10 Oregonians live west of the Cascades along the Interstate 5 corridor, namely in the cities of Portland, Eugene and Salem, the capital. But the western region accounts for a small fraction of the land, which unfolds east from the Cascades in expanses of sere high desert, lush pasture and thick forest.

Four state senators represent the east — less than a fifth of the chamber’s total — and earlier this year they were part of a six-week walkout to protest the terms of abortion rights and gun-control legislation. It was the longest such boycott in state history.

“There’s just a pervasive sense that the values that the western side of the state holds are being imposed, in a kind of oppression, on the east,” said Nicole Howard, a professor of history at Eastern Oregon University in the city of La Grande. “And the belief held out here is that either they don’t get us or they don’t care.”

Howard, who moved from California’s Bay Area more than a decade ago, said the term “rural” is often cited by eastern Oregon separatists as a way to contrast their beliefs with those who live in the western cities. Her school sought and received the designation as “Oregon’s rural university” to underscore its more conservative leanings.

“There’s a dog whistle in the term, too,” Howard said. “It is conservative versus liberal, but the issue of race is also baked into it. It gets to the idea of ‘rural’ as a stand-in for deep cultural touchstones.”

East of the Cascades, there’s a deep-seated fear of and hostility towards non-Whites and non-Conservatives. Erin and I have friends who live in Redmond, just north of Bend on US Hwy. 97. Redmond is pretty red, and there are restaurants and bars where one needs to be very cautious about speaking your mind if you’re not reliably White and/or Conservative. Redmond is very much a conformist, follow-the-party-line kind of town, and if you step out of line, it’s quickly noticed. Those who do step out of line aren’t welcomed for very long.

Redmond would be at the very western edge of “greater Idaho.”

Drive a few miles south to Bend, however, and it’s a much different story. Bend is at the very eastern edge of what would be a rump Oregon, and though it’s separated from Redmond by only a few miles, it could easily be on another planet. A skiing town famous for its outdoor-oriented lifestyle, brewpubs, and the Deschutes River that runs through town, Bend is as live-and-let-live as Redmond is gunracks, 12-packs, and Trump-humping.

The divide between red and blue here in the Beaver State is just that stark. The more I think about it, the more “Greater Idaho” makes sense. If it will make people east of the Cascades happier, why not? It’s not as if Oregon west of the Cascades will miss them; they’re 10% of the population, and we’ll still be able to get there if we choose. It’s not like there will be border control checkpoints.

Oregon will be smaller, but the remaining population can devote more resources to doing things the way we want them done. That means abortion rights, gun control, and other things we won’t have to fight Conservatives over.

The Trump-humpers can have their Conservative Paradise, and we can have our Liberal Shangri-La. Getting rid of a few whiny Conservatives who expect the world to cater to their restrictive, compassion-free views certainly sounds like a decent trade-off, eh?

Yes. It. Certainly. Does.

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