To date, thirteen counties in Oregon have voted to approve a measure to secede from the state and join its neighbor Idaho. These ballot measures are a part of an effort to move the Oregon/Idaho border to expand Idaho’s jurisdiction over rural, conservative counties of eastern Oregon. These eastern counties have a strong conservative populous whose values and lifestyle align with Idaho, as opposed to their liberal western and coastal counterpart. The ballot measures are intended to put pressure on the state legislatures of Oregon and Idaho to negotiate an interstate compact to relocate their common border.

How History Moves Forward

While counties in Oregon seek to leave Oregon, this isn’t a secession movement in the historical sense of the term. This approach is different because the Oregon counties seek to move a state border, encircling them in a friendlier political climate while still remaining in the United States. Notably, what is happening in Oregon is not an isolated incident, at least not mentally. States like Delaware, Illinois, Virginia, Washington, California, and New York, have a similar electoral reality. Many people who live in rural or less populated regions of large states have voices that are not heard and are treated like second class citizens by the densely populated, urban elite.

What is happening in Oregon has a deeply rooted historical bases that dates back to our Declaration of Independence which states,

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve

the political bands which have connected them with another… a decent

respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the

causes which impel them to the separation.

The people of eastern Oregon have clearly laid out their case for why they intend to separate, and it has not been done without careful forethought.

The declaration also makes clear,

that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form… Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes… But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.[1]

The inhabitants of eastern Oregon are not proposing to break away because of petty disagreement. They are making a convictional decision to join another state, one that is more agreeable, because their way of life, culture, and values are under constant attack from distant and uncaring urbanites who couldn’t identify a dairy cow, let alone take into consideration the everyday concerns of the people who raise them. Rural American’s, particularly those of a conservative persuasion, are constantly denied the right of dissent by liberals. Liberals love to virtue signal tolerance and delight in the supposed benefits of living in a democracy; but the truth is we live in a majoritarian state where the majority are actually a narrowly defined minority who control the means of power and leverage it against those who disagree with them. A desire for decentralized government, property rights, and the ability to defend one’s way of life is a righteous pursuit—it is as eternal as our divine legislator. This needs to be upheld under all governmental forms. It is, I believe, the key to unlocking the door that the centralizing, establishment elites have kept closed for so long.

Waterless Clouds

What is frustrating to watch, although not surprising, is the largely absent leadership that comes from eastern Oregon’s own elected leaders. People who are elected to serve the will of the people are in reality serving their personal agendas. They are like waterless clouds during a drought, promising to deliver change but never producing. This movement (Greater Idaho) is the largest county initiative campaign in eastern Oregon history, yet many of their own elected leaders refuse to present a hearing to the Legislature. The citizens of eastern Oregon have given their leaders a tangible weapon to fight with, but instead they act like fruitless trees in late autumn. Their lack of action communicates to the people that the surest way to secure eastern Oregons prosperity is to become like their conquerors. This is untenable for those who inhabit eastern Oregon.

It is naive optimism at best, and dishonest at worse, for politicians to say that conservatives are going to take the state back. Only 25% of Oregonians who are registered to vote are registered Republican. The last Republican governor of Oregon was elected 42 years ago. The Left has far more control over the ways that Oregonians are educated and persuaded than the Right does. They control virtually all K-12 schools, universities, Facebook, Google, media, and newspapers. Furthermore, liberals are moving into the state faster than they can even educate them. It is time for the people of eastern Oregon to wake up to the reality that if this movement is going to have a chance to win, it will not be because their leaders led them to victory. Rather, it will be because the people themselves take ownership in their own movement—which will require more than simply voting for it.

Moving Forward By Looking Back

Despite what politicians say, the people of eastern Oregon (and abroad) do not need new solutions for old problems. They need to look backward, not forward for their guidance. This is precisely why many on the Left are revising history and removing historical monuments—they want you to forget their lessons. From the days of the Christian martyrs until now mankind have usually resisted and sought to destroy its true benefactors.

We would do well to remember the founding generation, truly the greatest generation in America. They were people with an uncompromising backbone. They did not depend on the government to provide their every want and need. They thought and lived generationally and were committed to the principles of decentralization. They readily made sacrifices that hurt them personally but benefited their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. They were people who cared much more about preserving their religion, values, culture, and families than they did about their own affluence or personal peace. They ran for political office out of obligation and duty, not for power or personal gain. They were people who would willingly lay down with their face in the mud, so that their children and grandchildren could walk over their back to greener pastures.

This, I believe, is the path forward. In this world of sin the spirit of heroic self-sacrifice is the essential condition to produce the type of change that is needed today. Without this type of person Greater Idaho will eventually fade away and will only be remembered as a good idea. But if this type of people will rise up again and commit to taking ownership in a cause that will politically liberate them then it can, and I believe it will, produce the change that is desperately needed in eastern Oregon and abroad.

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1. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript