Liberate America Staff 
If you’ve ever felt politically isolated in the state you call home, hope might be around the corner. After successful petitions, counties in Southern and Eastern Oregon, as well as the Northernmost part of California, could have an interesting proposition on the 2022 ballot: stay in a perennially blue state or leave to the redder pastures of Idaho.
“We feel that our traditional values in rural Oregon are more aligned with Idaho than we are with Oregon. So, we’re taking it county by county. It’s not a secession vote, it’s just the beginning of the process,” said Mike McCarter, who is leading the “Move Oregon’s Borders” campaign.
McCarter, a resident of La Pine and an Air Force veteran, formed the nonprofit organization aimed to transfer Oregon’s southern and eastern counties into Idaho in January of 2020. Since then, due in large part to tax hikes and Covid lockdown legislation, interest in numerous counties has spiked.
Unlike secession, the Greater Idaho plan only includes a shift in borders and would not interfere with the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
“We’re not trying to change a single thing with Idaho,” McCarter said. “We just want to come alongside them and maintain the values.” Regardless of any ballot, changes would require the agreement of all state legislatures and Congress.
National outlook
Conflicts such as these occur due to overreach. Whether we’re addressing Newsom’s lock-downs or the Texas abortion bill, dissatisfaction to the point of leaving home comes from politicians going beyond their legal rights.
America’s border disputes are no different than what we see all over the globe. If you ask a Kurd about their dream state, they’ll tell you of a “Greater Kurdistan,” one made up of Kurdish regions in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Ask a Catalonian if living under the thumb of Madrid doesn’t still fill them with rage. When given the choice, look how overwhelmingly the Russian speaking citizens of Crimea voted to join Russia – and how much blood has been spilled to accomplish the divorce?
The idea that America is somehow immune to ethnic strife is without merit. After all, as we’re constantly reminded of, the days of Dixie were so recent. All through the world, people are forced by economic and/or violent threat into involuntary relationships. Sometimes we’re even compelled to celebrate the state force as an achievement, like a ritual of embarrassment.
Those who support the movement of globalization treat political isolation and dissatisfaction as collateral damage. Culture is viewed as an obstacle. If violent force were to be taken out of the equation, the natural outcome will be similar to Balkanization. Whether or not the the separate entities remain in cooperation with one another should be dependent on voluntary desire, not because of an outlook that favors GDP over human satisfaction.
