Two Oregon Counties Vote to Join Idaho

Jefferson County, Oregon looks a lot like Idaho.  I visited a wide swath of rural Oregon last month.  Mile after mile nothing but cattle, high desert and Trump signs.  I stopped for coffee in La Pine, epicenter of the leave campaign.  It felt like home.  The people are very nice and seem very calm.  Rural life offers some things the coastal elites haven’t yet figured out.  Jefferson was one of two counties supporting secession Tuesday.  The other being Union.

Two counties rejected the idea.  There would’ve been even more counties considering leaving Oregon but the pandemic slowed the passing of petitions.

This is, of course, a long shot.  Quixotic is how mainstream media describes the effort.  In normal times I’d agree.  The thing is, the country appears to be in a rare political and cultural realignment.

The commissioners in the two counties where the measure passed aren’t required to do much.  They’ll discuss leaving Oregon a couple of times a year.  It’s unlikely any state would approve the loss of such a huge block of tax revenue.  Unless the region became a liability.  Which it’s not.  It’s filled with tourists.  In normal times.

Both states would need to sign off.  As well as the federal government but let me remind you.  The last time we were so badly divided in this country, West Virginia was cleaved from Virginia by the Union.  After the Civil War, it remained an additional state.  It was done out of expedience for the war effort and supported by a political class that needed every advantage it could get.  We aren’t there.  Yet.