Drysiders
The outside media has had several pieces up lately about the vast red country of Oregon. Here's a piece in the British Guardian about the takeover of the Republican Party in the eastern part of the state by the fringe "patriot" types.
At least 66 members of an anti-government group founded by far-right militia figure Ammon Bundy have attempted to win local positions of influence in the Republican party in Oregon, the Guardian can reveal.
The candidates stood for Republican precinct committee person (PCP) slots in three central Oregon counties in this week’s elections, with some facing no opponent and thus winning their positions by default. The role of PCPs includes electing the executive of the county-level GOP apparatus.
I was a "PCP" myself for a couple of years, in the Multnomah County Democratic Party. Any party member can be one, in most precincts around here at least. They are way more positions than people who want to be bothered. And I must say, I don't blame people. Those meetings were some of the weirdest collections of individuals I have ever attended. And they're all true believers, bleating allegiance to the bureaucrat unions and the Ron Wyden types.
And so I must say, it's no surprise that the Ammon Bundy types run thosee meetings on the east side of the mountains. The surprise would be if the situation were any different.
Meanwhile, the whole Greater Idaho thing is generating steady interest, with 13 Oregon counties now saying that they want out of the Beaver State. Lately Newsweek is into it, here. One commenter there noted that the map of the expanded Idaho looks a lot like a hand giving the middle-finger salute. Fitting!
Would you miss eastern Oregon if it became part of Idaho? I don't think I would. But the tighty righties out that way are nuts to want to turn their fates over to the politicians in Boise. Do they think that's going to be better for them than Salem?
For one thing, there won't be any doctors, especially any who take care of women of child-bearing age. But hey, own the libs, it's totally worth it.
Heh... You got it right. And you ain't even from around here. I'm a dry-sider, myself. I qualify as S.N.O.B. I ended up on the west side when I was still a sprog. Had all my education here, but did regular visits to the dry side until adult matters intervened. Hey... At least this time they're not holing up in some forsaken potato shed in Milton-Freewater or some such. So, Idaho gets one more federal representative that doesn't change anything in DC, and the whole senator thing stays the same way. Oregon keeps 80%+ of the resources and working capital and reduces its demands. Sweet. I think they might want to keep a wary eye out for the coming state of Deseret.
ReplyDeleteGeez, I’m happy somebody else remembers Donald Goodwin and his lunatic Posse Comitatus buddies taking over the potato shed in Stanfield. I’m sure they were truly inspiring to the Bundy clan, with about the same results.
DeleteAs someone who grew up in Idaho, and who travels back regularly for an elderly relative, I'm not sure Idaho shares the enthusiasm to take the relatives in. I've also seen several financial analysis scenarios, which seem to range from fairly neutral, to Idaho having to pony up a LOT of money. Plus, Oregon and Congress will never approve it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought up this point. NO ONE in the "Greater Idaho" movement and NO ONE in its cadre of supporters has articulated whether or not Idaho is willing to take eastern Oregon into its bosom. Certainly, NO ONE in the 13 Oregon counties has ever articulated that they've asked anyone in Idaho what THEY think about this.
DeleteSuch a proposition is going to cost Idahoans a boatload of dough...so much so that the notoriously anti-tax citizens of Idaho are just going to say "WTF? Are you nuts? No...just NO!"
The whole "Greater Idaho" thing is a modern day equivalent of the "State of Jefferson" movement of the 1940s...without the guns and old cars.
Hope the door doesn't hit them in the butt on their way out. If they don't like Oregon, they are free to move, but they don't get to take Oregon land with them. They seem to be lost on the fact that Oregon public lands are owned by the taxpayers of Oregon. All of them. Even the taxpayers who live West of the Cascades. Selfish as little children they are.
ReplyDeleteActually, it is not Oregon land on the east side. While Oregon owns a bit of land east of the Cascades, the great majority of that territory is owned by the Federal Government which means it is owned by the citizens of Idaho, Oregon, and 48 other states.
DeleteSecondly, when we characterize citizens east of the Cascades as "Selfish as little children they are" it becomes obvious why they want to disassociate from people on the west side.
If they are ever successful, we are totally doing Ecotopia on the wet side.
ReplyDeleteThe conversation about departure from the “wet side” is almost always about taxes and the way those taxes are spent. Progressives don’t like to discuss the tax issues. They’d rather than about the social differences.
ReplyDeleteTax issues!? Dry-siders get back well over a dollar in services for every dollar they send to Salem. Boise wouldn't give them nearly that good of a deal. They'd be stripped for parts and left to rust in the desert. As for social issues, ain't no one telling y'all how to live. Do what you like.
DeleteYes, in all these secession movements, the grifters at the top all seem unable to read a budget and recognize that their rural paradise is entirely supported by the tax dollars generated by the hated “woke” urban areas, and that they would soon be back to dirt roads and faith healers without that revenue.
DeleteI live in the wet side and I don’t like the tax structure in Oregon.
DeleteWhy do social stalwarts like Facebook, Amazon and Apple employ their enemies in these counties? Hyprocrisy?
DeleteBean, the level of inefficient governance desired by the Wet-siders drives the cost distribution. Dry-siders don't want the strings attached to Wet-side spending, they want less government altogether. Oregon's per capita spending is almost triple Idaho's, yet the Dry-siders crave it. Less is apparently more.
DeleteMaybe the people hiring for Facebook, Amazon and Apple just take people as they are, as long as they can do their jobs, and don't consider differing political opinions grounds for considering them enemies, as you seem to. Maybe you are the Hippo Crisis.
DeleteThe larger issue is the consumers have little respect for the producers. And this isn't just wet/dry, but urban vs farm/ranch land. Just because the ratio is extremely tilted to the consumers doesn't mean they know what's best for the state. Add in all the masses that have come here from even larger urban areas and the problems have gotten much worse. What problems? Every solution is a new tax or regulation, education is now indoctrination of secular voodoo (they hate God), noxious superiority complexes because they think their sh!t don't stink, ad nauseum.
ReplyDelete^all the commerce & $ is here, the Bundys depend on heavily water intensive & fuel intensive subsidies to raise beef, which is patently ridiculous to any advocate for there to be small farms & producers or ‘better’ food as a farmer.
ReplyDeleteI say, fuck the bundys / they could just be auto parts and defense contractor wealthy, but good is never good enough for the likes of them or frontier capital fake cowboy fantasists ~120 years too late, send in the drones and tanks like Pierre Trudeau did with the French separatists or let them fully & properly shoot themselves in the foot & lose representation & wind up 100% on Idaho’s balance sheet (if Idaho would go for that?) !
Fatuous
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