the campaign in Oregon to move part of
the state into Idaho has been gaining momentum so much so that Lee count
went back to bring us this update this is 1863. Mike McCarter he knows his American
history well guys let's go ahead and get started here almost as well as he knows his Bible
dear father we just thank you for this time here in Oregon for four generations the only
time I lived out of the state was during the Vietnam War when I was in the military but his
organ might not be the organ you're thinking of the one with the Misty rugged Coastline Pinot
Noir Wineries and its loyally blue politics nope this is the red side of Oregon the rural
and more sparsely populated part Mike lives in the town of La Pine it's almost like the Grand
Canyon goes right along the Cascade Range it's that big a divide it is a big divide what that
means politically he says is the blue part of Western Oregon always outweighs the Eastern
Parts red and then talking to a legislator over in the Portland area I said the legislature
doesn't listen to our people our Representatives over here he said whoa whoa whoa stop Mike we
hear what they're saying we just outvote you so McCarter decided to look for greener pastures
or in this case at least one's a little more red this would be Oregon and that across the river
would be Idaho we met him along the banks of the Klamath River last August while he was
spearheading a campaign called move Oregon's border the group had been busy introducing ballot
measures all across the state asking voters about the idea of pushing the urban blue bits of Oregon
into a smaller but still populous state and then taking the rural red parts and creating
what would be part of a more expansive Idaho when you have a government that
won't listen to the opposition or take into account those of us that live out
here then we have no government representation and oregonians like Sandy Gilson quickly jumped
on board this town is about 200. she owns a real estate business in rural John Day Oregon the
community more closely aligned to Boise Idaho than it is to Portland Oregon in virtually every
way are you optimistic that you've got a chance um I look at it that the American Revolution
was a big hurdle to make and they did it does it feel like things are a little closer than
they were it absolutely does it's been a year since we visited so we decided to go back
to Oregon to see just where things stood now we asked these counties how do you feel about
it and you didn't know at the time no and now you do yes back then nine counties had voted
in favor of considering making Eastern Oregon part of Idaho well now that number is up to 12.
with another County set to vote this coming May we're getting into people's heads about this the
pendulum is starting to swing it is as for Idaho itself well it's at least open to discussions
this past spring Idaho state representatives approved a measure to begin a dialogue with
Oregon over weather and how to redraw their common boundary but so far Mike says Oregon is
playing hard to get at least in public and we've heard back from behind the scenes that wait a
minute if we fund a bridge in eastern Oregon why would we do that if it's going to become
Idaho but the opposition has swung into gear too moving Oregon's border we just can't afford
it a Portland non-profit called Western State Center is branding the move a radical change
comparing it to Oregon's past white nationalist hate groups why are violent extremists pushing
for secession their message if Rural conservatives don't like Oregon's Urban liberal leanings well
don't move the Border move themselves instead we're not running away from the problem
we're not going to run away and move to Idaho we're going to deal with the problem right here
and now there are a lot of details still to be ironed out and the devil is in every one of
them not to mention the fact that actually changing the Border would require both Oregon
and Idaho to agree and then they would need to be approved by the U.S Congress no I don't think
that we should act like state lines are written in stone we should look at them and say does this
actually make sense author Richard kreitner who wrote a book about secession and division says
it's hardly a new idea secession has always been there you know Catholics lived in Maryland debtors
lived in Georgia um you know Puritans lived in New England they were kind of separate to begin
with and that's why they wanted nothing to do with one another so it's really woven into our
DNA absolutely there's nothing sacred about about Oregon there's nothing sacred about Delaware or my
native New Jersey in my opinion you know these are just kind of inherited forms did you ever imagine
though you'd be involved in a movement like this though no Mike McCarter will be the first to tell
you that moving Oregon's border is radical but he says if we've learned anything about our politics
in the last several years it's that conventional seems so yesterday I mean as fast as things are
changing in this country right now why can't we why can't people still have the
right to vote for who governs them
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