link to original reddit post by /u/Living-in-liberty
A grass-roots movement called Move Oregon’s Border For a Greater Idaho wants to see Idaho's boundary swallow three-fourths of like-minded Oregon and eventually encompass parts of the North State and southeastern Washington.
"A lot of people call in from Northern California and ask to help out in any way," said Keaton Ems, a spokesman for Move Oregon’s Border For a Greater Idaho.
A map from the group shows its proposed southern boundary taking in all or parts of Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, Del Norte, Modoc and Lassen counties. The border avoids Nevada ("too sparse" says Ems), but would include beachfront property on the Southern Oregon coast for a strategic purpose.
Supporters of the idea say rural Oregon voters are dominated by liberal urban areas such as Portland, and would rather join conservative Idaho.
Ems argues rural Northern Californians feel a kinship with Southern Oregon residents because both feel shunned by political circles in their state capitals, but he says their voices would be heard in Boise.
"The rural counties in Oregon have very little say of what's going on in the state Capitol because of Portland's politics," he said. "Moving to the Boise Legislature and that jurisdiction really is just about getting needs and priorities addressed."
Backers say residents in adjacent Northern California and southeastern Washington also yearn for less government oversight and long to become part of a red state insulated from the liberal influence of large urban centers that tend to vote Democratic.
“Values of faith, family, independence. That’s what we’re about,” said Mark Simmons, an eastern Oregon rancher and former speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. “We don’t need the state breathing down our necks all the time, micromanaging our lives and trying to push us into a foreign way of living.”