Thirteen counties in Oregon have voted in favor of measures to begin negotiations on seceding from the state and joining neighboring Idaho.
The latest county to endorse the initiative was Crook County, where voters approved the “Greater Idaho Measure” on Tuesday. The proposal aims to move Oregon’s border approximately 200 miles to the west, which would place 14 counties and several partial counties under Idaho’s jurisdiction.
“The Oregon/Idaho line was established 163 years ago and is now outdated,” the movement’s website says. “It makes no sense in its current location because it doesn’t match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon.”
The organizers of the Greater Idaho movement argue that residents in eastern Oregon feel increasingly alienated by the state’s progressive policies, which they say contribute to high crime rates. Their website says becoming part of Idaho would offer lower taxes and improved representation and governance for the communities.
“We want an economy that is not held back by Oregon regulations and taxes, including environmental regulations,” Greater Idaho executive director Matt McCaw, said, according to the Daily Mail. “We’ll still have federal and Idaho regulations, and that’s plenty. Idaho knows how to respect rural counties and their livelihoods.”
this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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Decided to do some fact checking on the crime claims. Oregon is in the top 10 for crime rate, while Idaho sits at 4th. If you did further into statistics, they're pretty close to equal on violent crime, while Oregon has much higher property crime and robberies.
I haven't delved into the socio economic reasons for it, the policy differences or any of the causes of the difference. I live in western Oregon and enjoy the culture and freedom here, although I also don't like the massive property crime rates. I recently moved due to property crime. Went from various crimes being perpetrated either where I lived or on my street to zero.
The odd thing about crime rates is they are often self-reported from law enforcement. Without proper controls and regulations, a motivated party could easily and routinely fudge the numbers by a lot.
What types of crimes do you think it would be easier to suppress... murder or property damage?
Note for readers:
In per capita crime.
Idaho is 4th from the bottom, rank 47 (DC included)
Oregon is 10th from the top, rank 10 (DC included)
I was confused by the wording here so I wanted to add some clarity.
In violent crime per capita it's closer.
Oregon is rank 26 and Idaho is 42.
Oregon all crime: 5610
Oregon violent: 342.4
Idaho all crime: 2465
Idaho violent: 241.4
I wonder how much of that crime happens in eastern Oregon. It often seems like rural folks are paranoid of crime associated with cities, but they hardly ever spend time in cities to understand it's a relative issue that largely varies neighborhood to neighborhood.