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Could This Be America's New SUPER STATE?
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May 10, 2025
Go to our sponsor https://betterhelp.com/generalknowledge for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help. ▶ In this video, I talk about the crazy proposal and movement to turn Idaho into a super state by adding to it the eastern part of Oregon and potentially northern California. Understanding the origins of this movement in the rural vs urban differences; how many of the counties in Oregon are actually supporting this; but how it is ultimately doomed to failing for the same reason it exists: they are outnumbered in the state when it comes to voters - in addition to the fact that Federal institutions would never allow it to happen due to the precedent it would set. ▶ Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GKonYoutube ▶ Join the Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/f4neAVWZfF ▶ Business Contact: [email protected] ▶ Thanks for watching, remember to subscribe to catch future videos! ▶ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:26 What If Idaho Was More Interesting? 01:14 Origins Of The Movement 02:32 Does It Make Sense? 02:53 Comparing Idaho & Oregon's Policies 05:32 Why They Think It's Possible 05:56 Voting By Counties & Scaling Back The Proposal
View Video Transcript
0:00
Today Idaho is here
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A simple, not super relevant state, it's the 14th biggest at 83,000 square kilometers
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only the 38th most populous at 1.9 million people. Its flag is very boring, following the awful trend of just having the state seal on a blue
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field and at first glance the only interesting thing about it is its shape with its vertical
0:20
panhandle that is sandwiched between Montana and Washington, making it different from the
0:24
neighboring rectangular shaped states. But what if Idaho was more than that
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And what if there was a greater Idaho? You see, in recent years a movement has been created to achieve this goal of a greater Idaho
0:35
state which would annex at least eastern Oregon. If the goals of those that are most idealist and radical were achieved, greater Idaho could
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even look like this, annexing three-fourths of Oregon and a portion of northern California
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as well. So what is this movement? Why was it created? What does it actually want
0:55
And is there a real possibility of it happening? In addition, if it did, what would this new, greater Idaho state be like
1:02
This is what this video is about
1:15
What is most odd about this movement is that it doesn't seem to originate from Idaho itself
1:19
It isn't Idahoans or government officials in their state capital of Boise that have
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a crazy expansionist desire. However, in the 2021 poll, 51% of Idahoans did say they were in favor of
1:31
this, with 14% being undecided. But no, it's coming from the outside. It all has to do with
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the urban vs countryside divide that is common to almost all states, with urban centers being more
1:43
liberal while the countrysides are more conservative. It's the same reason that leads the interior of
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California to want to break away into its own state, except here they don't want to break away
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but instead join a neighbor that they think matches their ideals more. It all starts in one
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of Idaho's western neighbors, Oregon. Eastern or interior Oregon is a relatively rural and mostly
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conservative place, especially compared to more heavily populated, moderate to liberal western
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urban areas which have a majority in the Oregon Legislative Assembly. These Oregonians don't feel
2:17
represented. Oregon Governor Tina Kotak even acknowledged this feeling and the movement itself
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in 2023, saying, I think there are a lot of Oregonians who are frustrated and don't feel
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hurt. That, I think, is what the movement is about. Putting aside the fact that their frustration
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lies in disagreeing with the concept of representative democracy in which more people
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equals more representation, and the understanding that land doesn't vote and people do
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this seems to be the origin of the issue And after all if we are to advocate for the right of self then these people could be allowed to choose which state they want to belong to Idaho is relatively conservative overall when you compare it to Oregon for you to have an idea Out of all top government officials in Idaho
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all of them are Republican right now. In fact, they've all been Republican since 1999. The only
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exceptions are the Superintendent of Public Transport for one term and two years when a
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Democrat won a House representative election, Republicans also have a lasting majority in the
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state Senate and in the state House. On the other hand, in Oregon, almost the exact opposite happens
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since 2009, that only two officials have been Republican, with Democrat majorities in the
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state Senate and House. And this has motivated some conservatives in Eastern Oregon to agitate
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for relocating the border and annexing themselves into their eastern neighbor. And it's not just the
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pettiness of not wanting to be ruled by a party that's different than yours, it is the direct
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effect that this has on legislation. Because a number of state laws differ dramatically between
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Oregon and Idaho, namely in taxes and minimum wage, rural Oregonians also feel like the government
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doesn't invest and spend enough in their regions, believing that maybe Idahos would
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On the website of the Greater Idaho Movement, you can find some of the flyers they use to spread
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their message, granted in propaganda form. Some of the reasons for the secession are listed in
4:09
one of these. I would argue the top ones are reasonable reasons, while the rest just descend
4:14
into partisanship at the least and xenophobia and radical conspiracy theories at the most
4:19
These make us understand how this is a mostly conservative movement. But let's take a minute to thank BetterHelp for sponsoring this video
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below in the video description. Now back to the video. Because of all these things that we just
5:34
mentioned in 2020 a group was created with the official name of Move Oregon Border for a greater Idaho They argue that state lines can be moved stating that the Oregon border was moved slightly in 1958 The current location of the Oregon border was decided by people
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who never visited the Pacific Northwest before the area was settled, at least according to them
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The original proposal included most of Oregon and part of Northern California
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In 2021, five counties in East Oregon voted to require county officials
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to take steps to promote adding the counties to Idaho. and ever since then, local votes have been taking place in many counties across eastern
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Oregon to approve their joining of Idaho. In May 2022, voters in Douglas and Josephine counties
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rejected proposals to join, causing the proponents to scale back the scope of the proposal and issue
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a less ambitious map that excludes southern Oregon, and this reduced the targeted territory
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to about a third, also excluding northern California entirely. But it seems like a
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a temporary reduction as many of their posters still identified the annexation of Oregon
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as phase 1 and Northern California as phase 2. And the surprising thing is people are actually voting for this
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As of June 2023, 12 counties in Oregon had approved ballot measures in favor of Greater Idaho
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Baker, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake Mellor, Merrill, Sherman, Union, Wallowa and
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Wheeler, that's 12 out of the desired 15 counties. Although for instance, Wallowa only approved it by a majority of 7 votes, which shows that
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this isn't an overwhelming desire of all locals. Crook County, which by the way has a fantastic name, has scheduled their vote to May of 2024
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as well. Other counties in the area, designated by the movement as Eastern Oregon, have not yet
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approved any hypothetical vote. In February of 2023, the House State Affairs Committee of the Idaho House of Representatives
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approved a resolution to authorize the legislature to discuss moving the state border with Oregon lawmakers
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essentially creating an interstate diplomatic mission to negotiate with Oregon. A similar bill was introduced in the Oregon State Senate precisely, but it's unlikely it'll move forward
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But then what happens if all of these desired counties vote for secession and to join Idaho
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Well, to be very realistic, nothing. Even if approved locally by voters via ballot measures
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it would still need approval from both state legislatures and congress. It's highly unlikely that Oregon will ever approve this
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I mean which state wants to lose more than half of its territory. Even if it becomes a key topic in state-level electoral disputes
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like the state senate or the governor election, the movement will be stopped by precisely the same reason it was created in the first place
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They are a minority of the voters within their state. In addition, nobody is even really sure if Idaho itself wants this
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and would even accept the territory. Sure, they approved a bill to discuss it
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but approving it entirely is a whole different story And even if Oregon suddenly found it in itself to be insanely generous and approved this locally it would go to Congress And there first in the House of
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Representatives and then in the Senate, if it ever got to it, it's unlikely it would ever be approved
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either. Mostly because it would set the precedent for border instability across the entire country
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Suddenly all political minorities within state lines would try to do this, and join a neighboring
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one or become a new state altogether, it would be complete chaos
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But let's go straight into the apathetical for a minute and consider that this could
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actually happen. If these 15 counties of East Oregon join Idaho, what would be the impact of that for the state
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This would add 158,000 square kilometers to Idaho, an addition of over 70% of its current size
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It's currently 216,000 square kilometers, this would make it 374,000 square kilometers
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It would push Idaho up from the 14th biggest state to the 5th biggest just behind Montana
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its neighbor and surpassing New Mexico. It would be pretty funny if all of this was secretly motivated by some inferiority complex
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towards Montana. Population wise, Idaho currently has 1.9 million people with the addition of these 15 counties
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there would go up to around 2.2 million adding 300,000 more. This would bump it up from the 39th most populous state to the 37th surpassing only Nebraska
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and New Mexico which shows us how little population density is in the vast land of those Oregon
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counties. On the other hand, Oregon would lose the same 158,000 square kilometers and 300,000 people
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Oregon is currently the 9th biggest state, bigger than I expected, but at a new size of only 96,000
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square kilometers, they would go down to the 38th biggest. With 300,000 less people, their population
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would change from 4.2 to 3.9 million, just going down from 27 to 28th most populous
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switching places with Oklahoma. The capital of this new Greater Idaho would likely remain in Boise
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which would actually make it more equidistant and centrally located than it is now
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Politically, this would make Idaho even more conservative, although the amount of votes
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this would bring wouldn't be that relevant. And if more of Oregon and Northern California were
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also to join the mention phase 2, the impact would be even bigger, making Greater Idaho a
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state with C-axis into the Pacific and likely one of the most important states in the Union
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So, that is what the greater Idaho movement is, why it exists, how it's been developing
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and what the consequences could be. What do you think about this? Should these counties be allowed to leave Oregon and join Idaho
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Do you think a greater Idaho idea is good and would you want Northern California to join
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as well? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for watching this video, subscribe to catch future ones and I will see you next
11:11
time for more general knowledge
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