Oregon Is Lost

Are We Beyond Partisan Fixes?

For many Oregonians, especially outside the Portland metro corridor, it is unmistakably clear that the state no longer functions for all of Oregon. Political power is concentrated in a narrow ideological center, and vast regions of the state find themselves governed not by their convictions or needs, but by policies imposed from afar. Oregon is not simply divided—it is fundamentally misaligned.

The Evidence of Strain

This misalignment is not merely cultural or political. It is material, financial, and deeply personal.

Cost of Living

Oregon’s cost of living is significantly higher than the national average, yet median household income—roughly $77,000 statewide—does not stretch nearly far enough once housing, energy, and taxes are accounted for (ConsumerAffairs, “Moving to Oregon”). Ordinary families find that even average incomes no longer translate into stability, let alone prosperity. Purchasing power shrinks, leaving less for savings, education, emergencies, or retirement.

Housing

Housing costs alone reveal the strain. Roughly 35% of Oregon households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, the threshold economists define as cost-burdened (USA Facts). Statewide median rents commonly range from $1,250 to nearly $2,100 per month, while median home prices in many communities fall between $400,000 and $540,000, and substantially higher in places like Bend and metro areas (SoFi). For a working family, that often means cutting back on food, healthcare, or other essential needs just to remain housed. For many families, these costs force mothers into full-time work outside the home, not out of choice, but out of financial necessity, leaving less time for children and family stability.

“Hidden” Homeowner Costs

Even homeownership—the traditional promise of stability—offers little relief. Oregon homeowners average roughly $23,000 per year in non-mortgage costs such as property taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance, well above the national average (Axios). Many families discover too late that buying a home does not end financial pressure; it merely reshapes it.

Gas and Energy Prices

Transportation and energy costs further compound the burden. Gas prices in Oregon regularly run 20–30% above the national average, often exceeding $3.75 per gallon week to week (ConsumerAffairs). Fuel taxes, among the top ten highest nationwide, add still more to everyday expenses. For rural families who commute long distances to work, school, or medical care, that difference can translate into hundreds of dollars per month—a hidden tax imposed by geography and policy.

Taxes and Cost of Goods

Taxes and regulatory costs amplify these pressures. Oregon ranks near the top nationally for state income taxes, while the overall cost of goods and services runs about 7% above the national average, eroding real after-tax income (Oregon Tax News). For families comparing their situation to neighboring states, the conclusion is unavoidable: they are falling behind not because they work less, but because the system extracts more.

Affordability and Wage Gaps

Meanwhile, wages have not kept pace. In many Oregon communities, housing prices have dramatically outstripped income growth, pushing homeownership further out of reach for young families and first-time buyers. For those outside the metro core, the sense of being priced out of their own state is even more acute.

These are not abstract statistics. Taken together, they explain why so many families live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over. The discontentment is tangible, measurable, and growing.

Corruption by Design

Yet when these concerns are raised, rural and working-class Oregonians are told the problem is local mismanagement, lack of adaptation, or resistance to Portland’s progressive agenda. In practice, what many experience is not representative government, but a form of socialism: sweeping land-use mandates, energy policy, taxation, criminal justice reform, and education standards crafted for urban Portland and applied wholesale to timber towns, farming regions, and high-desert counties with entirely different needs.

Corruption in Oregon does not usually announce itself through overt scandal, but through systems that insulate power. One-party dominance has produced a political environment where accountability is weak and dissent is easily dismissed.

This is not theoretical. To date, the Governor of Oregon has refused to engage with what is the largest county-initiated movement in Eastern Oregon history, ignoring thousands of citizens who have formally demanded a voice in decisions affecting their communities. When leaders can ignore such organized, lawful civic action without consequence, it exposes a system designed to protect entrenched power rather than serve the governed.

Elections continue, but meaningful representation does not. Gerrymandered or demographically locked districts, legislative supermajorities, and echo-chamber politics ensure that voting harder doesn’t change outcomes. When political leaders no longer fear removal, ideology replaces service, and citizens become subjects rather than stakeholders.

Even the recent success of Oregon Republicans in gathering signatures to temporarily pause the horrendous gas tax proves an uncomfortable truth: when motivated, they can act. Yet that energy seems to evaporate when it comes to confronting other destructive policies—biological males competing in women’s sports, the permanent entrenchment of vote-by-mail, or the broader ideological capture of Oregon’s institutions.

These issues are not side debates; they shape culture, fairness, and trust in the system itself. A party that selectively fights only when the issue is politically safe or narrowly economic is not offering leadership—it’s managing decline. If Oregon is to be saved, it will not be by a Republican Party that rallies sporadically while leaving the foundations untouched. Oregon’s crisis is deeper than a gas tax, and incremental opposition will not reverse it.

Beyond Partisan Fixes

At some point, reform from within becomes implausible. Oregon’s political system is designed to work against the very people it governs outside the urban core. When a political system no longer reflects the people it governs—economically, culturally, or morally—the question must be asked: is the problem the citizens, or the borders?

Realigning states is not radical. It is constitutional, lawful, and historically grounded. States have been divided and reorganized before when governance ceased to serve the governed. Oregon’s citizens don’t need permission to reclaim representation—they need courage and clarity.

Sadly, Oregon, as currently structured, is lost. But its people are not. The only realistic way to restore true representation, accountability, and thriving communities is to face a hard truth: we no longer belong in the same political house. Allowing regions with shared values, economies, and priorities to realign politically is not withdrawal—it is self-determination. It provides a lawful, peaceful path forward for communities that have exhausted every other option.

Stop Complaining and Start Acting

Oregon will not fix itself. Posting, venting, and voting harder have failed. The system is locked, power is centralized, and vast regions of this state are governed by people who neither know nor care how rural communities live. Greater Idaho (and other likeminded movements) are a peaceful response to a system that no longer governs by consent.

County by county, voters have already said what Salem refuses to acknowledge: we are not being represented. This movement is not about rage or rebellion. It is about restoring self-government.

If you live in rural Oregon and feel ignored—if your work, faith, and way of life are treated as expendable—this is your moment. Change will not come from distant politicians or a half-hearted Republican legislative caucus in Oregon; it will come from ordinary citizens who are willing to act decisively, consistently, and locally.

• Start where trust already exists. Talk to your neighbors, coworkers, and church communities—build consensus face to face, not just online.

• Organize locally and consistently. Form county-level groups that meet regularly, share information, and coordinate strategy.

• Recruit and elect local leaders who will act. Support sheriffs, commissioners, and legislators willing to publicly back realignment and defend local autonomy.

• Show up where decisions are made. Attend county meetings (including the citizen-mandated meetings on moving the border), testify publicly, and make discontent visible on the record.

• Pass local measures that force attention. Use ballot initiatives and resolutions to demonstrate legitimate, measurable support.

• Make the case publicly—without apology. Speak plainly, write openly, and reject the pressure to soften your convictions to appease distant power centers.

Movements do not succeed because everyone agrees. They succeed because enough people act. No one is coming to save rural Oregon. If change comes, it will come from those who refuse to be ruled without a voice.

The plain truth: Oregon’s future belongs to those bold enough to act.