Episode 2604 of The Tom Woods Show released on February 8, 2025, entitled, “Is the U.S. Headed for Breakup (in the Long Run)?” interviewed Ryan McMaken, Senior Editor of The Mises Institute. The main topic was the breakup of the United States in the long run, also called secession.
One type of secession active in 2025 is when one or more rural counties seek to secede from the current state to join a neighboring state. Many residents of the seceding rural county are not in agreement with many current state public policies, governing, and taxation and desire to be governed by more sane public policies in a nearby state. This secession movement could be called state to state. Many rural counties have lower populations compared to the urban counties.
The nationalist secession movement is defined as residents in one state desire their state to secede completely from all United States government tentacles for it to become an independent nation. An August 14, 2024, Newsweek article entitled, “Secession Movements Now in 12 US States, Campaigner Says” describes current US state to state and nationalist secession movements.
One state to state movement called “The Greater Idaho Project” involves several counties in central and eastern Oregon desire to leave and join the state of Idaho. Thirteen Oregon counties have voted as of May 2024 to secede from Oregon and join Idaho. This action requires approval by the legislative bodies in Idaho and Oregon and approval by both houses of Congress. A draft map from The Greater Idaho Project below shows the Oregon counties that voted to secede in red.
Residents in four southern Illinois rural counties are seeking to secede from Illinois and become part of Kentucky by passing non-binding resolutions to encourage local officials to explore the possibility of leaving the state.
Residents of rural Weld County of northern Colorado desire to secede by becoming part of the state of Wyoming from a January 2021 USA TODAY article. Many Weld County residents see, “Colorado was ‘at war with three major economic drivers for Weld County: small businesses, agriculture, and oil and gas.’”
Republican state lawmakers from three far west rural Maryland panhandle counties in Democrat-controlled Maryland in 2021 contacted West Virginia state legislators, expressing their desire to secede from their home state.
The lawmakers claimed in their letters that West Virginia, in both its professed values and the heavily Republican lean of its government, would be a better home for their constituents than Maryland, where Democrats enjoy supermajorities in the State House and Senate and reclaimed the Governor’s Mansion in November 2022.
Residents of the three counties have not voted on this secession proposal though lawmakers indicated such a step could be taken in the future.
A movement in many central and eastern Washington state counties to secede and join Idaho has been pursued since the mid 1990s with little movement in bill filings in many Washington state legislative sessions. Their secession intent is to exit from the state’s progressive public policies and taxation to more rational policies in Idaho.
The US rural-urban divide has grown in the last thirty years. Democrat and Republican elected officials in many states and in the US House and Senate have neglected their rural constituents in many ways with public policies, regulations, and taxes that hinder rural life and industry.
Public discussion of county secession movements from one state to another was not common ten years ago and to see these public actions taking place is encouraging. Many county residents desire to flee their state’s progressive public policies, regulations, and taxes to be part of another state with sane public policies and taxes that allow family lives and businesses to thrive.
