"Libertarian Utopia" in Eastern Washington

[Ben]

I apologize in advance that this is a Rolling Stone link and wouldn't blame anyone for not clicking it. It came up on my totally nonbiased Firefox recommendations (just like every other commie article I read these days).

I am though, interested in hearing what our WA contingent thinks about this. It sounds like the state of Jefferson, but for Washington. I'd never heard of it. The reporter of course does the usual unbiased reporting RS is known for: Spokane is a "shining liberal island", "Why is no one protesting the carrying of guns?" etc. Also they managed to put the picture of people in costumes on the front page.

This Shea guy may indeed be a couple beers short of a six pack, but the article certainly reads like an analysis of "what's wrong with that whacky Eastern Washington not being like Seattle?"

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/matt-shea-washington-state-liberty-744850/

[MillCreek]

I have always thought that Matt Shea was a fricken' nutcase but I cannot argue that he keeps getting re-elected. Stories about NE Washington and North Idaho becoming the new home of the White Aryan Race have been around for years, and the area does attract a lot of people who embrace that concept.  The concept of the state splitting in two has also been around for years, but a whole lot of tax revenue collected in Western Washington goes to pay for things in Eastern Washington, a point that many people in Liberty like to gloss over.   

Spokane is a lovely city, and there are many parts of Western Washington outside of Seattle where meetings of the local militia and open carry do not raise an eyebrow.

[freakazoid]

“A lot of people in the media, some people even here today have come out publicly and tried to smear other people, OK? Tried to tell in the media that certain individuals are not who they say they are. Try to smear them without any facts,” he says. He’s spitting his words now. “And I want to tell you something about that: We can’t become those dirty, godless, hateful people.”
In the weeks after this moment, editorial boards around the state will question how Shea — chair of the state Republican caucus — saw no consequences for these words. “Spokane lawmaker gets free pass on press-bashing. Why?” asked a Tacoma editorial. Even Washington Gov. Jay Inslee tweeted that Shea’s words “should disqualify him” from his role on the legislature’s public-records task force.

And I just stopped reading.

[Nightfall]

Same article came up on my Firefox recommendations. Nothing new or astounding here; the lifestyle of the average person in Seattle or many of the other population-dense areas of West WA is worlds apart from how many people live here in Eastern WA. Even in Spokane it's culturally quite different from Seattle.

So when wealthy Seattleites push something like Initiative 1639 onto the ballot, counting on West WA to throw the weight of its popular vote behind it, many in Eastern WA feel like they're under attack via legislation. People who feel like they're under attack will happily rally behind politicians with varying levels of wacky stuff if they think that, on the balance, they're getting someone to fight back on their behalf. No shock there either, we've seen it at the national level currently, and we've seen it around the world historically. Polarization of one side of politics leads to polarization of the other.

Those same people that think dividing into smaller geographical areas will solve differences of ideology don't usually seem aware said split would require most of Eastern WA to accept a lower level of government services/etc., as has been pointed out. More money flows east here than the other way around.

Same ol' stuff that we've seen before. State grows a large city. Large city becomes bastion of leftism. Leftists demand entire area lives by approved standards of enlightenment. Outside areas fight back. Leftists push back. Everything gets uglier.  

[JN01]

They will be assimilated.  Resistance is futile.

[BobR]

Spokane has already slid into the cesspool of liberalism. It is too late to stop the inevitable. I hope I can last another 18 months until I can load up the truck and head for Nevada.

bob

edit: Seeing how his name came up, here is a little blurb on Matt Shea. http://www.khq.com/story/39387853/spokane-valley-representative-under-scrutiny-for-leaked-manifesto

[Regolith]

Spokane has already slid into the cesspool of liberalism. It is too late to stop the inevitable. I hope I can last another 18 months until I can load up the truck and head for Nevada.

bob

edit: Seeing how his name came up, here is a little blurb on Matt Shea. http://www.khq.com/story/39387853/spokane-valley-representative-under-scrutiny-for-leaked-manifesto

East LA Vegas is making Nevada a not so great bet for the long term...

[BobR]

East LA Vegas is making Nevada a not so great bet for the long term...

I know that, creeping liberalism is slowly taking over nearly everywhere that the wife would consider going. We will probably end up in Pahrump because when we left Vegas in 1997 it was already too big and politically gone for us. Pahrump may be OK, we will also be looking up around the Fallon area.

bob

[gunsmith]

I know that, creeping liberalism is slowly taking over nearly everywhere that the wife would consider going. We will probably end up in Pahrump because when we left Vegas in 1997 it was already too big and politically gone for us. Pahrump may be OK, we will also be looking up around the Fallon area.

bob

Fallon is still pretty good, I just prayed for a red tsunami, reno/sparks is SF east currently.
an AA lady i go to meetings with, left marin county because of high taxes-votes for exactly the same crap here

[MillCreek]

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/state-lawmaker-matt-shea-defends-advocacy-for-holy-army-as-spokane-sheriff-refers-his-writings-to-fbi/

Mr. Shea releases his 'Holy Army' manifesto.  Apparently you have to be circumcised to join (bullet point 6-B).

[dogmush]

Mr. Shea releases his 'Holy Army' manifesto.  Apparently you have to be circumcised to join (bullet point 6-B).

https://youtu.be/oPwrodxghrw

[lee n. field]

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/state-lawmaker-matt-shea-defends-advocacy-for-holy-army-as-spokane-sheriff-refers-his-writings-to-fbi/

Mr. Shea releases his 'Holy Army' manifesto.  Apparently you have to be circumcised to join (bullet point 6-B).

Reading over it, I wonder what sort of church (or whatever) he's a member of/affiliated with.  A lot of this is straight out of the Pentateuch.

[230RN]

That about sums it up:

"Same ol' stuff that we've seen before. State grows a large city. Large city becomes bastion of leftism. Leftists demand entire area lives by approved standards of enlightenment. Outside areas fight back. Leftists push back. Everything gets uglier. "
Thanks, Nightfall !

[MillCreek]

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/790192972/washington-legislator-matt-shear-accused-of-domestic-terrorism-report-finds?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR0fKRJgYDsm2f9XV6PWLR_yPSQYVV5N_B04uVlMNIwd82uho79EsW39O4c

http://houserepublicans.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RampartGroupReport.pdf

The Washington state Legislature has completed looking into Mr. Shea's activities.  It is a pretty thorough report.  Mr. Shea is thus far resisting calls to resign.   

[tokugawa]

That about sums it up:

"Same ol' stuff that we've seen before. State grows a large city. Large city becomes bastion of leftism. Leftists demand entire area lives by approved standards of enlightenment. Outside areas fight back. Leftists push back. Everything gets uglier. "
Thanks, Nightfall !

 And if you want to know why-  https://www.britannica.com/event/Baker-v-Carr

 I wonder if the current Virginia counties telling Richmond to piss off could be a case to repeal Baker vs Carr- if 90 percent of the counties do not accept the states law it makes a pretty good case they are not represented fairly.

  Olympia/Seattle, Salem/Portland , Denver, Las Vegas, and on and on- the cities all rule the rest of their rural states- not by accident, but by design- the Warren Court decision on Baker vs Carr destroyed rural representation- in fact, Chief Justice Warren, on retirement, declared it to be the most important case of his tenure on the court.

 As a side note, this is exactly what the idea of getting rid of the electoral college is meant to do, on a national level- concentrate all political power in the hands of a few leftist states. Just what Baker vs Carr did on a state level.

 Of all laws in this country, Baker vs Carr (and associated ones like Reynolds vs Simms) is the one I would most like to see repealed- because it is the key to getting some representation for the rural areas, who tend to be strongly conservative.