East Oregon Counties Force Vote To Secede From The State

What a naive take. Of course the state of Oregon could do something about it. They'd simply go to court, have a lien or garnishment placed on the Eastern Oregonians who don't pay taxes, and collect it directly from their paychecks, bank accounts, property transactions, etc. Banks, employers, etc. would comply because it's a court order and to defy it would be in contempt of court, which they'd want no part of. So Oregon would get the taxes owed in the end.

The Feds for their part won't take it lying down, either. This movement seeks to unilaterally change state borders; in essence messing with the USA's sovereignty and territory. The Feds don't take kindly to that as evidenced by the Civil War. Their response would be more than a handful of alphabet agency spooks. If it escalated far enough, the Feds would call in the military.

Don't get me wrong: I support what the Eastern Oregonians are doing in principle, even if I think their method is doomed to fail. But for Tim to say the Oregon state government and/or the Feds couldn't do anything about it is ignorant. Besides, a method for "secession" (of a sort) already exists: it's called MOVE.

If you don't like the state you live in, vote with your feet and your wallet; you're always free to leave. What you don't get to do (at least not without a violent response) is to say, "I don't like what this state is doing. So I'm going to carve a piece of it out and make it part of another state." If you want to go, go, but you don't get to take a piece of the state along with you when you do. That's a big no-no.

The Feds don't have to go door-to-door nor occupy every street corner. Instead, they make an example of one or a small handful of families in the contested counties, relying on fear and coercion to force compliance of the rest. It then becomes a matter of just how committed the residents of Eastern Oregon/Great Idaho are to their secession. Are they willing to risk death over it? Because that's what it would come to.