Idaho-The American Redoubt? (Council: 2014, foreclosed, home)

[Keim]

This is branched off of the What Makes an Idahoan thread. Deadtime mentioned the American Redoubt. As a longtime Idahoan I've never liked the term. It brings up too many negative past associations like Aryans, kooky survivalist efforts like The Citadel and Almost Heaven, etc. At first glance it smelled to me like the same **** people got sold in the 80s and 90s. **** Idaho fought long and hard against. I believe those that don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

I decided to look into it. I went to the blog of its progenitor where he discusses the concept.

The American Redoubt — Move to the Mountain States - SurvivalBlog.com

Here are the first few paragraphs:
[CENTER]"Updated: April 18, 2014[/CENTER]
Recognizing both the fact that “all politics are local”, and the international readership of SurvivalBlog, I naturally de-emphasize politics in my blog. However, a recent article got my blood boiling: Motorists illegally detained at Florida tolls – for using large bills! So, not only are Federal Reserve Notes not redeemable “on demand” for specie, but effectively they are now no longer “…legal tender for all debts public and private.” It is often hard to pinpoint a breaking point–the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”–as impetus for a paradigm shift, but reading that news article was that last straw for me. Consider my paradigm fully shifted. I’m now urging that folks Get Out of Dodge for political reasons–not just for the family preparedness issues that I’ve previously documented. There comes a time, after a chain of abuses when good men must take action. We’ve reached that point, folks!
Voting With Our Feet
I concur that Pastor Chuck Baldwin was right when he “voted with his feet” and moved his family from Florida to Montana. Like Chuck Baldwin I believe that is time for freedom-loving Christians to relocate to something analogous to “Galt’s Gulch” on a grand scale.
In March 2011, Ol’ Remus of The Woodpile Report quoted an essay by economist Giordano Bruno, titled The Return Of Precious Metals And Sound Money. In it, Bruno stated: “If there is anything good to come out of our present predicament, it is that Americans, from average citizens to elected officials, are beginning to understand the reality of coming collapse and are preempting it with measures designed to insulate their communities from the inevitable firestorm. Eventually, as this movement escalates, certain states will come out ahead of the pack, gaining a kind of “safe haven” status, and attracting liberty minded people from around the country to the protective shelter of their borders.”
Sociologist Albert O. Hirschman in his book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, identifies the growing libertarian trend of “Exit” strategies, all the way from the individual level up to the level of nation states.
Giordano Bruno identified a trend that has been developing informally for many years: A conscious retrenchment into safe haven states. I strongly recommend this amalgamation, and that it be formalized. I suggest calling it The American Redoubt. I further recommend Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington for the réduit. Some might call it a conglomeration, but I like to call it an amalgamation, since that evokes silver. And it will be a Biblically-sound and Constitutionally-sound silver local currency that will give it unity.
Update: It has been reported that 10 politically conservative counties in northern Colorado are planning on a peaceful partition, to form the new state of North Colorado. Needless to say, if they succeed I will expand the definition of the Redoubt!
[CENTER]"[/CENTER]


I've bolded the areas that cause me concern as a local. So, they're advocating for a biblically sound, constitutionally sound area that is no longer part of the US (perhaps cuz the US has ceased to exist or perhaps as a breakaway).
How does one maintain a biblically sound AND constitutionally sound gov't? That separation of church and state thing gets in the way.

How is this healthy for our area? Or the US as a whole?

How is this different from past survivalist efforts/scams like Almost Heaven and The Citadel?

[VandalsLOL]

I mean, ultimately what does it matter? People will move places for all sorts of reasons, including far out politics, kooky-minds unite, quasi-religious, and to be around other survivalists. If a small group of these people want to consider the intermountain NW, and in particular NID, a place to move to, well they certainly have the right to. No more or less than any other group.

Moreover, there's nothing we can do about anyway. One would hope it doesn't affect the state politics, but we've already seen that happen (and furthermore, there's support that ALEC is behind the extreme right wing infiltration of NID anyway).

Should we try and fight the perception that Idaho (and particularly NID) is some sort of "redoubt" haven? No more than we should try and fight the perception that Idaho is some sort of respite for people fleeing California or Seattle. I'd argue the latter has far more profound impacts anyway.

[Keim]

What's ALEC?

[Keim]

Originally Posted by VandalsLOL

I mean, ultimately what does it matter? People will move places for all sorts of reasons, including far out politics, kooky-minds unite, quasi-religious, and to be around other survivalists. If a small group of these people want to consider the intermountain NW, and in particular NID, a place to move to, well they certainly have the right to. No more or less than any other group.

Moreover, there's nothing we can do about anyway. One would hope it doesn't affect the state politics, but we've already seen that happen (and furthermore, there's support that ALEC is behind the extreme right wing infiltration of NID anyway).

Should we try and fight the perception that Idaho (and particularly NID) is some sort of "redoubt" haven? No more than we should try and fight the perception that Idaho is some sort of respite for people fleeing California or Seattle. I'd argue the latter has far more profound impacts anyway.

There you go with that Live and Let Live Idaho attitude.

[mistyriver]

I just figure the kooks won't last. The local people don't seem to care for them and they are usually woefully unprepared for the realities of the life they think they are choosing despite their survivalist rhetoric.

Much more fun to rant about things over the Internet where you can sound like a mountain man, than to actually do it.

[Cnynrat]

I think I agree with Vandals on this one.

One thing that is very different about this compared to the other examples you mentioned is I believe those were businesses who intended to make a profit off of those who came and joined those communities. In this case it's just a guy on the Internet who has a bit of a following in the survivalist community encouraging other people who worry about doom and gloom to move to the same area. This is more like the Free State Project, but not completely the same as that either.

I don't see this initiative as having a material impact on how many and what type of people move to Idaho beyond what's already happening. The state has a reputation as being a strongly red state, and that is having some impact on who decides to move there, but I don't see this adding to that in any big way.

The reality is the availability of jobs is going to impose a limit on how many people can move to the state. The same can be said about Montana and Wyoming. Further, out of all of the people who he does encourage to move how many will land in Idaho? Many will end up in one of the other states he identified.

Dave

[ShadoAngel]

Originally Posted by Keim

What's ALEC?

The American Legislation Exchanged Council. It's a right-wing organization, often accused of providing boiler-plate templates of legislation aimed at certain goals. Focuses on state-level legislation.

[boi2socal]

Originally Posted by Keim

How does one maintain a biblically sound AND constitutionally sound gov't? That separation of church and state thing gets in the way.

Certain groups interpret each of these things to their fancy. It is impossible to argue with them. Not unlike the word "freedom" and the wildly varying interpretation of that word.

[Keim]

Originally Posted by boi2socal

Certain groups interpret each of these things to their fancy. It is impossible to argue with them. Not unlike the word "freedom" and the wildly varying interpretation of that word.

Agreed. Further reading of the author shows he advocates for a mostly Christian area.

[Keim]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

I just figure the kooks won't last. The local people don't seem to care for them and they are usually woefully unprepared for the realities of the life they think they are choosing despite their survivalist rhetoric.

Much more fun to rant about things over the Internet where you can sound like a mountain man, than to actually do it.

THis article provides a nice look at what happens when the kooks do come to town.
Almost Heaven, Idaho, is almost silent now | The Salt Lake Tribune

''It took a while to get the prairie people to understand that there were some weirdos in the valley and that they needed to pay attention.''
After all, on the surface the newcomers may not have seemed radically different. The majority of residents were from logging, farming or ranching families, people who used their back to make a living. To them, the newcomers seemed like people who just wanted to build a cabin in the woods and be left alone. And the majority of Almost Heaven residents wanted just that, said Gritz, who now lives in Sandy Valley, Nev.But along with the mild-mannered patriots came those who Gritz calls the ''knots.''Some of those residents filed documents with the Idaho County Courthouse, renouncing their U.S. citizenship and claiming to be ''sovereigns'' of the ''Idaho State Republic.''
Others started a militia group called the Idaho Mountain Boys. The group was later accused of plotting to kill U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, and member and former Almost Home resident Larry Raugust eventually pleaded guilty to 15 counts of making bombs. He was accused of planting land mines around the foreclosed property of a friend near Almost Heaven. Two other militia members were convicted of a 1999 plot to blow up a propane-tank farm near Sacramento, Calif.
Meanwhile, all the media coverage piqued the interest of other extremists who settled around Idaho County, not just at Almost Heaven, Nims said.