In the coming decade of heightened political tension, cartographers may have to make serious adjustments to the borders of several American states.

The American Left’s desire to micromanage activities ranging from people being able to defend themselves to relying on cheap, nonrenewable energy sources has provoked a significant backlash. And it’s not just manifesting itself in the form of an average political protest or a regular election to vote the proverbial bums out.

Several states are already witnessing their rural counties attempting to separate from the rest of their state. On previous occasions, I’ve showcased the examples of Greater Idaho and a number of Virginia counties wanting to join West Virginia as signs of how burgeoning discontent among citizens of blue states is being channeled into separatism. Weld County, Colorado is no different, which has been trying to break away from Colorado in the last decade.

Back in 2013, Weld County County commissioner Sean Conway suggested that the county provides more oil and gas revenue to the state than it gets in return for public services such as roads and schools. Shortly thereafter, Conway and other dissatisfied activists in northern Colorado counties attempted to create a new state via ballot initiative. Although voters approved the initiative in five of the 11 counties, it did mark a shift in the political conversation. The idea of politically embittered residents of northern Colorado separating from the state would no longer be seen as a fringe thought experiment.

Movements to have Weld County leave Denver’s orbit have not gone away. In 2020, Christopher Richards registered Weld County Wyoming, a political committee with the ostensive goal of putting an initiative on the November 2021 ballot that could fundamentally reshape politics in northern Colorado. Under this initiative, the Weld County Commission would be given the power to consider a potential annexation by its northern neighbor Wyoming.

The reasoning behind Weld County Wyoming’s initiative for Weld County to relocate to Wyoming is that Colorado’s northern neighbor has a more amenable political environment for the citizens of Weld County. For example, Wyoming has no income tax and regulates oil and gas in a less energetic manner than its southern neighbor.

The latter point has become a pressing matter for Weld County residents in recent years. Colorado’s state government recently passed legislation that adds another layer of regulations to oil and gas, while Boulder County went above and beyond by enacting the most stringent regulations on fracking in the Rocky Mountain State.

Natural gas is a key economic driver for Weld County and any full-fledged push toward completely phasing out natural gas would have a devastating effect on Weld County’s economy. The Wattenberg field, the fourth-largest US oil field in the US in terms of proven oil reserves, is largely situated in Weld County. Additionally, it is the ninth-largest gas field in terms of proven natural gas reserves. Weld County is the source of approximately 9 out of every 10 barrels of new crude oil produced in the Colorado.

Curiously, Colorado was not as leftist in previous decades, and in that period, it would have been doubly absurd to fathom the idea of parts of the state floating the concept of attaching themselves to Wyoming. Colorado gained notoriety for voters approving the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) amendment in 1992 that constrains state and local governments’ ability to tax and spend without the approval of voters. Colorado was also one of the first states to allow law-abiding citizens to concealed carry on university campuses, even adopting the law before states like Texas.

However, political winds have blown dramatically left over the course of two decades. Electoral and policy trends have borne this out. Colorado is generally viewed as a safe blue state that has gone to Democrats by comfortable margins in presidential elections since 2008.

On gun policy, Colorado’s lurch towards statism has been remarkable. Following the Aurora movie theater shooting of 2012, Colorado politicians have made gun control a major pillar of their political agenda. In the immediate aftermath of the Aurora massacre, Colorado successfully passed high-capacity magazine bans and universal background checks. A few years later the Colorado state government passed other items on Gun Control Inc’s wish list such as red flag gun confiscation orders (2019) and a mandatory firearm storage law (2021).

Due to the rapid cultural transformation of Colorado’s electorate, Colorado state politics seem alien to Weld County voters nowadays. Colorado has one of the most college-educated populations in the country, occupying a fifth-place ranking for WalletHub’s most educated states. To boot, it enjoys being in first place for the percentage of people who are Associate’s degree holders and second place for the percentage of people with Bachelor’s degrees nationwide. It’s no secret that universities are de indoctrination centers that have been effective in churning out professionals who hold leftist beliefs running the spectrum of managerial leftism to outright Marxism.

On a micro level, the educational and political differences between Weld County and the more populated counties of Colorado also typify these trends. Boulder (62 percent), Larmier (47 percent), and Denver (49 percent) counties all have higher percentages of individuals twenty-five years and older who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. This is in contrast to Weld County, where only 27.5 percent possess a bachelor’s degree or higher. Further, these areas are more affluent than Weld County. Boulder ($46,826), Larimer ($37,363), and Denver ($43,770) counties enjoy higher per capita incomes than Weld County ($31,793).

Denver and Weld County are political words apart at the federal level. Weld County was a safe win for Donald Trump in 2020 when voters pulled the lever for the real estate magnate by a comfortable 58 percent to 40 percent margin. On the other hand, Denver was a blowout for Joe Biden after voters decisively went for the former Delaware senator by a vote margin of 82 percent to 17 percent. Boulder was also a landslide victory for Biden, who won the county 79 percent to 19 percent, while Larimer County was a safe Biden win (56 percent to 40 percent).

Some conservatives may lament the state’s political transformation, but not all is lost as evidenced by Weld County’s growing push to join Wyoming. In fact, Colorado’s new political changes present novel opportunities for jurisdictional reconfigurations. Most blue states are likely dominated by one or a few metro centers albeit with massive swathes of semirural/rural areas that are culturally distinct from major population centers. This growing bifurcation transpiring nationwide is laying fertile soil for a decentralization revolution.

Separatism is in the air in America and we should celebrate it. Discarding the starry-eyed fantasy of unity is the first step in acclimating Americans to the idea of radical decentralization. People are already fleeing blue states and sorting themselves out in states with like-minded individuals. Realistically speaking, this will be a drawn-out process marked by stumbling blocks along the way, but it must start somewhere.

José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Sign up for his mailing list here. Contact him via Facebook or Twitter. Get his premium newsletter here. Article cross-posted from Mises.

The Dangers of Speaking the Truth Diminish If We Work Together

It’s becoming harder and harder for patriots to ignore the deep suppression of truth that’s happening in America today.

In all of my years in journalism, I have never received as many threats or been attacked by big companies like Google and Facebook as I have in 2021. I’d say that ever since we started covering widespread voter fraud, government-endorsed Pandemic Panic Theater, vaccine cover-ups, Critical Race Theory, and the various Neo-Marxist and Satanic agendas at play, I’ve been targeted more in months than the entirety of my life prior.

Speaking the truth is getting harder with so much censorship and suppression rampant. Prior to 2020, I was not a “conspiracy theorist” or an “anti-vaxxer,” but if there’s one thing the onslaught of exposed lies have taught us in the last 18 months, it’s that we cannot take what we’re told by the “arbiters of truth” at face value. There’s an agenda behind every message, a narrative driving every story, and a series of gigantic cover-ups designed to keep the masses in the dark.

This is why we’re building a network of news outlets that are willing to go against the narrative and expose the truth. We need help. We’re establishing strong partnerships with like-minded news outlets and courageous journalists. Even as Big Tech suppresses us, the honest messages they’re trying to quash are finding their way to the eyes and ears of patriots across the nation. With the help of new content partners like The Epoch Times and The Liberty Daily, we’re starting to see a real impact.

Our network is currently comprised of nine sites:

• NOQ Report
• Conservative Playlist
• Truth. Based. Media.
• Freedom First Network
• Based Underground
• Uncanceled News
• American Conservative Movement
• Conservative Playbook
• Our Gold Guy

Some of our content is spread across all of these sites. Other pieces of content are unique. We write most of what we post but we also draw from those willing to allow us to share their quality articles, videos, and podcasts. We collect the best content from fellow conservative sites that give us permission to republish them. We’re not ego-driven; I’d much rather post a properly attributed story written by experts like Dr. Joseph Mercola or Natural News than rewrite it like so many outlets like to do. We’re not here to take credit. We’re here to spread the truth.

I’ve said much of this before. From time to time I reframe this request for assistance by taking the most relevant message of the day and adjusting the story accordingly. We’ve discussed this network in previous articles. Now, it’s time to talk about help. First and foremost, we need financial assistance detailed below. But we could also use more writers who are willing to volunteer their thoughts for the sake of spreading the message. Those who are interested should contact me directly.

As far as money, we’re looking better than we have in the recent past, but we are currently experiencing a gap between revenue and expenses that cannot be overcome by click-ads and MyPillow promos alone (promo code “NOQ” by the way).

To overcome our revenue gap and keep these sites running, our needs fluctuate between $2200-$7800 per month. May, 2021, for example, was amazing and we almost broke even. June, revenue was sluggish at best and we had to make up a big difference out of our pockets. But we’re not just trying to get out of the red. If and when we start getting enough contributions to expand, we will do just that. Very few get into journalism to try to get rich and we’re definitely not among those who do. Our success is driven by spreading the truth, profitable or not.

The best way you can help us grow and continue to bring proper news and opinions to the people is by donating. We appreciate everything, whether a dollar or $10,000. Anything brings us closer to a point of stability when we can hire writers, editors, and support staff to make the America First message louder. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal or Bitcoin as well. Bitcoin: 3A1ELVhGgrwrypwTJhPwnaTVGmuqyQrMB8

Time is short. As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report and the other sites in the network going. Our promise is this: We will never sell out America. If that means we’re going to struggle for a while or even indefinitely, so be it. Integrity first. Truth first. America first.

Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker

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