Greater Idaho, The PEACE Act, and a Better Oregon to Come
No _you_ started it.
This November, it looks like Oregonians will be voting on a ballot measure that would illegalize hunting, fishing, agriculture, and even killing mice in your house. It is insane that we got here. It is not the only insane movement making political waves in Oregon.
To me, Greater Idaho and The PEACE Act are a pair of awful twins, pinching each other and crying in complaint.
In 2020, a group emerged whose name said it all; Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho. They have been advocating that Eastern Oregon is more culturally aligned with Idaho. They point out that it fells like Oregon’s powers that be ignore and undermine Eastern Oregon. Therefore, the land of Eastern Oregon should become Western Idaho.
This is an unrealistic idea that won’t happen, but I despise it and work to disable it.
Still, resolutions in favor have passed in most of the counties that their proposal covers. In urban places, Greater Idaho is a laughing stock. It made it to an episode of The Daily Show.1
Is it funny because it is something that the people who want it are nearly powerless to do within legal means? I never thought it was funny. Kinda like when a TV personality ran for the Republican nomination for President on a platform built to appeal to disaffected rural people. I didn’t think that was funny either.
Two years after Greater Idaho came into being, the first PEACE Act came out of urban Oregon and started collecting signatures. The People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions Act, would categorize farming, fishing, hunting, pest control2 as animal cruelty, thus making them illegal. The PEACE Act comes from an odd organization out of Portland with some really wacky funding.3 Here in 2026, they have sought signatures again to get the PEACE Act on the ballot. Having spent at least a quarter of a million dollars, it looks like the PEACE Act will be on my Oregon ballot. This is an unrealistic idea that won’t happen, but I despise it and work to stop it. Along with Democrats across Eastern Oregon, My county committee has passed a resolution in opposition. We are holding meetings and speaking out on social media.
Like Greater Idaho, The PEACE Act would destroy towns. The fact that someone would propose something so destructive and pain-inducing boggles my mind. I struggle to empathize with them.
It is not in the least bit funny to me. It is not something I can ignore.
And I place the PEACE Act next to Greater Idaho as signs of the poor interchanges here in my state.
In conflict, we often try to discern “who is the aggressor.” It is a treacherous pursuit, because each escalation is a response to the other. Each aggressor has a reason in the actions of others to explain their act.
Greater Idaho says that urban Oregon is the aggressor. The PEACE Act is evidence to that claim.
As a culture we try to draw lines as to what aggression is acceptable and what is inappropriate.
Oregon is in dysfunctional conflict.
I love every corner of Oregon. If you read Old Truck Good Coffee with regularity, you have heard me sing praises and lay out critiques of the left (The Good Coffee) and the right (The Good Trucks).4
I think our conflict makes us vulnerable. Both Greater Idaho and The PEACE Act receive funding from outside organizations who seem to be more interested in starting fires in our house than making Oregon better for people. Now, we have to spend time talking and working on these issues instead of on our schools (which, by the way, could really use the help).
Something I love about Oregon is that historically, we have gotten through this. Oregon was famous for collaborative politics in the 80s and 90s. We can do it again.
And we are. This May, Wallowa County voted to kick Greater Idaho out of their county.
To date, 12 County Democratic parties have passed resolutions in opposition to The PEACE Act. More are in the works (Disclosure: I am organizing for this project. My County Democratic Party passed that resolution in May5). The Democratic Governor and her Republican challenger are both in opposition to The PEACE Act.
I don’t regularly meld my political efforts and Old Truck Good Coffee. Leo and I want Old Truck Good Coffee to be read across our interchanges and inspire community thinking outside of partisanship. These days, party membership is legitimately distracting and distrusted, so not that useful.
But this moment seems exceptional. Everyone (except that substitute teacher, his distant funders, and his paid signature gatherers) is behaving really well. People are recognizing how damaging this proposal is and they are taking it seriously. Not because it might pass but because we don’t want to be associated with it. Because we understand the culture, livelihood, and meaning in hunting, fishing, and farming. Because we share priorities.
I am sad with where we are, but I see the work being done to fix us. To allow all of Oregon to see each other, despite these outside-funded efforts to ram us into each other.
Not invertebrates. The authors have noted on their website that “an animal in Oregon is already legally defined as a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian or fish” so we can still kill spiders and roaches if this passes. They do not state that they support removing such pests. I presume that if they could they would include ants in some future law.
A $28,000 contribution from a substitute teacher, a similar amount from a person in St. Petersburg Russia, money from a New York Crypt bro. https://www.reddit.com/r/oregon/comments/1rhtvm2/ip28s_pac_has_received_significant_contributions/ and https://www.facebook.com/share/v/194ioeUzd6/ or dig in to their financials in Oregon’s campaign finance tool, Orestar.
Conveniently, urban liberals are based in the Western part of Oregon and over on the East are the more conservative rural people, to the right of a map oriented with North facing up.
https://jeffcodemsoregon.org/2026/03/18/resolution-opposing-ip28-a-ban-on-hunting-fishing-and-animal-agriculture/
From link in footnote 3: "Since Oregon still allows foreign contributions in ballot measure campaigns ..."
Why does the State of Oregon allow foreign contributions to its ballot measure campaigns? Have Oregon Democrats taken a position on this? How could this possibly be good?
The author's pique bubbles well below the rim of the stewpot on the stove but still requires the fan in the hood to exhaust the steam. The supporting footnotes successfully imply there is well enough propane in the tank for this soup recipe to be repeated with even more vegetables in the near future.
The US is not immune to the enactment of stupid legislation (see Ken Burns' "Prohibition"). We should take heed, as does the author, and focus on process and eschew ridicule.