West Virginia was once part of Virginia. In fact, throughout American history borders have changed to reflect political realities. Today, should conservative Californians be governed from liberal Sacramento? Should conservative Oregonians be ruled from leftist Salem? The question is afoot.

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FNC: Former Trump national security official Michael Anton made his case for allowing counties in several blue states to essentially secede to form new states or become part of other neighboring ones that better match their socioeconomic values.

Anton told Fox Nation’s ‘Tucker Carlson Today’ recently that he supports the call from several rural eastern Oregon counties to consider joining neighboring Idaho. Although 7 Oregon counties recently voted in favor of the proposal, relocating the Oregon-Idaho border would have to be approved the U.S. Congress, as well as officials in both Salem and Boise. However, Idaho Gov. Brad Little has expressed support for the move.

The group Citizens for Greater Idaho has also been in discussions with legislators in Idaho regarding forthcoming legislation in that regard. On Fox Nation, Anton also spoke of a similar effort in inland and northern California to break off from Sacramento and coastal liberal strongholds like San Francisco and Los Angeles – and become the 51st state of Jefferson.

However, he noted that officials in Sacramento and Salem have no interest in allowing part of their state’s tax base to leave, regardless of the state’s treatment of these rural and working-class voters.”

“Far northern California counties and the far southern Oregon counties for 20 years have been talking about leaving California, leaving Oregon, and forming the state of Jefferson,” Anton said. “The reason is because these are really rural counties and they feel like they’re totally dominated by a state capital that represents urban and suburban interests and either pays no attention to them, or worse, treats them badly, taxes and regulates them without any idea of what life is really like in these places…Nobody [in the capitals] wants to let that happen. But it’s come more to the fore in recent years. And very recently, in particular, five Oregon counties and then two more –  so a total of seven – have now taken symbolic votes that they want to join Idaho.”

An example is the mood of conservative Virginians who object to gun control legislation.  “There was a huge protest march on Richmond from rural Virginia, gun owners saying, ‘Don’t do this,'” Anton said. “And some of those counties in Western Virginia thought about joining West Virginia.”

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a Democrat-turned-Republican, supports counties along I-81 that want to join the Mountain State: “If you’re not truly happy where you are, we stand with open arms to take you from Virginia or anywhere where you may be,” Justice said in 2020, contrasting Charleston’s support for the Second Amendment with Richmond’s leftist state government.