How Idaho worked in the before times:

Kid born in a rural town. Figures out between ages 8 -20 whether they're going to be staying there or not. First stop is one of the college towns, or Boise. If that works, they stay. Used to be that this influx was slow and steady enough to be balanced bc there were mill/trucking/farming/feedlot/manufacturing jobs out there that could support a family if need be.

Then those jobs dried up, so more people headed for the population centers where there were work and educational opportunities. Then people started moving in from out of state into the rural areas and snapping up housing. Then it was the population centers. Politics shifted further right because our parents at home in the more rural parts of the state were tired of watching their kids leave and the local political class blamed it on the left like they do every other fucking little thing. The conservative political refugees from the coastal states ate that shit up and had money to play with.

We hate "Californians" bc the balance got fucked up and nobody can afford anything and this place isn't really improving with the new folks coming in, just like the other 4 or 5 times a big influx of people has happened. Guessing the tribal people will tell you it's been all downhill since the Nez Perce kept Lewis and Clark from freezing to death on that hillside. Or when the gold that should have made this place rich ended up back east. Idaho will take care of us if we take care of her, problem is, it seems impossible to do so when people don't even understand the basics of pick up your trash and shut the gate behind ya.