I live in the (for now) small town of Star. It’s in a southwestern region of Idaho known as the Treasure Valley. Star’s population remained relatively stable, at under a thousand people, for much of the 20th century. But as the 21st century approached; the agricultural village began to change – fast.
In one year, from 1999 to 2000, Star’s population surged from 750 people to 2,018 – a 270 percent increase. As the next two and a half decades proved, the explosive growth at the turn of the century was not an anomaly. It was just the start. Star’s current population is estimated at 16,333 – a 2,100 percent increase in only 25 years!
The radical change in population of our small town has funded massive construction in the surrounding area. New neighborhoods, each with hundreds of houses, are appearing in dozens of formerly agricultural areas every year. The medium home price in Star is now a whopping $600,000, and multi-million-dollar homes are commonplace.
When my wife and I moved to Star six years ago (from Minnesota), I was amazed at the wealth in the area. Where did all of these “McMansion” owners work? The area still seemed more agricultural than industrial.
With a bit of internet research, I found that the top 5 (nongovernmental) employers in the Treasure Valley (by number of employees) were
- Albertson’s Inc.,
- Blue Cross of Idaho,
- Treasure Valley YMCA,
- Fred Meyer, and
- Hewlett-Packard Co. (bringing up the rear).
It didn’t seem possible to me that two grocery chains, an insurance company, a fitness center, and one tech company were providing the wealth for all the construction underway. It turns out, it wasn’t.
The wealth coming to Star Idaho was being brought by the pilgrims of the “great migration.” People are moving here from the states of crushing taxes, freedom killing regulations, and woke ideology; and they’re bringing their money with them.
California’s changing population is a good example. It’s population growth began slowing after its high point in 1990. People were still having children and moving to California, but the state’s growth was slowing as people also moved out. Beginning in 2020, the year of COVID, California began experiencing a net loss of population. That was not a coincidence.
When blue-state governors imposed draconian lockdowns during the pandemic, their citizens were forced to work from home. Workers quickly discovered that “home” needn’t be in the same location where they were oppressed locked down. They started moving, and taking their wealth with them.
Retirees from the blue states have also been relocating. They have discovered that they can trade their modest California accommodations for palatial homes in places like Star – financed with their blue state home equity, pensions, and savings.
We are witnessing Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Atlas Shrugged, playing out in real time. In the novel, an ever-growing regulatory state encourages mediocrity and punishes accomplishment. Eventually the titans of industry (i.e., the creators of wealth) come to see that they are being enslaved by the unproductive masses.
One by one, they go on strike. In the dark of night, each shutters their business, gathers their wealth, and disappears into a hidden valley, nicknamed Galt’s Gulch – named after the founder of the strike movement, John Galt.
As Galt’s Gulch becomes a thriving capitalist community, the outside world literally dies. Without wealth creation, the government runs out of other people’s money to redistribute. The infrastructure collapses, the lights go out, and people starve.
Star Idaho is one of hundreds of Galt’s Gulches which have cropped up across the country – not surprisingly in the most conservative of red states. The strike that Ayn Rand prophesied is now underway. The most productive are refusing to continue supporting those who only wish to seize their wealth. They’re not refusing to work; they’re just refusing to work where the fruits of their labor are presumed to be resources for the use of others.
But unlike in Rand’s novel, the strikers aren’t quietly disappearing in the dark of night. They’re flipping the bird at their old homes as they load their moving vans, gather their assets, and split in the light of day.
The Treasure Valley was named by Pete Olesen, a businessman from Caldwell, Idaho. He thought the valley’s wealth of resources presented unlimited opportunities for the industrious. He was thinking in terms of agricultural and mineral resources. But one of the valley’s greatest resources is freedom. Freedom from regulatory burden. Freedom from confiscatory taxation. Freedom from being told what to say or how to raise one’s children.
The Treasure Valley is more aptly named today than ever before. It is a Galt’s Gulch where the treasures created elsewhere are fueling unlimited opportunity here.
Author Bio: John Green is a retired engineer and political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He spent his career designing complex defense systems, developing high performance organizations, and doing corporate strategic planning. He is a contributor to American Thinker, The American Spectator, and the American Free News Network. He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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