We – the Lewis family – seem to have found ourselves in the midst of a demographic trend. That’s because we live in Idaho, and suddenly – in the past week – the state of Idaho is all over the news for pretty much one single reason: Escape.

Speaking as a boots-on-the-ground resident of this state, I can attest to what’s happening. Property prices in Idaho have exploded almost exponentially in the last four years. Younger people can no longer afford starter homes because property is in such high demand.

We’ve lived in Idaho since 2003. Before that, we spent 10 years in southwest Oregon (just north of Medford); and before that (shhh, don’t tell anyone) we came from California. My husband and I like to joke that we led the wave of people leaving blue areas and moving to redder pastures.

We’re self-employed, so when we decided to leave Oregon in 2003, we were free to move anywhere. We carefully examined Washington, Idaho and Montana as potential destinations. We had no pre-existing opinions on any of those states; we were open to moving to any of them. What tipped us into focusing solely on Idaho were its homeschooling laws … or rather, the lack thereof. Literally, that was it. The freedom to school our children (who were 5 and 7 years old at the time) – without government bureaucrats harassing us every step of the way – was enormously appealing.

We’ve never regretted our decision to move here. We lived for 17 years in our first location (a 20-acre homestead) in the Panhandle; three years ago we downsized to a smaller home and property (also in the north) and continue to enjoy the beauty of this state.

While the Panhandle has its liberal enclaves (notably Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Moscow), the rest of the northern part of the state is deep, deep red. It’s almost guaranteed that neighbors will be what the left likes to call “right-wing extremists.” Over the years we’ve noticed a trend of “leftugees” – conservative people fleeing their blue-state hellholes in search of the simple ability to live their lives free of government bureaucrats harassing them every step of the way.

While blue-city reports like to mock the real-estate ads that have been cropping up in their areas (“Time is not on your side, flee the city NOW before the coming collapse!” “Escape liberal hell!”) and focus on the fringe element, we are witnessing what’s happening in real time. And the truth is, conservatives are fleeing the hostile climates of West Coast blue cities such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. In droves, folks; they’re fleeing in

“Thousands of conservative-leaning Washington residents fled the deep blue state for neigboring Idaho, voter data published by the Gem State shows,” reports Fox.”Data published by the Idaho Secretary of State’s office shows that out of the nearly 119,000 people who recently moved to the state, 65% registered as Republicans, compared to just 12% registering as Democrats.”

Of course, it’s not just Washington. Out of the nearly 40,000 people who left California for red states (not just Idaho), a whopping 75% registered as Republicans.

Based on the progressives who left comments on these articles, the left is delighted to see the Republicans go. We’re just as delighted to welcome them here.

Many years ago, I remember there was a movement to “take over” a state and make it a conservative stronghold. Conservatives were encouraged to move there and take over positions in schools and government to shift things to the right. For whatever reason, Vermont was chosen to accomplish this deed. To say it failed is a massive understatement, as Vermont is among the most progressive states in the nation.

But somehow it happened in Idaho, and in a very organic (meaning, non-planned) sort of way. We moved here because of (at the time) affordable land prices and amenable homeschooling laws. Others moved for their own reasons of freedom. In fact, whole chunks of other states (eastern Washington and eastern Oregon) want to move to Idaho too, by breaking off from their western progressive urban centers and widening the Idaho boundaries to encompass vast new areas (it’s called the Greater Idaho Movement).

And, in an extremely tidy secondary benefit, this demographic movement is proving useful in keep progressives out. I mean, who wants to move to such a backward and inbred state in the first place? A state that’s full of (insert sneer) To say we couldn’t be more pleased with this development is to engage in the drollest understatement. Yes please; by all means, stay away. Keep our state red. Don’t turn it purple. You wouldn’t like all its natural beauty anyway.

“The reality is that conservative states are becoming more conservative, and they are gaining political clout at the same time,” notes fellow Idahoan John Green.”The people moving about the country aren’t missionaries going forth to spread socialism. … They’re escaping the blue states in search of the America of their youth. … They’re political refugees.”

There are even hints that Idaho might – again, in an organic, unplanned way – develop a parallel economy in which we cultivate independent critical infrastructure (food, energy, etc.) untethered to other states. Whether or not that happens, the concept is intriguing.

Interestingly, the progressives commenting on these articles are happily mocking Idaho residents as rubes and rednecks (samples: “Adios. The people heading there have nothing going on” and “Bye! Enjoy Idaho. We’ll see you back here when you get pregnant”). These are, of course, the people who are blind to the hellholes they turned their own blue cities into. And, from a personal standpoint, I hope they never leave.

In fact, as a loyal Idahoan, I feel compelled to add: Idaho is terrible. Tell all your friends they would hate it here. See the YouTube song below as proof.

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

This post originally appeared on WND News Center.