In the latest episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors discuss a zealous political movement — a push for a 51st state — born anew from resentment of California’s liberal “resistance” to Trump.

“West Obsessed” is an occasional audio series produced in collaboration with KVNF community radio in Paonia, Colorado, where the editors and writers of High Country News discuss stories about the American West and why they matter. Subscribe to the podcast on: Google Play, iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher.

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West Obsessed: Rural discontent feeds the desire for a 51st state

by Kate Schimel, High Country News
February 2, 2018

<h1>West Obsessed: Rural discontent feeds the desire for a 51st state</h1> <p class="byline">by Kate Schimel, High Country News <br />February 2, 2018</p> <p>In the latest episode of West Obsessed, <em>High Country News</em> editors discuss a zealous political movement — a push for a 51st state — born anew from resentment of California’s liberal “resistance” to Trump.</p> </p> <p><span><em>“West Obsessed” is an occasional audio series produced in collaboration with&nbsp;<a href="http://kvnf.org/" title="" target="_blank" class="external-link" rel="noopener">KVNF community radio</a>&nbsp;in Paonia, Colorado, where the editors and writers of </em>High Country News<em>&nbsp;discuss stories about the American West and why they matter. Subscribe to the podcast on:&nbsp;<span class="discreet"><a href="https://goo.gl/app/playmusic?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Id6g2cgtik4lfkfskikdxuy3ajq?t%3DHigh_Country_News%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" data-linktype="external" data-val="https://goo.gl/app/playmusic?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&amp;isi=691797987&amp;ius=googleplaymusic&amp;link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Id6g2cgtik4lfkfskikdxuy3ajq?t%3DHigh_Country_News%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Play</a>,&nbsp;</span><span class="discreet"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/highcountrynews/id1175014107?mt=2" target="_blank" data-linktype="external" data-val="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/highcountrynews/id1175014107?mt=2" rel="noopener">iTunes</a>,&nbsp;</span><span class="discreet"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/west-obsessed" data-linktype="external" data-val="https://soundcloud.com/west-obsessed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Soundcloud</a>,&nbsp;</span><span class="discreet"><a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=124020&amp;refid=stpr" target="_blank" data-linktype="external" data-val="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=124020&amp;refid=stpr" rel="noopener">Stitcher.</a></span></em></span></p> <p><span><em><em><span class="discreet"><br /> </span></em></em></span></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/articles/west-obsessed-rural-discontent-and-a-51st-state/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=98189&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/articles/west-obsessed-rural-discontent-and-a-51st-state/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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