Allow me to tag on here an account from a local Idahoan that has lived in Idaho much of their life. I am tagging this here because it gives a unique perspective. Keep in mind that the below is one person’s opinion and keep in mind that Doug doesn’t like people guessing at his motives. Fair enough, but that doesn’t make trying to figure out motives (what Doug calls Bulverism) automatically evil.
“Once upon a time, while my mother was growing up here, Idaho was a pretty obscure state (Idaho? Do people live in Idaho?) But during the 80s it became the area known for Richard Butler and his group. Things happened. A synagogue (that had recently moved here) was bombed (in retrospect I suspect that it was a ff) Idaho suddenly was portrayed as a haven for White supremacists. Adding insult to injury the population started being reported on as stupid, backwards rednecks (hilarious knowing my family’s history full of lawyers and professors). The richest (and most corrupt) man in town was a contemporary of my aunts and uncles. It’s an unspoken fact that he would resort to arson to get a property he wanted (his dad ran the newspaper). He despised the blue collar population and envisioned a wealthy resort town. So much so that he worked with the EPA and other government entities to shut down the local lumber mills and cripple the logging industry. Tried to annex my grandfather’s property because of the artesian well on it(lost that fight 
). In collusion with Boise papers they cast a spell over the psyche of the state. They became embarrassed of who they were and desperately wanted to appear ‘sophisticated’ and ‘forward thinking'(I saw glimpses of that in my mom). It became a knee jerk reaction to repudiate anything ‘racist’. ‘We’re not like that!’ became their cry to the point of hysteria. It’s a sickness that has infected especially the generational Idahoans. It’s imperative that this is their message. They had an influx of liberal yuppies move in in the 90s that stoked and fanned the flames of this paranoia. These are the people that Wilson is surrounded by and is trying to placate. He fears the scorn.
