this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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“One thing we have really found is a place to feel comfortable being ourselves,” Dean said. Americans are segregating by their politics at a rapid clip, helping fuel the greatest divide between the states in modern history.

One party controls the entire legislature in all but two states. In 28 states, the party in control has a supermajority in at least one legislative chamber — which means the majority party has so many lawmakers that they can override a governor’s veto. Not that that would be necessary in most cases, as only 10 states have governors of different parties than the one that controls the legislature

This can only end badly as conservatives seem to have no problem ruling over land in empty states.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Seeing the real harm caused by recent legislation in states like Florida, I'm not convinced this effect isn't mostly women and POC actively fleeing red states.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I'm fleeing Florida with my partner because we're not safe here anymore. I'm riding out the lease here while she finds a place out of state where she can get her hormones and we won't get hate crimed. ffs, I'd been to Pulse the week before the shooting and the sociopolitical climate has only gotten worse with the current legislation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We're trying to get my s/o and her kid out of Florida but her ex husband is kind of a shitbag and purposefully avoiding family court to keep her locked there. It's straight up awful. We're already on a like 10 month wait for this process.

There's also a really good chance she gets locked there for custody for the next decade. Which sucks because she absolutely needs medical care for her bits and bobs and Florida is actively fighting her on it because they're close to abortions in their nature. Several doctors giving her the run around for endo treatment and such.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

All the best to both of you, it's a shit situation all around. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to find a doctor willing to give me a hysterectomy; she says the number of those surgeries have skyrocketed (bisalps/tubals too) because none of us are sure just how much worse this is going to get.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

And red states are also the ones suppressing blue votes as well. That's the only reason GOP win any presidential elections, or probably federal elections in general.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I agree it's not great, but red states are actively persecuting minorities. Why would a minority willingly stay in a red state at this point? And if you're an ally or liberal or whatever and see what's happening clearly, why would you stay and be a part of it?

Polarization is the logical outcome of Republican policies.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It’s an interesting dilemma. As one example, I feel a tinge of regret that two blue votes are leaving Texas when my partner and I leave. On the other, which of us are obligated to stay and sacrifice personal security or comfort for an uncertain political “battle”?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly? We should cut them off.

All these red states rely on blue states for their money. They literally couldn't afford to have roads and schools if it wasn't for federal funding paid for by states with healthier economies and more liberal policies (no coincidence).

So let's take their fucking money. They want to drive the country into the dirt? Let them pay their own way and we'll sit in our relatively progressive bubbles until they realize they do, in fact, need us.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

100% agreed, not sure why we're subsidizing an entire third world country stapled to America that wants to drag us back to the dark ages and use our own money to do so.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've contacted my state level Democratic party representatives! You should too! If enough people bring the idea forward, maybe they'll use it!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the US will break up like the USSR in my lifetime.

It's going to be messy, and there's going to be some serious consequences for certain states that wanted to control their own laws based on Church/Hate despite being completely unable to go it alone economically.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s gonna be that or fascism for everyone, so I’ll take the messy breakup.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Considering how things are going here in Urop, unfortunately I think fascism for everyone is what's going to happen in the coming decades. Ask yourself how easy it will be to get rid of fascist dictatorships that have panopticon-level surveillance capabilities and far reaching control of the media landscape including traditional media and the Internet

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Conservatives want to eradicate anyone that isn't Straight, White, and Christian, so why would I ever move to a red state if I'm not in that group?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Built with zero regulations so it falls apart in two years.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You mean land that is cheap because, by definition, people don’t want to live there? Blue areas aren’t expensive because of failed policies, they’re expensive because successful policies (in the context of liberal capitalism) make them highly coveted locations, and housing markets follow that supply and demand thing of which capitalists are so fond.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Right? I just want to live around people I’m not certain would shoot me if there were no consequences.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This offhand comment that was quoted in the article is really unsettling:

“Here, the tax dollars naturally goes to the citizens, not the immigrants,”

This isn't a conservative vs liberal policy thing, this is more insidious. This person's worldview subconsciously classes "citizens" and "immigrants" as mutually exclusive groups. There's "us, who were here before and belong here", and "them, who came here from somewhere else and shouldn't receive the benefits of our government". It seems like it wasn't long ago that the dominant left-vs-right conversations I observed were mostly discussions about economic and foreign policy where both sides had reasonable points and compromise was possible, but this isn't that. This ideological divide built on religion, xenophobia, nationalism, etc. can't end well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It won't. Sometimes it feels like some people have been reading certain dystopian science fiction and alternate history novels and stories as if they were a blueprint instead of a warning.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

"Us vs. Them" has been standard-issue fascism for a long time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Splitting us up is the goal, divide and conquer. It's one thing to hate your queer neighbor, it's so much worse when you can point to another geographic region of "queers coming to harm your children" that military force can be used against. The separation is for two reasons, one is to help hold on to senate power by getting blue voters out to make sure red states don't turn blue or purple, the other I think is to prepare for war and make war more likely, separating the sides. Civil war is hard when everyone is mixed up.

We've seen what "conservatives' do when they have power, they literally owned other humans, chattel slavery. We've seen what the goals of the military industrial complex (arguably the most powerful industry), more war,everywhere. Giving these groups the benefit of the doubt is dumb and will lead to real bad things.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I used to be able to tell myself that I was okay living in Montana. We were "conservative" but not "Conservative". We had democrats in the Senate and as governor.

But now the things that conservatives claimed they stood for no longer matter. They used to say that they wanted to be left alone. It's why you see so many unironic no step on snek license plates up here.

Even here, where we have a fantastic drag scene and (in the larger areas) a "do not fuck with one of us no matter their orientation or identity" vibe; we're seeing the GOP mind virus take hold.

At our last Pride gathering we had out and open white supremacists begging us to attack them. Our city soccer league has had an, everybody is welcome no matter what, policy. We almost had to cancel this year because our insurance doubled after a single sick bastard took issue with out having three transitioned players. He threatened to come back with his buddies after we confronted him. We still had to file a police report.

And it's not even the majority of ruralites! Both of the incidents I described were Idahoans coming here to stir shit up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The article mentions the types of people who left these states, but I am more interested in the economic activity in the years to come with all this movement. This is a classic example of people voting with their feet. Reagan spoke of this stuff back in the 80s.

[...] this is one of the—the built-in guarantee of freedom is our federalism that makes us so unique, and that is the right of the citizen to vote with his feet. If a State is badly managed, the people will either do one of two things: They will either use their power at the polls to redress that, or they'll go someplace else. And we've seen industries driven out of some States by adverse tax policies and so forth. - Ronald Reagan, November 19, 1981

We have yet to see how all this movement will impact the individual states themselves or the country as a whole yet. For example, we do not know how all this will all play out economically for the red/blue states. COVID mixed with Remote Work has upended a lot of the soft lines that kept people within a state to begin with (for many, but not all). Truly wild times we are in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Actually, West Virginia might well be an example. They have been facing brain drain for a generation (if not more), and it's affected the economy to such a degree that WV will regularly offer raw cash to people moving in. Nevermind that they won't spend that money on their own services...

I'm not educated enough to speak to causes. Anecdotally, though, everyone I know from college left or is trying to leave because it's dangerous to be there if you're queer. That sort of privilege only comes with money, though, so if that anecdote means anything than their highest earning queers and allies are fleeing the state.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm planning on moving my family out of Texas. It's not safe to be a woman here and I can't put my kids through public education that is being systematically dismantled by underfunding, book bans, and restrictive curriculum.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The new kind of lead poisoning

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Had to escape Florida for the safety of my partner and myself. She couldn't even get her hormones anymore.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it’s wrong to frame it is a “can’t we all get along thing”. People are moving for health, safety and general well-being.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It would be ideal if blue cities in red states seceded and formed their own 51st state of free cities. The rural voter oriented laws which emerge from state governments impede the right of city citizens to the pursuit of Happiness.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The Urban Archipelago Republic

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