Secessionists are dangerous and malicious
This is simply what the red states want and it will not improve your lives but leave us with highly dangerous neighbors and a completely destroyed society
Do not fall for this shit
and plays exactly into what Putin wants, to weaken the US even further.
No country can last forever, renewal is just as important for governments as forest fires are to restoring the balance in nature.
Is it painful? Yes.
Is it necessary eventually? Also yes.
So basically what we already have
Do you think it can’t get much much worse?
deleted by creator
Review “soft secession”.
Would be useful if those fed dollars the author is decrying was much more than military jobs and general entitlements like ag grants, Medicaid, and SNAP. Like yeah, their legislators don’t care about those folks either. But we ain’t exactly pulling a TVA anymore here so playing like neolib Clinton era bare minimum spending on poverty is a grand handout is pretty silly. For the most part nobody in the South or the Rust belt has gotten shit post NAFTA. The new deal has been dead for a long time but we’re sure they owe us for managing poverty.
Article author doesn’t actually elaborate on what they mean precisely by “cut them loose” but from context it seems to be cut off all their federal funding.
Not even sure how you’d do that to be honest - even Trump’s admin has struggled to legally withhold federal funds from states he hates, the funding gets pushed through in the end by legal action. So you wanna out-crime Trump? Dumb article.
If the author wants to make bold demands then along with that comes the requirement of suggesting how to achieve them, else it’s just performative whining.
I’ve said it before, but we need to start shutting down all these miniscule towns that have no reason for existing. They are nothing but an economic and social drain on the country.
Kick someone out of their home because they aren’t profitable enough wtf?
Hey, if they want to stay when the water, electric, sewage, roads, fire department, police, and all other publicly subsidized services are removed they are welcome to it. We all shouldn’t have to pay because a handful of people can’t adjust to the century they live in.
Uoj going to pay for my housing? How will your state handle the refugee crisis?
It would be more economical to pay for people to relocate and train them for new jobs. There’s plenty of room in cities and suburbs for the displaced. To be clear, I’m not talking about getting rid of towns of 5000; I’m talking about towns of a population of 500 or less.
I would never forgive this country if it abandoned me.
Haven’t they already?
The headline alone tells me this is bad-faith drivel, either meant to inflame tensions or to pander to the unrealistic “leftists” who think we’ll have our glorious revolution aaaannnyyy day now.
The country is not “divorcing” we are nowhere close to a “civil war” and there will be a tomorrow. And a day after. And a day after that.
We can start pushing the pendulum back the other direction on the momentum of whatever the latest scandal is, we can have grass-roots campaigns for people who represent us, we can be more social and more active, we can plant gardens and donate to food banks and attend city council meetings. The whole thing goes on.
Do not trust or even believe headlines that inflame tensions or make things worse. We can work harder to make sure nobody is getting abandoned. We had huge setbacks but over the long arc of history, we are still making progress.
but also… they’re arguing for small government. maybe y’all should start pushing in the same direction: make the federal government smaller, keep your blue state tax money, stop giving them as much… it’s what they want after all
and then use that money to form blue state coalitions: form a new, voluntary CDC, FDA, etc between aligned states that are far more robust than what you’ve been able to achieve with republican bad faith tampering
kinda like the EU model, but less central
(and if you didn’t see my instance, i’m aussie so i don’t really get a say, and nobody should let me influence anything - im not a citizen and i don’t live there or have to deal with as many consequences - unless you legitimately agree)
What you’re describing is exactly what I said will happen down the road as the states start making wars of redistricting. When states here like Texas gerrymandered their districts they are basically saying “only the red/republicans get representation.” It invalidates the constitution to some degree. But it also creates such an unfair advantage when trying to pass national policy that the only possible choice is for another state to do the same to balance seats in federal government. Then if they respond in another red state and do the same, well now this is just a slide until every state is one solid color or another and parties are meaningless. Representation is meaningless. At that point, like-colored states are just going to start forming coalitions and negotiating or reducing federal contributions and doing their own trading, their own new systems of representation between them, and so on. At some point, every region or power bloc will have it’s own international policies and defense forces.
At that point, Washington DC is just for show, for ceremony and rivalry and making trade deals and hurling shit at other regions. Some say it’s already like that, but we still do have a working and vastly complex federal/state relationship.
It isn’t wrong per-say for all this to happen this way, but a lot of people here want the USA to continue, it was an effective system for a long time. It will never just “go away” entirely, but many people feel like the erosion is beginning, or accelerating with events of the last decade or so. Losing a cohesive USA could be very destabilizing. Not because I’m under any illusion that the USA preserves order, but because some of the power-blocs that arise from the division may be very dangerous.
i think it’s certainly possible that it could start down that path, and it’ll become blatantly obvious that trickle down economics, “socialism is evil”, anti-intellectual crap that the red states bow at the alter of is a huge reason for their suffering and they’ll want to join those coalitions, but those coalitions will have years if not decades of policy on their side to make sure they aren’t overrun with the same ideas
could the process then just start over again? perhaps… it could just be a property of the system
As someone who lived in Texas for a decade, I was fully prepared for the US to abandon me after we voted in Greg Abbott again. Gubnatorial elections are popular vote elections not affected by Gerrymandering. We didn’t even have THAT excuse.
That being said, I always said that the rest of the US should cut off everything Oklahome going South and Texas going East as long as they offered a refugee program for those of us not batshit insane.
The only thing that would suck would be leaving behind the kiddos who dont have a say in where their crazy ass parents choose to live.
So. NO. This is what we are fighting against. We need to make a society where everyone can be included, happy, heallthy, and free. Not just exclude those we don’t currently agree with.
Many of these hard core MAGA people are like super fans of a sports team. They are looking for something to identify as and a group to be part of. Give them better options and they wouldn’t exist.
Give them better options and they wouldn’t exist.
Straight up bullshit. They’ve been given better options over and over. They are small, hateful people.
There are several sets of people involved. First you have the ambitious. These are poloticians and such that probably aren’t really racist at the core, but are willing to act and be racist to get ahead. They are the real problem. But it isn’t hate that drives them. It’s ambition. For the people suffering, that doesn’t matter. But when it comes to solving the problem it does.
Then you have the people who are actually racist, hateful people. They do exist, but they are actually a very small minority. The rest are “followers”. They weren’t racist until someone convinced them to be. These are the people you can give better options to. Doing so errodes the power of the other two groups.
They do exist, but they are actually a very small minority. The rest are “followers”. They weren’t racist until someone convinced them to be.
far too apologetic of racists.
Not apologizing for anyone. No one is born racist. Someone or some people convince them to be. That’s just a fact. Not very controversial really.
Nope, fuck maga. i have no sympathy for nazis. they want to hate everything and everyone, let them be miserable in their little hate worlds.
You realize you think like them and they think like you, right? Dehumanizing someone unequivocally and wishing ill upon them is the easy and default human condition you find yourself living in right now.
Ah, the age-old dilemma: is it morally sound and/or necessary to dehumanize dehumanizers?
And if we’re honest, isn’t dehumanizing people a very human trait?
Or put my favorite way: “No one hates like family.”
i do realize that and it weighs on me, and i hate it, but i refuse to tolerate intolerance.
I am fully willing to have rational conversations with maga, but after trying 100s of times and making no progress, i see no reason to continue with the olive branch. i would have better luck teaching my dog mandrin, than making maga see reason or have empathy.
It’s a fascinating social construct: Once enough chronological years are accumulated, expertise is expected. Obviously though, points at everything, that’s a fallacy. They’re literally clinically retarded. It’s uncouthe to fight the retarded.
Exactly. Some of these people are literally our fucking parents, and even they refuse to listen to reason.
They are lost.
Historically, the mongers of violence and war have only been ended by stronger violence and better war strategies and resources. The whole take the higher road and tolerance thing is what got America into this current mess in the first place. These assholes are cowards and only come out when there are no consequences, but go back into hiding when there are.
People should not be punched in the nose for their race, religion, sexuality, gender, etc., basically who they are. People should be punched in the noise for being assholes, their bad behaviour.
There are several sets of people involved. First you have the ambitious. These are poloticians and such that probably aren’t really racist at the core, but are willing to act and be racist to get ahead. They are the real problem. But it isn’t hate that drives them. It’s ambition. For the people suffering, that doesn’t matter. But when it comes to solving the problem it does.
Then you have the people who are actually racist, hateful people. They do exist, but they are actually a very small minority. The rest are “followers”. They weren’t racist until someone convinced them to be. These are the people you can give better options to. Doing so errodes the power of the other two groups.
But where we are now… I feel like you might be right about a need for responding in kind. But, while doing so, remembering that overall, the follower group is not an enemy that should be eradicated, but one that showed be turned to a better side. So it’s kind of like making sure you don’t box them in and give them no way out but to fight. You need the followers to join you while you overpower the other two groups. And after, you need to make sure the followers have better options so that they don’t join up with the next popularist to appear.
I didn’t see any dehumanization in the comment you’re replying to
There are several sets of people involved. First you have the ambitious. These are politicians and such that probably aren’t really racist at the core, but are willing to act and be racist to get ahead. They are the real problem. But it isn’t hate that drives them. It’s ambition. For the people suffering, that doesn’t matter. But when it comes to solving the problem it does.
Then you have the people who are actually racist, hateful people. They do exist, but they are actually a very small minority. The rest are “followers”. They weren’t racist until someone convinced them to be. These are the people you can give better options to. Doing so errodes the power of the other two groups.
I have no sympathy for the two groups that aren’t the followers.
The problem is that you can’t separate most of MAGA from the hate. If a black person in Mississippi benefits from a federal state service, that cannot be tolerated, even if many whites benefit as well.
It’s more important to protect a non-viable embryo, according to these people, than to protect the mother’s life or health.
I feel like King Theoden from LotR, who says “What can men do against such reckless hate?” Though, it’s valid to substitute “hatred” with “stupidity”
There are several sets of people involved. First you have the ambitious. These are poloticians and such that probably aren’t really racist at the core, but are willing to act and be racist to get ahead. They are the real problem. But it isn’t hate that drives them. It’s ambition. For the people suffering, that doesn’t matter. But when it comes to solving the problem it does.
Then you have the people who are actually racist, hateful people. They do exist, but they are actually a very small minority. The rest are “followers”. They weren’t racist until someone convinced them to be. These are the people you can give better options to. Doing so errodes the power of the other two groups.
These followers aren’t being told black and white. They are be told lazy, or criminal. And when the ambitious people shut services, they don’t mention the “good” people who benefit, they only mention the bad people. So often followers don’t even know who is really losing out. The news is full of trump supporters who are unhappy that a local to them person they knew got picked up by ICE. That’s because they believed the propaganda that it would only be violent illegal immigrants and such. Some were just fooled. But a lot just idolize trump because he filled a place in thier life that was empty. Give them something better, and they won’t idolize him. And idolization causes a lot of people to believe illogical things.
That is all true and yet we still need to offer better options than a civil war.
Billionaire Burgers?
Shareholder Shortribs?
Capitalist Casserole?
Sufficient hate or stupidity, is indistinguishable from the other.
No. They’re part of our country, and the only reason that they’re “dead weight” is that the GOP lied to and propagandized their citizens for long enough to extract essentially all the capital out of the land and the people. Now they don’t have enough to keep going on their own, and they’re only as good to the Republicans as their electoral votes.
We have to keep them—that was part of the deal from the beginning, and it’s the right thing to do—but we have to fight back against the propaganda so that the citizens can see what they could be without the GOP.
Cut the Failed
RedStates LooseFailed and red basically are synonymous here
I meant the nation, in its entirety.
They love secession so much.
They love Jesus so much.
Let them have both.
The West Coast and the North East states need to leave these useless bloodsuckers behind.
These “useless bloodsuckers” aren’t the problem. The “problem class” is everyone with a 7-figure income.
I agree sell them off to Mexico if were going to run the US like a business let’s run it like private equity. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
why would Mexico take on bad debt?
Might encourage them to build that wall after all.
Presumably it would actually be worth it for them.
They would provide Mexican level services to the new Mexicans which is presumably lower than the current services they receive suckling at the teat of the federal government.
Never surrender a square inch of territory to those scumbags. Those states are ruled by corrupt, anti-democracy elites, and the decent people there deserve a chance, not to be written off.
The decent people can always get help to be resettled to civilization.
Care to elaborate on what you mean by that? Are you going to help pay the relocation expenses of left-leaning voters in red states?
The “decent” people in those states keep voting for this
I didn’t.
Then you’re a decent person.
I’m talking about the “decent” people who are actually just dickheads
I fact checked the ratios of federal spending to federal tax receipts, for the three states mentioned in the substack. https://smartasset.com/data-studies/states-most-dependent-on-the-federal-government-2022
Could I have help with more fact checking? The reasoning is sound, but I’ve been burnt before by poorly sourced opinion pieces
Pure psychopath shit.
I don’t know why they gotta show that photo. I see opportunity there. A good neighborhood is one where I can take my welder and grinder to the backyard and do whatever the whole day and nobody is bothered by the noise. Not that they accept the noise but that they live far enough from me to not hear or be bothered by the noise. If you can do that, that’s a good engineering neighborhood.
Disagree. A better neighborhood would have much denser, often multi family housing. But provide actual proper workshop spaces for that sort of thing so not to disturb the neighborhood. Suburbia and exurbia are two of the most corrosive societal forces.
Disagree. Different people like different things. Both high density and low density should exist. The goal should be happy people.
I don’t disagree. It’s just that suburbia can’t continue to exist. If you can dig your own well and are going to provide your own power, et cetera, more power to you. Bua lot of places like that. Where there’s little opportunity, and far too much resources invested in minimally used infrastructure. Are unsustainable as they currently exist.
But nobody you was talking about suburbia. The guy above was discussing rural living, not suburban
Exurbia, I didn’t repeat the term and that tripped you up. Suburbia, exurbia/rural areas especially. Where you have to run miles of wire or pipe to service three or four people. Completely unsustainable.
Miles of wire is easy and low maintenance. Miles of pipes doesn’t make sense, but water is also not hard to localize. Miles of stroads is what defines suburbia. A rural highway with a driveway every 2-3 miles defines rural living and it’s perfectly sustainable. It would be better if the rural hubs were connected to cities via railroads, like they used to be, but still they aren’t too bad as is.
I live near some of these areas. The seat of the county I am in is largely one of those areas. My uncle lived directly in it. Both were massive issues. And a significant portion of county resources go to trying to maintain it. Conversely our area being much more urban and closer ties to the nearby city gets very little in the way of county funds or assistance. If it wasn’t for the end of the county near the city, the county overall would much more resemble something like West Virginia. You go much farther north, the roads all became two lanesat most. And you have to dodge horse apples and the carts of menonites. Which isn’t a dig at the menonites. They’re actually self-sufficient and don’t get much help from the county either.
Agreed. I lived in a small town and hated it. I need the buzz of a city, the opportunities, always things happening.
Also, in a big city you can find groups of people to fit with your identity however niche you are. In a small town it’s the opposite, you have to adapt yourself to them to fit in, they are very monocultural. I can’t do that.
