What’s going to happen if we let certain states leave the union is that some of us are going to be brutalized pretty bad. That’s it. None of us will be able to “get out” because they want to punish those of us who don’t want to live in their backwards Christian white ethnostate. And if you think that they just want “their own country”, you’re missing the bigger picture that they want the whole country. Can a break away territory win in a way against the US military? No. But it will make the first American civil war look like a fucking picnic.
And yes just cutting off states like Texas economically means that any sort of enforcement of federal law is off the table, opening up millions of Americans to the same thing as partition. It’s the same damn thing. Red or purple states is exactly where the fight for our country is happening. It’s not in the blue states with a red minority. It’s in the Red states with blue cities. It’s always been here.
So, please stop trying to throw all of us who live here to the wolves. It’s bullshit, which I suspect you already know.
it’s also worth noting that lgbtq kids are born all the time. even if we could give texas conservatives their cis het ayran fantasy land, it wouldn’t stay that way for long
This whole topic of conversation is eerily timely. Yesterday my German “mom” emailed me pictures of her visa from when she got herself and her two young daughters out of the DDR 32 years ago today.
She had been a political activist and knew her daughters wouldn’t be able to attend gymnasium and get on track for university because of her political affiliations.
She was terrorized by government agents in the months leading up to her departure. One even threw a brick through her apartment window, which smashed, while her younger daughter was playing on the floor.
So, in more current discussions, while I agree that those of us who can stay and fight should do so, I do not judge anyone harshly for getting themselves and their families to safety.
I don’t either. What I object to is OTHERS who live in blue states where they believe themselves safe deciding it’s easier to just give the fascists some land that millions of non-fascists (and in many cases, targets of fascists) are living on. People who believe we can just give them yet another inch and they won’t try to take the whole country are ignoring the reality. To further the example of your brave German “mother”, the Stasi were never satisfied if an individual confessed to their “crimes”, but they wanted names of others. The current authoritarian movement that has now fully hijacked the GOP don’t just want the south, the want the whole country, because they believe that they are the only “real” Americans. It does not stop at Texas, Mississippi, and GA… it’s a movement bent on complete domination of the current US footprint.
I’ve said this before here and I’ll say it again: the path forward is not to give quarter, but to fight for every inch of this country. That means frontline work in red states. It means standing up for what’s right and standing up to these bullies.
Yeah. That attitude can just fuck right off into the sunset.
I mentioned the thing about not judging too harshly only because in my impetuous youth I did used to judge that stuff kind of harshly.
I’ve been thinking about your comment for a while, trying to figure out how to respond to it.
My proposal to repurpose federal support money to the relocation of ideological reugees from Texas was fundamentally unserious, but the anger and frustration behind it aren’t. American right-wing extremists are methodically subverting our institutions and building the Christian ethnostate that you describe in plain view, while the people with the power to check them are deluding themselves that reason and good faith bargaining are tools that still remain in their toolbox.
@TornPaperNapkin says that it’s a terrifying time to live in Texas, I’d go further and say it’s a terrifying time to live in the US. I don’t feel safe here in my blue state, far from it. I’m watching what’s happening in Texas and Florida and Georgia and wondering what it will look like when it happens in Massachusetts. I’m looking sideways at my neighbors, wondering which ones will arrive on my doorstep leading a jolly party of concerned Christian citizens. I’m worrying about the intersectional members of my family and what this all means for them.
I know that I’m supposed to believe in organizing and standing up and voting and the process, but I feel like the Democrats are only now waking up to the fact that they’re in a fight for the future of the country with the GOP boot already bearing down on their collective neck.
I’m angry, and I’m afraid. I’m angry because I’m afraid. I’m afraid that we’re out of time and I’m angry because I have no idea what to do next.
And I would pay good fucking money to see someone land a solid right-cross on what passes for Mitch McConell’s chin.
That’s probably because you’re paying attention to how widespread this problem is. Others have not been paying as close attention, I’m afraid, and still are under the impression it’s a “southern problem” or a “flyover state problem” rather than an American one.
We should all be concerned about that… or maybe our family members turning us in as “marxists”… or whatever.
I agree with that assessment. Some people been sounding this alarm for years, but too many comfortable middle class democratic voters have not felt the direct impact of these extremist politics creeping into the GOP discourse or have dismissed it as a “southern” problem or a extremist problem, rather than what it is - an extremist take over of one of the major political parties.
I know it feels that way, but more democratic voters are finally waking up and becoming more proactive. More progressives are joining the party and pushing for a solution to this problem. For far too long, they’ve been willing to give into the GOP in the name of “bipartisanship” when the GOP has no interests in being bipartisan. But people are understanding that better now than they did a few years ago even. It seems like we’re out of time, but we’re not, I’d argue. There are starting to be some consequences for these authoritarian jerks - on a small scale (the insurrectionists getting arrested) and for the bigger fish too. We have to keep pushing our democratic representatives to keep at it and to pass a voting rights bill.
You and probably almost everyone else. I don’t even think most of his party like the guy.
I know it’s scary and frustrating. I do know. I feel that too. But these bullies need to be stood up to or else they get their way.
If the news that Manchin is making literally millions of dollars off of coal production while blocking legislation that would phase out coal production, and that his daughter is a big pharma board member while he blocks Medicare from negotiating drug prices isn’t enough to shame him into behaving, I’m not sure there’s anything that will.
There is a rather organized effort to primary Sinema at this point, which I hope is putting pressure on her to do something rather than just gum up the works. Manchin is a tougher problem as he is well entrenched in a rather red state.
Right? All sorts of shit is coming out about that. The danger is that he gets primaried by a more progressive candidate and the seat flips red.
Might be time to look at either flipping a seat in another state (like we did here in GA) or to give DC and Puerto Rico statehood to increase the number of senators.
For just one example look how close the GOP recently came to installing a Republican Governor in “blue” California, who would be in a position to hand the Senate back to the Republicans if 88-year-old Dianne Feinstein has to step down for health reasons. The only reason that plan didn’t work is because Republicans couldn’t manage to find an even remotely charismatic candidate this time.
You idiot fucker, putting her in danger, i am sure, feeling like you “owned her liberal ass” and smuggly calling her “unreasonable.” The fact the this asshat shares my profession is deeply embarrassing.
