Exemplified by the fact that we have started having free states again like during the civil war. The Maryland governor has been very clear and direct that the state of Maryland will take in political and social refugees from Florida and Texas. Where transpeople are being forced to die or pretend not to exist in Florida, Maryland is codifying their right to be and live as who they are.

You can't blame lefties and progressives for wanting to escape to freedom when their other option is death or hiding.

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I want conservatism to thrive. It does have a place in a healthy political system.

What place is that? Conservatism at it's core is about maintaining the aristocracy/hierarchy. That's what it started as, and it's never wavered from that mission. All of the claims towards 'conserving what is good' or 'fiscal responsibility' or 'protecting individual rights' are just that: claims. They have never acted in ways that would back those claims up unless their actions also helped maintain/promote the aristocracy. The rest is just noise and propaganda designed to make their positions sound palatable.

I don't see any place for that in a healthy political system.

The only way the red states will change is by getting worse and worse. They will have no doctors, teachers, nurses, lawyers, or corporations that will purposefully live or do their work there if they can help it. If you are a woman, a person of color, a migrant, an LGBTQ person, a child, or anything other than an old white man, the red states are no longer safe for you.

ah so if you're poor, taking care of loved ones, or otherwise unable to move, then your life is acceptable collateral damage? accelerationism has victims.

I wholeheartedly disagree. We need to wake up to a more refined political system. A two party system will not sustain a future. We are in a lull due to the previous 6 years being a total shit show.

However, a healthy political system represents the constituents. Our system represents the representatives. Europe has the right idea and has been doing it a lot longer. Having 12 candidates elected on merit makes the country more productive and satisfied with their choice.

Florida Republicans are working reeaally hard to kill their state's entire economy right now. Attacking Disney (the state's biggest employer) and undocumented immigrants (the backbone of the state's agricultural industry and a key part of the labor force for various others such as construction and hospitality), driving away teachers by taking away their right to actually teach, etc.

They don't care.

Drive through WV and let me know how much further it has to fall for them to get it.

Go to full red states and listen to them complain about issues that are 100% state legislature and governor issues. But they find a way to blame Obama, Biden, and still fucking cry about Clinton. Both of the Clintons.

The brainwashing is 100%

There are a good number of Okies on here and Mastodon. Welcome!

I actually think Oklahoma is a few years away from a blue tipping point, similar to the effect Denver has had on Colorado, where the urban majority has rapidly tipped things blue.

The awful superintendent is low key the best thing to ever happen to education here—there is a bubbling reaction even within the right to react to him and Stitt’s policies. And turning around education is the only thing needed to stop “blue” families from declining job offers here. Which would cascade the social landscape rapidly.

From a political perspective, moving to purple states (e.g. PA, GA, AZ, NV, NC, WI, MI) makes much more sense than sorting into blue and red states, which would give Republicans disproportionate power at all levels.

Yeah this article was interesting, but absolutely drenched in both-sides-ism. "I wanna be able to fly a thin blue line flag" doesn't compare with "I'm LGBTQ and fleeing for my life."

I’d care a lot more about that if I didn’t think the right would try to take power either way, by force if chicanery fails. Why sacrifice your family’s life for a pipe dream when you can shore up blue areas in case we need to secede instead? Your life will be better short-term, and the only way it won’t be better long term is if the fascism you’d have had to fight anyway wins.

The only reason some states are red is due to gerrymandering. Blue voters outnumber red voters by a large margin.

Lmao wut?

Yeah... living in a deep red state goes against every bit of my moral fiber. But I can't leave. I can only sit here, helplessly trying my best to vote for equal rights but then I see people are voting for red no matter what is at stake. The party system is trash and it needs to be gone.

That's what I did. Moved to AZ, which is a purple state, from CA. I joined a writing group here, and one member is an out gay conservative. No way could he have been that outspoken in a casual writing group in CA, he'd have been chased out.

As someone more on the liberal side of things in general, it's incredibly refreshing to be able to hold a good-natured conversation with him involved where he didn't feel worry or concern about discussing his ideas.

We have another lady in the group who writes hardcore far-left poetry, and those are always followed up by great conversations. She's nice and not condescending to the conservative guy.

I love being in a purple state, I wish more states were battleground states.