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291
Cut the Failed Red States Loose: Why America Can't Keep Carrying the Dead Weight (cmarmitage.substack.com)
submitted 2 days ago by IndridCold@lemmy.ca to c/politics@lemmy.world
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[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 6 points 5 hours ago

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.

[–] KelvarCherry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 15 hours ago

This is exactly what the billionaires buying up all this farmland want. Cut the red states loose, then Amazon/Microsoft/Alphabet/etc sweep in and establish company ~~towns~~ nations.

[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 16 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

I would never forgive this country if it abandoned me.

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Haven’t they already?

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 6 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

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)

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 1 points 10 hours ago

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

[–] AquaTofana@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

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.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've got bad news: the oligarchs run the blue states as well. California gave us Palantir and X. Peter Thiel advocates for this exact same thing for fuck sake.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

They're the ones who benefit from stories or headlines like this.

As long as we think we're an "us versus them" across state lines, we're ignoring the fact that we're all under one management team, the wealthy assholes and deranged morons with all the money who play games with civilization like it's a game of... civilization.

[–] Juice@midwest.social 14 points 1 day ago

Pure psychopath shit.

[–] buzz86us@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I agree sell them off to Mexico if were going to run the US like a business let's run it like private equity. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

why would Mexico take on bad debt?

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 22 hours ago

Might encourage them to build that wall after all.

[–] tempest@lemmy.ca 1 points 23 hours ago

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.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 46 points 1 day ago (4 children)

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.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The decent people can always get help to be resettled to civilization.

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

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?

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[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 67 points 2 days ago (9 children)

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.

[–] bagsy@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (9 children)

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.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

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.

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[–] WatDabney@lemmy.dbzer0.com 89 points 2 days ago (17 children)

Yes.

They're hyperfocused on states rights. Fine. Here's the thing though - with rights come responsibilities. One can't claim the right to make one's own decisions, then dodge the responsibility for those decisions.

They.make their choices, they have to deal with the consequences themselves.

So they can grow the fuck up and join the modern world, or they can just wallow in their ignorance and incompetence. It's their problem - not ours.

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[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 51 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

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

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