An article in the New York Times discusses the possibility that Americans are starting to move to new locations based on their political opinions.
The in-migration has fueled a yearslong real estate boom across South Carolina, where Republicans have controlled the governor’s mansion and legislature for more than two decades. Real estate agents like Ms. Hubbell say many of their clients are religious conservatives whose reasons for moving include opposition to policies like abortion access, support for transgender rights and vaccine mandates during the pandemic.Paul Chabot, the founder and president of Conservative Move, which works with about 500 agents across the country, said that when he started his company in 2017, there were not a lot of people asking to go to South Carolina.In the last two years, however, it has joined Texas and Florida among the top three states that the company’s clients are buying homes in, Mr. Chabot said. About 5,000 people in its clientele database have expressed interest in moving to South Carolina soon...Last year, about 15,500 New Yorkers, 15,000 Californians and 36,000 North Carolinians moved to the state, which has a population of more than 5.3 million. There is no data that breaks down those demographics by political party, but few believe that the growth will do much to shift the state politically. The same cannot be said for Texas, Georgia and North Carolina, which are becoming somewhat more blue as young, liberal-leaning people flock to some of their cities, said Mark Owens, a political science professor at the Citadel in Charleston...Ms. Gomes, who described herself as Christian and anti-abortion, said she felt compelled to leave [Minnesota] because she was getting yelled at in grocery stores for not wearing a mask during the pandemic, and because abortion remains legal, with no restrictions, in Minnesota. She said she was also worried about how, in her view, “transgenderism infiltrates all aspects of education, public life, when you’re out and about” in Minnesota.
Looking forward to comments from Crowboy and others...
You know, I've got a trans kid, and I don't think about trans people as much as conservatives do. They're obsessed.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just a coincidence that conservatives started to focus so strongly on transgender people after losing the Obergefell decision.
DeleteAnd shooting themselves in the foot with Dobbs.
Deletesaid she felt compelled to leave [Minnesota] because she was getting yelled at in grocery stores for not wearing a mask during the pandemic
ReplyDeleteSad to see that the yelling worked. You'd want reason to work. But I guess that already failed.
I note that article does not talk about movement in the other direction. I know several women that refuse to even travel to the south because they like their human rights.
You may know I hang in the DC area. NoVA does not really count as the south, both sides agree on that. Then where does the south start? Well, that's easy, it's demarked by giant Confederate flags the size that a car dealership would get excited about. There's one on I-66 towards Front Royal (I think around the Paris exit but I might be a few off), one on US-29 near Culpepper, and one on I-95, but the closest one past the Quantico Marine Base was recently taken down, but now there's one a bit south of there.
https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/confederate-flag-over-i-95-in-stafford-comes-down-for-good/article_168bb760-197c-11eb-a977-cf62adccf160.html
https://wjla.com/news/local/flag-ordinance-stafford-county
Here's the proud organization managing the flags.
https://ultimateflags.com/confederate/what-happened-to-the-chester-i-95-flag/
And further down, in NC near a giant army base, that was until recently called after a Confederate loser (no seriously, Bragg was an idiot).
https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2020/09/17/confederate-flag-flies-again-off-95-cumberland-county/5819868002/
As a comparison, Napoleon occupied the Netherlands for 18 years, yet no one, NO ONE, ever, EVER considers flying a French flag to honor the heritage of their family helping out in the good ol' Napoleonic days. And that while Napoleon did so much good for the Netherlands. He started the resident registration (very handy when the Nazis were looking for Jews later on), he made us the Kingdom that we still are, etc etc etc. The Spaniards even occupied us for a good century and a half. Again, even though the current royal families are very close, we do NOT fly the Spanish flag 'to honor the King of Spain' - even though that is the last line of our national anthem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmus
Napoleon and the Spanish were foreign invaders, and when they were gone there was nobody to raise their flag. The US (un)Civil War on the other hand, when it ended everyone was still here, no other place to go back to.
ReplyDeleteThere are some very noticeable differences of culture in various regions of this country. Apparently to some that confederate flag represents their right to be different, to defend their uniqueness.
George Wallace standing in the school doorway wasn't that long ago.
xoxoxoBruce
I wouldn't even *travel* to the South-East if I could at all help it.
ReplyDeleteWow, why are the blue states leaving for the red states?
ReplyDeleteIf people want to leave blue states they're free to do so, unlike some red states that want to make it a crime to go to other states to get necessary services.
DeleteYou're really really in love with that bigot. I guess I should stop visiting this blog. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteBoth sidesing people who just want to be allowed to safely exist with being allowed to deny people basic rights because of their inborn characteristics is not a good look. But by all means, encourage a guy who wants everyone to know that discrimination doesn't actually exist, and whose every comment is an attack on marginalized people. Drive off marginalized readers and the people who care about them for the sake of "healthy debate" about people's humanity.
“Of all the blogs in all the websites in all the world, you walk into mine.” There are thousands of blogs out there; I hope you find one that suits your worldview.
Deleteon one hand, it’s an interesting curio how this is framed the other way round from the way i’ve heard it more often: people fleeing red states for how their oppressive lawmaking would impact their life and livelihood.
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, this reverse framing, letting it stand like that, has a way of conflating two things:
1. people fleeing red states because of increasing oppression and erosion of their rights as humans (women fleeing to blue states post the roe-wade repeal, trans folks & families with trans kids fleeing states that forbid treating them according to their needs, and everybody with kids leaving states that forbid education based on reality & fact in favour of christo-fascist indoctrination)
2. people choosing to move from blue states because their co-citizens aren’t getting as oppressed as they’d wish for them to be, or even dare to voice opposition to bigotry.
and i’m not really a fan of that notion.
"she felt compelled to leave [Minnesota] because she was getting yelled at in grocery stores for not wearing a mask during the pandemic"
ReplyDeleteAnd deservedly so.
consider Wyoming. currently has some 450,000 voting age residents. 57% affiliate with GOP. Imagine if there developed an appealing plan that enticed 175,000 Democratic voters to move into the state. in 6 years, this could flip 2 senators & 1 Congressperson... as well as the state government. then on to Alaska. perhaps prompting a revisit to the 435 member US House of reps 1920 era cap.
ReplyDelete