Always remember that we have to think beyond the “red states vs blue states” binary. There are so many people in those red states like Texas who strongly oppose the white reactionary regime that’s being installed there, and suffer greatly from these authoritarian policies.
https://twitter.com/jdavidgoodman/status/1498710608958611460
It’s not realistic to expect people to just move away. I’m sure a lot of young people, especially, will do exactly that. But it leaves those behind who aren’t able to uproot their entire existence – often precisely the people who will suffer most from white reactionary politics.
And even if, somehow, everyone who prefers multiracial, pluralistic democracy were to get out of these “red” states, leaving behind only those conservative white Christians who desire to be surrounded by people who reflect their own image back at them, it’d still be a disaster.
America is increasingly divided into a multiracial, pluralistic “blue” part that accepts the country’s changing social, cultural, and demographic realities vs. a white Christian nationalist “red” part that is led by people entirely devoted to rolling back those changes.
That situation is unsustainable. Stability can only be achieved by either overcoming reactionary minority rule - or through ever more authoritarian measures and increasingly violent oppression. As these abhorrent measures in Texas demonstrate, the Right has made its choice.
https://twitter.com/jdavidgoodman/status/1498710608958611460
A longer reflection on the state of U.S. politics, and why the accelerating assault on civil rights in “red states” constitutes an acute threat to “blue”-state democracy too, in this thread:
https://twitter.com/tzimmer_history/status/1498300912149975046
I want to be absolutely clear: When I say “America is increasingly divided,” that does *not* mean the problem is “division” or “polarization.” The problem is the anti-democratic radicalization of the Right, and the reactionary counter-mobilization against multiracial pluralism.
The solution, therefore, is not “unity.” Unity is good in a vacuum - but in the reality of U.S. history, unity politics has always stifled real political and social advancements. In our situation, we can prioritize unity, consensus, bipartisanship *or* democracy and civil rights.
Calls for unity or hoping that “they won’t go *that* far” won’t cut it. The reactionary counter-mobilization against civil rights and multiracial, pluralistic democracy is fully underway. It will either *be stopped* - or succeed in entrenching white Christian patriarchal rule.
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