America’s Becoming a Suicide Pact

How Do You Have a Functioning Democracy With…Red States?

Dave Dildine/WTOP

Right about now, America’s Red States are fast on their way to becoming…dystopias. “Open carry” laws have led to dramatic…wait for it…open…violence. Women are second class citizens. Basic freedoms are going up in smoke. Teachers are criminalized. Kids are demonized. The LGBTQ are smeared as groomers — and then attacked legislatively. Books, banned.

The fanatics have taken over.

What does the future hold for America’s Red States? I won’t mince words, it’s not going to be pretty, and it’s a warning to the world. A world which is turning to its own Red-State-America-style demagogues and fanatics for a measure of security in a troubled world. It’s — emphatically — not worth it.

What happens as Red States begin to erase modernity itself? As they become places that resemble “third world countries”? As their polities, hijacked by extremists, theocrats, lunatics, turn authoritarian? And they go on a crusade to simply annihilate anyone they regard as inferior, first rhetorically, then legislatively, and then by inciting and licensing maniacs with guns? Giving those kinds of people badges and titles? Perhaps you’ve already forgotten the last massacre. I haven’t.

The classical vicious cycle of self-inflicted ruin is what’s already beginning to happen.

There’s an open secret about Red States. They’re broke. They take in more from the federal government than they collect. That’s not true for every Red State…but it will be soon. The notable exceptions are, for example, Florida and Texas. And you can already see what’s happening there. Ron DeSantis has begun to politically attack…Disney. The State’s most historic employer. Disney just pulled out of a billion dollar investment package. Pretty simple, right?

7 of the 10 states most dependent on the federal government were Republican-voting, with the average red state receiving $1.05 per dollar spent.

The notable exceptions are, for example, Florida and Texas. And you can already see what’s happening there. Ron DeSantis has begun to politically attack…Disney. The State’s most historic employer. Disney just pulled out of a billion dollar investment package. Pretty simple, right?