Newsline

National Security , Newsline

Let’s Assimilate our Internal Blue-State Refugees

Posted on Sunday, August 22, 2021
|
by AMAC Newsline
|
33 Comments
state

AMAC Exclusive​ by: David P. Deavel

Americans, along with our allies and much of the world, have watched with horror as the Biden Administration, which the Democratic Party and its media adjuncts have been promoted as the return of “the adults,” have abandoned Afghanistan in a way seemingly calculated to be as destructive as possible to our own troops and civilian workers, the Afghans who worked with us, our other allies, and our credibility with our allies and our enemies. After the Trump Administration’s triumphs in the Middle East, toughness on Russia, and first attempts to push back on Chinese ambitions, Team Biden’s destruction provides schadenfreude for those who warned about its dangers but also serious worry for Americans who do not relish the danger to and humiliation of their country.

But the dangers to our country do not simply come from outside. Punitive taxation, poor services, and failure to do the basic work of keeping citizens safe has led to an exodus of blue state residents that promises greater power to red states. . .but also the danger that these havens will be destroyed. Conservatives need to work hard to make sure that those fleeing California, New York, and other increasingly fouled nests understand why the nests to which they have relocated do not have the same stench.

The promise of the internal migration could be found in our last census results. States that lost seats— California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia—were largely blue except for Ohio and West Virginia. States that gained seats— Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas (the last gaining two)—were largely red apart from Colorado and Oregon.

Yet the danger can be seen in this list, too. Colorado was a red state that turned blue only under Obama. Arizona, which did not gain or lose seats this time, nevertheless took in enough blue-state refugees to achieve a drastic transformation. As Victoria Taft wrote in her 2020 postmortem on the elections in the state:The Seattle Times reports that the refugees from California, Washington, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Minnesota, Nevada, Florida, and Utah, in that order, fled to the state with Cactus League baseball, more conservative politics, the Grand Canyon, and the Red Rocks of Sedona. And then they approved legal pot, the state’s highest tax increase ever, and put Democrats in the highest offices – the Senate and White House – to ensure their new home will be every bit as expensive and over-regulated as the one from which they fled. Toke up, ‘Zonies!”

It’s not just questions of taxes and drug laws, however. It’s the approach to culture as well. On our annual road trip this summer, my family passed through Montana both ways, visiting relatives on the way there and back who have fled from California and Washington. All of them were very happy to live in the Treasure State, with its culture of freedom, smaller, livable towns, and beauty. But they were also worried about the changes in culture that are portended by the movement of others who moved without the same desire to embrace Montana’s atmosphere of freedom and community. One cousin, who serves as town manager in a small town, noted the robust growth in population and permits to build homes, but also recounted awkward encounters between newcomers and Montanans. It’s not just Californians. New Yorkers have also been coming in droves, and one story involved a New Yorker who not onlybullied neighbors into getting rid of their geese but bragged about it around town. A store owner I spoke with in another small town expressed the same sorts of worries about culture, particularly attitudes to law enforcement as well as self-defense. She was worried that the crime of Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco would be transplanted—along with the insane policies that have allowed it to fester and grow. Would Montana become the Treasure to Trash” State?

Not every destination state has had Arizona’s fate. But the ones that have not have been pro-active. Driving through Billings, I was pleased to see a billboard with a grainy picture of urban violence reading: “Don’t Want Portland in Montana? Vote Republican.” But there needs to be more of this sort of thing, what University of Tennessee Law professor and Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds has called a “Welcome Wagon” project. Both Florida and Texas have remained and even deepened their own red state voting patterns as well as traditions of independence, freedom, and free enterprise. But both states have politicians and law enforcement agents who have actively courted migrants from other states while making clear to them that they need to think about why they are thinking about moving from their own states to this state.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted last year: To the Californians moving to Texas: Remember those high taxes, burdensome regulations, & socialistic agenda advanced in CA? We don’t believe in that. We believe in less government & more individual freedom. If you agree with that you’ll fit right in. He then started a petition titled “Don’t California My Texas and signed into law a measure called the 1836 Project that would mandate education about Texas’s history of freedom. In a similar way, Florida’s Polk County Sheriff issued a stern warning to newcomers to the Sunshine State, the biggest destination last year for Americans moving within the country, earlier this year: “Do me a favor, don’t vote the way the majority of the people voted from where you came or you’ll have here what you had there. Guaranteed.”

America is not yet—thank God—Afghanistan. Nor is it all contemporary California or New York. But if conservatives want to keep the chaos out, they are going to have to become increasingly vigilant about keeping solid the parts of Americathat retain the American way of living in freedom, self-government, and solidarity with each other. They must keep convincing people moving in to work with and trust their fellow citizens—and not delegate all decisions for life to the elites who have wrecked our foreign and so much of our domestic policy.

David P. Deavel is editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, co-director of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy, and a visiting professor at the University of St. Thomas (MN). He is the co-host of the Deep Down Things podcast.

Share this article:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
33 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Steve Krueger
Steve Krueger
2 years ago

Now tell the weak leadership of faith to hold the catholic leaders accountable . Uncle Joe , Nutty Nancy . Think again if the transplants are going to vote red
. At night busses and flights with illegals
and new Afghanistan refugees all are being dumped into the heartland . Soon will be just like the east coast or west coast. The nutjobs have a plan , like cancer spread all over conservatives have tough talk don’t want to be like New York vote Republicans . Good Luck with That !!

Kevin S
Kevin S
2 years ago

I pose again: those who live in conservative states and want to keep then that way need to change their vote counting method. Adopt the equivalent of the Electoral College on a county basis. It mitigates the steering forces of major cities. Most blue states have 1 or more major urban populations that consistently steer Left. It’s way past possible to change Michigan – too blue in Detroit, GR, Lansing and Kalamazoo.

Dave
Dave
2 years ago

It becomes fairly easy to divine Election Map intent in the relocation of refugees lacking marketable skills within red states, ever since Obama. More automation and more ignorant mouths to feed. I wonder if the Walmart-ing of wages will make more Democrats?

Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
2 years ago

When in Rome……

mike shank
mike shank
2 years ago

So if the DemocraPs really think this is a good idea, then let’s see a few bus and plane loads go straight to MARTHA’s VINEYARD, SILICONE VALLEY, and places where congress lives in DC/Virginia……

Malcolm
Malcolm
2 years ago

I am sorry to disabuse the writer of this article on some of the “minor” points of the migration. Many who leave Blue states seem to want to find culturally compatible communities in their new State. Thus, we see the development of Blue enclaves within Red States. I can point to Austin as a perfect example. The Mayor is a well known Socialist with gubernatorial ambitions. People are sleeping in and around the underpasses, and nobody knows what to do about it. The prevailing mindset seems to be to let the degradation of life in and around Austin continue on indefinitely. Aggressive panhandling is the norm. Just to let y’all know, there are plenty of Socialists already here in Texas and some of our institutions of higher indoctrination, such as UT, are hard at work producing more. Before changing your location, change what goes on in your mind.

Hal
Hal
2 years ago

In recent times, I’ve come to believe DemocRats are more dangerous and harmful to my health than the Covid Virus … by a long shot. No joking!

Shirley
Shirley
2 years ago

If the people leaving the blue states are sensible, normal people we in the South welcome them. However, if they are radical, go home to whatever state you ruined.

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
2 years ago

BUT dont vote BLUE OK

Matt Knighton
Matt Knighton
2 years ago

Excellent! I wish that somehow the inherent values of this perspective and precautionary proclamation could be signed into law — a law that allows Americans to live in peace and safety, with some semblance of time-honored normality: a culture of reason, respect, and personal responsibility.

old fart
old fart
2 years ago

I fled Illinois because no one I vote for ever wins. IL may be a blue state but I have different values and picked a red state to move to. I am not trying to change them but want to live under more sensible laws. Do not assume everyone from blue state is blue thinking. I am more conservative than my new red neighbors.

PaulE
PaulE
2 years ago

Most smart people moving to a different location (either a new state or a new country), that has a demonstrably different culture and societal norms that differ substantially from where they used to live, understand that it is their responsibility to adapt and adopt the culture of where they now live. That used to be a given, but is no longer the case today.

It is NOT the responsibility of the new state or new country to change to accommodate them. Yet that is the view of a substantial percentage of people moving from blue states to red states today. They move to escape the oppressive taxation, regulation and micro-management policies, that made their old state either unaffordable or completely unlivable. Yet these people immediately turn around in their new state and continue to vote for the exact same political party and policies that made their old state so unattractive. Thus starting the cycle of destruction in their new home state.

Thanks to the insular mindset found in most blue states, where everyone outside their own local community is viewed with distain and contempt, many blue state refugees that migrate to red states think they are “improving” their new home state by voting for the same political party and policies that ruined their old home state. I currently live in a blue state, but I have lived in red states and other countries as well.

I have always respected and adopted the societal norms of these other places. Why on earth would I want to change the culture and societal norms of a different state? Part of the joy of life is about learning to appreciate new people and places, not turning everything into where you’re from. Believe me, my state of New Jersey, otherwise known as the Peoples Republic of New Jersey, is far from being where I would really like to live. It has become a progressive h*ll hole. However, I understand I am the extreme exception to the rule, when it comes to most people that grew up in blue states. I know many, many people who have migrated from blue states to red states and within a week, they are complaining that this and that isn’t exactly like what things were like in their old state. They then begin trying to change their new home state into a mirror image of the garbage they left behind. So residents of red states should indeed be very wary about a massive influx of people from blue states. You don’t want to allow your decent places to live to be turned into socialist Utopias.

Bottom line: It is the responsibility of the blue state residents, that are now flocking to red states in droves to assimilate to their new home states. It is NOT the responsibility for the red states to substantially change themselves to accommodate the blue state refugees. That is the point that must be hammered home in a very clear message. If the blue state refugees don’t wish to assimilate, then they should move elsewhere until they finally get the message.

Clarence Marshall
Clarence Marshall
2 years ago

I live in Colorado. Moved here from Texas 3.5 years ago, mostly to live near real mountains and escape the blistering heat of south Texas. Fortunately, there are still large parts of Colorado that are very conservative. My county continues, year after year, to vote 67% Republican. Lauren Boebert (from western Colorado) is in Congress today because of several other very conservative counties. Unfortunately, like many other states with concentrated large cities, Colorado overall goes Democrat each election mainly because of the cesspools of Denver and Boulder and the Dim refugees from Cali and other Dim states. Those of us who live in the mountains, by and large, are conservative. It’s the large cities, mostly, across the US where welfare and homelessness are rampant that vote mostly for Dimocrats.

Char Kras
Char Kras
2 years ago

Maybe they move so they can flip the red state to blue. Maybe big mama told them to or pays them to move???

Laurianne Stewart
Laurianne Stewart
2 years ago

I live in a very small lake town in upper northwest Montana. A place so rural as to hope we’d never experience the big city woes. But as the article states, the New Yorkers, Californians, and Pennsylvanians have arrived. And the traffic, crime, and demand to change us has started. We cannot let this continue. Every soul must stand up for their country!

AJB
AJB
2 years ago

Well it’s unfortunate that these folks who live in blue states are fleeing in great numbers instead of remaining in place and changing their voting habits from constantly voting Democratic to using logic and voting conservative! Then these imbeciles move to traditionally red states but keep the same pretzel voting habits and politically destroy another state. There needs to be a wall built around these Democratic morons so they can destroy themselves and leave the sane people alone!

An older blonde women laughing in the kitchen with a grey haired man.
AMAC’s Medicare Advisory Service
The knowledge, guidance, and choices of coverage you’re looking for. The exceptional service you deserve.
The AMAC App on 3 different iPhone
Download the AMAC App
The AMAC App is the place to go for insightful news wherever you are and whenever you want.
PBM Profits To Rising Drug Prices
garbage left in private home by squatters
President Joe Biden delivers remarks announcing CHIPS and Science Act grants to Intel to expand U.S. semiconductor production, Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona.
Trump

Stay informed! Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter.

"*" indicates required fields

33
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x

Subscribe to AMAC Daily News and Games