As a moderate centrist who despises the loutishness, lies, disrespectfulness, and authoritarian bent of Donald Trump and his gang of incompetent megalomaniacs, I found myself of two minds about the widespread marches last weekend. Part of me cheered them, especially the one in Washington, D.C. following the inauguration: An enormous reminder that most Americans aren’t on board with the Trump program.
But particularly with respect to the local marches here in California, part of me — and I apologize in advance to my many dear friends who participated — winced. Watching the Facebook posts and reading the coverage in the press, there was an air of self-congratulation and self-aggrandizement to it. It was a cultural event, entertainment, a party, not hard political work. The utility of sending a “message” of dislike for Trump from a state where Hillary Clinton won by more than 4.3 million votes, or from a county where Clinton won three times the votes Trump did, escapes me.
So I’ve been thinking about what concrete, tangible steps marchers in California and Sonoma County could take to effect actual change vis-a-vis politics in America. I’ve come up with the answer, a sure-fire action that marchers can take that will absolutely ensure that there won’t be a second Trump term.
Move. Literally.
Trump won the Electoral College vote by winning four swing states by small margins: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida. The total vote margin for Trump in those states was about 202,000 votes. Press reports say that at least 579,000 people (and perhaps as many as 1,250,000) marched in California alone — and as many as 300,000 may have marched in the Bay Area. (Source.)
If half of the people who marched in California were to move proportionally to these four states, it is unlikely that Trump could win in 2020.
Dear marcher, if your reaction is, “No way I’m going to move to a stupid, flat, cold, uncultured backwater,” I’d ask you to consider two things. First, given the Electoral College, the gerrymandering of Congressional districts, and the “each state gets 2 senators, no matter how small” requirement of our Constitution, if liberals continue to self-select into coastal, primarily urban states, and leave the vast middle to the right, then the right will continue to have a built-in institutional electoral advantage. Second, consider whether or not your knee-jerk condescension isn’t the core problem with our politics right now. If you think that you are going to somehow convince the ignorant masses in the flyover states to come to your enlightened point of view, you are naive. The problem with our politics is the loss of the moderate middle, the movement of both the Republicans and the Democrats further and further to the right and left respectively. Increasing your hatred and indignation for the right, and for the places where they live, doesn’t help that, it hurts. To be the solution you need to be bigger than that.
I grew up in the Midwest, so I know there are many charming, beautiful, and cultured places to live there (Florida I’m less sure about, but the weather’s better). Move to Madison, Ann Arbor, or some other college town. Live on a farm. There are lots of gorgeous areas there, do some research and find one.
Moving that many people out of California (especially out the Bay Area) will have the ancillary benefit of reducing the cost of housing here, making traffic better, reducing water demands, and so on. A win-win.
I would follow this advice myself, except that I am, as noted, very much a moderate, which means my continued presence here is necessary for the very purpose of balance that I’m proposing. It’s a sacrifice but I love my country so I’m willing to do it.
Marchers, if you really care about saving your country from Trump, start packing. It’s time to move.
Categories: Politics