A ‘national divorce’ would destroy red states. Let’s count the ways.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposed “national divorce” would absolutely crush conservative states.
Feb. 23, 2023, 11:43 AM CST
By Joy-Ann Reid
At the risk of taking Marge seriously — which is always a potential intellectual hazard — let’s just play this out for a hot minute, shall we?
First of all, the last time Southerners like Marge proposed a national divorce, it was because they were holding 4 million African Americans hostage as slaves ... and didn’t want to let them go.
Today, roughly half of African Americans still live in the 11 Southern states that comprised the Confederacy, and so if this national divorce happened, they would be trapped in an apartheid hellscape of a new country with zero health care, crappy public schools, barely a right to vote, and a full return to ownership by someone else of their bodies — except this time it wouldn’t just be Black women, it would be all women.
And their leader would be someone like the gal who once said: “If I were Black people today and I walked by one of those statues, I would be so proud because I’d say look how far I have come in this country.”
As political strategist Michael Podhorzer explains: The United States is “more like a federated republic of two nations: Blue Nation and Red Nation. ... It is a geographic and historical reality.”
That divide, he writes, is very similar, both geographically and culturally, to the divides between the Union and the Confederacy.
But here’s where things get interesting: Being a pro-Confederate red state isn’t just bad for the soul — but for the economy. Based off Podhorzer’s analysis, the blue nation contributes more of the total U.S. gross national product: 46% vs. 40%.
On its own, the blue nation would be the world’s second-largest economy, trailing only China. The red nation would rank third.
And if there was a national divorce, what would red America do for industry, given that many of its economies are dependent on blue state manufacturers who utilize red state nonunion labor to manufacture their goods more cheaply?
If red America was merely a competitor to other low-wage manufacturing countries, they’d have to continually reduce wages in order to compete.
And based on the way individual red state economies like Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia operate now, they would be a nation of largely impoverished workers ruled by a small oligarchy of the very rich, with no health care, scant voting rights, and no autonomy for women.
They’d likely be largely dependent on oil and natural gas revenues, which are in diminishing supply. And that would mean they’d also be an ecological disaster, which would mean they’d probably need lots of national aid ... from blue America.
As evidence? Currently, most red states pay less into the federal tax coffers than they take out. So would the new red republic expect the blue states to pay alimony and child support in this “national divorce”?
Just a few reasons the whole idea is implausible. Another one?
We’re not actually divided by states. The reality is, we are a nation not divided by states, but rather by counties. It’s one reason Marjorie Taylor Greene calling for secession isn’t just inconceivable as well as foolish, it would be disastrous for Republican-voting states.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blo...-rcna71995
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposed “national divorce” would absolutely crush conservative states.
Feb. 23, 2023, 11:43 AM CST
By Joy-Ann Reid
At the risk of taking Marge seriously — which is always a potential intellectual hazard — let’s just play this out for a hot minute, shall we?
First of all, the last time Southerners like Marge proposed a national divorce, it was because they were holding 4 million African Americans hostage as slaves ... and didn’t want to let them go.
Today, roughly half of African Americans still live in the 11 Southern states that comprised the Confederacy, and so if this national divorce happened, they would be trapped in an apartheid hellscape of a new country with zero health care, crappy public schools, barely a right to vote, and a full return to ownership by someone else of their bodies — except this time it wouldn’t just be Black women, it would be all women.
And their leader would be someone like the gal who once said: “If I were Black people today and I walked by one of those statues, I would be so proud because I’d say look how far I have come in this country.”
As political strategist Michael Podhorzer explains: The United States is “more like a federated republic of two nations: Blue Nation and Red Nation. ... It is a geographic and historical reality.”
That divide, he writes, is very similar, both geographically and culturally, to the divides between the Union and the Confederacy.
But here’s where things get interesting: Being a pro-Confederate red state isn’t just bad for the soul — but for the economy. Based off Podhorzer’s analysis, the blue nation contributes more of the total U.S. gross national product: 46% vs. 40%.
On its own, the blue nation would be the world’s second-largest economy, trailing only China. The red nation would rank third.
And if there was a national divorce, what would red America do for industry, given that many of its economies are dependent on blue state manufacturers who utilize red state nonunion labor to manufacture their goods more cheaply?
If red America was merely a competitor to other low-wage manufacturing countries, they’d have to continually reduce wages in order to compete.
And based on the way individual red state economies like Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia operate now, they would be a nation of largely impoverished workers ruled by a small oligarchy of the very rich, with no health care, scant voting rights, and no autonomy for women.
They’d likely be largely dependent on oil and natural gas revenues, which are in diminishing supply. And that would mean they’d also be an ecological disaster, which would mean they’d probably need lots of national aid ... from blue America.
As evidence? Currently, most red states pay less into the federal tax coffers than they take out. So would the new red republic expect the blue states to pay alimony and child support in this “national divorce”?
Just a few reasons the whole idea is implausible. Another one?
We’re not actually divided by states. The reality is, we are a nation not divided by states, but rather by counties. It’s one reason Marjorie Taylor Greene calling for secession isn’t just inconceivable as well as foolish, it would be disastrous for Republican-voting states.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blo...-rcna71995
