It's Gold to be Blue
We're living in a golden era in the blue states
Last night dancing at a nightclub with my cousin, more on that below, I realized it's a golden age to be in a blue state.
We're living in a period of radical, oftentimes very fun, very additive social inclusion for people of all backgrounds, geographies, legal statuses and lifestyles. We've proven ourselves capable of adapting to a public health crisis with widespread immunization and a pro-science mindset.
We're addressing climate change with electrification, constant media attention and renewable energy infrastructure that creates great jobs. There's a growing YIMBY movement tackling the housing crisis.
The Democratic party is by and large a big tent, even-keeled mainstream organization. It's mostly centrist, widely appealing and doesn't target a tiny fraction of our children in crisis or imperil every woman’s freedom. There haven't been as many corruption or other scandals at the state level as you'd expect from single party trifectas — governor and bicameral legislations.
No matter who you are, you have a better shot at feeling safe and protected in blue states than in any prior generation. There's way, way more work to be done, but racism, sexism and other forms of bigotry haven’t been openly tolerated for a long time now. Bigotry is present, troubling, dangerous, violent -- but culturally and legislatively, it’s on the run.
People live longer in blue states and life here feels stronger culturally. Why? Because it's a bigger "we." In the reds, you'd think it's only white Christian nationalists who count. Look at state and Congressional legislatures of heavily gerrymandered red states: they're super white despite having massive Black populations. Monocultures are vulnerable and weak while a heterogeneous mix is adaptive and resilient.
There are a few asides that tarnish but don't defeat this golden era. As a Jew who loves Israel, anti-Semitism remains a stubborn and malleable foe. There's a puzzling hatred in edgier leftist communities who fetishize being anti Israel and pro Palestinian while ignoring dictatorships with terrible human rights records in, say, ahem, the West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, every country in the Persian Gulf, China, Venezuela... I could go on. Anti Jewish behavior in the far left is a chink in the armor of inclusion.
There are other problems in the blues. The three part equation of tax subsidized home ownership + generations of segregation + winner-takes-all American capitalism = massive housing shortages, homelessness and unaffordability. Recently in New York, ostensibly liberal suburbanites banded with upstate Republicans to defeat housing initiatives around public transportation. Why? Because it would change their “suburban character.”
Speaking of poorly cloaked racism, there are other hypocrisies among the nearly all white, highly educated information class who claim they're liberal when they're mostly conservative seekers of the status quo. You don't see advocacy for direct cash payments or UBI to alleviate poverty in mainstream circles. You do hear talk about "rampant crime" that's not statistically real, when what they're really saying is, "I’m afraid of poor Black people."
There are oceans of young people demanding lip service language modifications, a tendency for extreme sensitivities, and online shaming that stifle debate and create a painful grammatical groupthink. As far as I can tell, performative speech does little to solve real world problems for, say, trans people seeking affordable healthcare or political power. How many solemn land acknowledgements by white people with New Yorker tote bags yield housing for Native Americans?
Even with our challenges, in the Blues we're living a future I never dreamed of as a Gen Xer. People mingle and influence each other more openly and more casually than once imagined. In my lifetime, I’ve seen the rise of LGBTQ equality after the horrific AIDS crisis and endless violence, the decriminalization of marijuana after the racist demagogouery and incarceration spree of the War on Drugs, a growing acceptance of psychedelics for mental healthcare instead of a sole reliance on corporate pharmaceuticals of dubious efficacy and little innovation.
We’re witnessing the fast adoption of EVs where the only option had been a pollution spewing vehicle. Urban bicycling and its imprint on the streetscape grows more popular, along with a rethinking of car parking in urban spaces. Recent Federal legislation encourages removing racist highway infrastructure. There’s something springline in the air. Life feels hopeful.
Last night I went to a club with my cousin to enjoy a 12-piece wedding band crushing ‘90s hits. We were at a mainstream venue, easy to find. Adam and I are newly minted 50-year-olds, born in an era of bell bottoms and lunch boxes. Enjoying a night out for us is about as edgy as a pickleball.
While we danced to “This is How We Do It” I noticed a couple nearby. Two young women, one dressed, more femme, the other masculine, held each other as they bopped along. We weren't at a gay nightclub, we weren't at a straight venue, it was just life, united by a need to sing along to Montell Jordan.
Whatever it is, the party's underway
So tip up your cup and throw your hands up
And let me hear the party say…
It won’t sound like a big deal if you're under 30, but in the intense, universally anti gay world I grew up in, it's a revelation. It's the integration my parents, both active in the Civil Rights Movement, taught me about at the dinner table. It’s a glimmer of the benefits of inclusion with more running man and less scolding.
Red state politicians have scared up their latest bogeyman to once again unite working class whites with wealthy elites. Instead of racial segregation, male domination, white supremacy or opposing a (possibly Christ-like?) welfare state, it’s Anti-Wokeism that fills their grifting emails for cash. I'm pretty sure stopping me dressing up as Queen Esther on Purim in front of kids doesn't address climate change or fight inflation, but I'm no expert.
What I do know is they're betting on fury and exclusion while it’s June in the Blues, we’re recovering from hangovers after Pride parades and soon, celebrating Juneteenth.
Welcome to the Party.