One Long-Term Solution…

Many conservatives feel we are out of options for turning this country around – reversing its inertia leading toward an oppressive bankrupt socialist state.  Why do we feel this way?  Here are a few reasons:

• The proportion of the US electorate that has been coopted by government’s entitlement culture is close to 50%.  Biting the hand that feeds them (aka “voting against the handouts”) is not an option for them.  To them it would be like asking for a pay cut.  It won’t happen no matter how compelling truly conservative candidates may be.
• Many others who may not be among the recipients of government largess feel “white guilt” or “rich guilt” or “survivors guilt” or whatever you want to call it that causes them to believe we ought to require forced redistribution to the less fortunate (who may be addicts, slackers, illegal aliens, or criminals), whether they have earned the government hand out or not.  Most often not.   These misled guilt-ridden do-gooders see generosity and benevolence as the domain of government (the shrinking number of tax payers) and not the free will choice of the individual.
• Others feel the national debt is beyond the tipping point – the point where default is inevitable, whether in 2 days,  2 years or 20 years.   Nothing the government can do with tax policy, quantitative easing or interest rate manipulation can do anything about this inevitability.
• Yet others see our leftist, progressive, and some conservative leader’s obliviousness to Islam being the root cause of terror in the world – an evil ideology that has caused this country to literally spend trillions on defense, national security, and intelligence and suffer the sacrifice and indignities of body searches and loss of privacy.  They call heinous atrocities “work place violence” or “social maladjustment” and refuse to identify obvious acts of Islamic-inspired violence as “Islamic.”
• Increasing numbers of us have lost trust in our government, the greater majority of elected and appointed officials, most media and most of academia.  Honesty and transparency have been replaced by personal agendas, profits, and corruption, either to achieve personal gain or to foist a progressive program on their subjects, a la Obamacare.  The end justifies the means.  Lying and deception are just two of the means among the innumerable immoral means in the leftist/progressive tool chest.
• And finally, there is very little difference in the world view of most Republicans and Democrats.  Most elected officials of both parties belie their political promises and instead strive for bigger government to satisfy their ever grasping, ever demanding, and increasingly government-dependent constituencies.

A number of conservatives have proposed dramatic options to the status quo. 

Mark Levin proposed a series of Constitutional amendments called The Liberty Amendments that would “take our country back.”  The trouble with that is that there are too many Blue States and Blue Congressional Districts (leftist/progressive influences) with too much influence to make such amendments remotely possible.

Another partial solution was proposed by former presidential candidate Herman Cain – his 9-9-9 – a tax reform proposal that would transition us to The Fair Tax.  Cain was not electable.  And there is too much liberal/progressive and business resistance to significant tax reform.

A number of piecemeal secessionist movements in several states, including Texas, California, and Colorado have been simmering.  Piecemeal movements are a start and break the ice to inform us of the possibility and precedent for a geographic solution to the current ideological incompatibility and conflict.  HERE and HERE are links to summaries of the status of several secessionist movements around the nation.  In fact, HERE is a book that describes the Vermont and other secessionist movements.  Take a look at related books on this topic as well as reader reviews.  Very enlightening.

And of course we have our conservative Christians – in declining numbers – who are awaiting the 3rd “Great Awakening” that will save our nation.  Don’t hold your breath on that one.

The problem we face – the obstacle to meaningful reform – is the negative influence of the leftist/progressive segment of our society – and the urban dependents they cater to:  The poor, the yuppies, the corporations.  The leftist/progressives demand conformity of the rest of the nation with their overbearing “don’t shoot your eye out” paternalistic mindset and programs.  They will force their programs upon the rest of us by whatever means possible including lies, half-truths, hand-outs, promises and Pollyannish “hope.”

Where are most of these leftist/progressive influences located?

Conveniently, most are located in specific geographic areas of the nation.  These locations can be defined several ways:

By States – 2012 Presidential Election

This map shows the states that voted for Obama in 2012 in blue.  Note that ALL of the RED states are continuous – a fortunate arrangement.

By States – based on population – 2012 Presidential Election

Don’t get too excited by the amount of Red in the above map.  That map is based on area of states, not population.  The map below on the other hand, shows the same 2012 election results by POPULATION of states.  It paints a much different picture show a significant portion of the population voting Blue – democrat.  But then again, we need to remember we are a REPUBLIC, not a democracy.

By County – 2012 Presidential Election

This map shows the 2012 election by County.  It shows the same general pattern as the state map, above, but with a more refined pattern not dependent on state borders.

By Congressional Districts – 2014 Mid-term Election

Two years later, in 2014, we see the Red spread over 90% of the area of the nation, with the Blue confined to mostly large metropolitan regions and traditional liberal bastions.  The West Coast, a portion of the SW, the Upper Midwest, the Northeast Coastal Urban Corridor, and a sprinkling of districts in the South, primarily larger metropolitan areas.

 

What do these maps tell us?  The leftist/progressive strongholds are concentrated along the West Coast, a portion of a couple of states in the Southwest, the Upper Midwest, the Northeast Coastal Urban Corridor, and large population centers in the Southeast.

What can we do with this information?  We know where they live.  Knowing where they live gives us several options. 

1. We can choose not to live in those areas.  But this still leaves us with the problem of the Blue leftists/progressives controlling the rest of us through their unethical and immoral tactics, even though we don’t live among them.
2. We can serve the greater good and promote the concept of giving each of these competing groups, both Red and Blue, the option to control their own destiny within their own geographic areas.

What if we were able to give each of these groups, the Red and the Blue their own areas to exclusively control?  What if those with Red ideals could govern as we choose, and those with Blue ideals could govern as they choose?  That is the ultimate “freedom of choice” that liberals long for.  Why not give it to them?

Why not begin a conversation about the Red and Blue having exclusive domain – exclusive governing authority - over their existing areas of predominant influence?  Yes, this concept has its problems and challenges, but I can’t believe those would be any greater than the problems and challenges we now face in the great divide we now find ourselves.

Here are several of those challenges:

• More liberal urban areas dot many predominantly Red areas of the nation.  How should these areas be treated?
• Federal lands and facilities dot the nation.  Should these just remain a part of the jurisdiction they are located in?  Why not?
• How would the transition of the power of the existing Federal Government take place?  Would it simply cease jurisdiction in the newly autonomous Red regions?  Or would there be some form of limited confederacy?
• How would defense and commerce be handled?  Through treaties and agreements - the same as any other political jurisdictions.
• How would the process toward this end be initiated?

1. Through conversation with friends and neighbors and radio shows
2. Through conservative web sites, bloggers, writers, internet radio and TV, social internet sites, and publishers
3. Through approaching like-motivated institutions and individuals such as the CATO Institute, the Heritage Foundation, Hillsdale College, Grove City College, Liberty University
4. Publicizing the mutual benefits for both those of Red and Blue ideological preferences.
5. Proposing referenda within predominantly conservative regions of the country
6. And a thousand other steps that are needed to promote interest and flesh out strategies to make it happen

Thanks to Steve Norflus for planting the seed for this out-of-the-box approach to finding an alternative to the present dismal direction our nation is headed.