I live in a "red" state. I actually hold dear many of the principles that people from the "red" states used as their reasoning for voting for George W. Bush. But, I feel so strongly that these people from the "red" states are wrong, that I am considering moving to a "blue" state or out of the country completely.
In the 1960s, a social revolution took hold of this country and transformed it (or did it?) Black people got their civil rights, and could, at last start living as equal and free citizens of this country. And guess what, one of the leaders of that movement,
Dr. Martin Luther King, was a preacher that also upheld these morals, or values that people from "red" states are talking about.
In addition, a segment of the population in the 1960s, succeeded in turning the tide against an unjust war that was killing hundreds of American children on a daily basis. I have often read about that period, that what appeared as a majority movement, was actually, anything but. However, everyone thought that there was "change in the air." We were conquering space, and vaccines were eliminating diseases like polio. Meanwhile, social change was happening, and people were prospering. There was indeed a spirit of renewal.
Since that time a two headed type of backlash has occurred. First, a lot of the people who actually participated in the most visible part of the "revolution", the youth movement, grew up, and either became part of the real world, died of drug overdoses or
decided to raise a family -- there is something about that, that changes you. Additionally, changes in the world at large made many issues mute, or damped them down enough over the years that the social scene changed. Those world changes were the rise of terrorism in the world, a 30 year phenomenon now, the importance of oil in world affairs and the rise of the corporate giants, whether multinationals or conglomerates, along with its attendant rise in consumerism.
The "baby boomer" generation wanted a house, with 2.3 kids and 4.3 cars/SUVs in the driveway. Going up the corporate ladder was also the goal for many. In the 1980s, we witnessed the rise of yuppies (Young Urban Professionals) and their ascent into power. We also witnessed the creation of a power elite. I will talk about the power elite at a latter time. But for now, suffice it to say, that the boom times of the 1980s and 1990s would not have happened if these factors had not intervened. But it is also these same factors that helped create the political landscape of today, and nobody in the media is talking about that.
In my college years, I had an amazing history professor who taught me a lot of how the world functions, based on how history has shaped events. One of his principles was that the rise of a middle class in the west created the impetus for change across the western world, and brought about freedom and democracy, sometimes through blood (France and the United States come to mind during the 1780s), but also through gradual change (Great Britain and the transition from Empire to a monarchy). It is also this absence of a middle class that could have the opposite effect (the rise of communism in the 1900s).
In the 1960s therefore, in the United States, we began to see the transformation of the country. The question for me today is what the shape of that transformation was? Did the social revolution of the 1960s affect the middle class in a progressive fashion, or was it a stimulus for the adoption of values that the parents of the 45-60 million baby boomers held? Transformations can also have the reverse effect that they intend.
Why is it that "blue" states only exist on the east and west coast of this country? And why is it, that the people who leave those hubs of progressive thought (and move to "red" states) do so for these kind of reasons:
1) To improve their economic situation, and
2) To live in a more family friendly atmosphere?
In fact, when I graduated from college,
I run away, as fast as I could from a big city. I wanted to live where there was less crime, less pollution, less of everything, and where I can live a slower pace of life. And yet, now, I miss the "bad" things (or more appropriately, I miss life in a "blue" state), more so because I miss the underlying forces. The forces of change. The forces of debate. The forces of revolution. Or, are there social, revolutionary forces in "blue" states?
There is definitely a social revolution going on in the heartland of America, and I don't like it. I don't feel part of it. It is a conservative movement that has no room for compromise, and no room for differing opinions. In addition, it is wholly, religious based, and smells like the beginnings of a "theocracy", that odd form of government, that many protestants fled from Europe in the 15th and 16th century, for America. The shoe is on the other foot now... and it's tight.
Some food for thought then as we greet the new "age of God" dawning on the United States of America.
More later.
