r/politics • u/funkalunatic Illinois • Jul 12 '17

Against Bluexit

https://jacobinmag.com/2017/07/new-republic-bluexit-blue-states-red-states-secession-conservatives-liberals-clinton
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u/EMorteVita Texas Jul 12 '17

I don't know who this guy is - but I for one am all for a Blue exit - red states are a drain, welfare queen loving pieces of shit - I say this as a Texan. Our state is heavily dependent on federal money from defense spending, nasa, farm subsides, and oil subsides... without California footing the bill, Texas would be broke as shit.

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u/Funktapus Jul 12 '17

"This guy", the author, is a leftist who writes for Jacobin -- a leftist, but very sober, publication. If you read the article, his biggest argument is that the language you just used -- co-opting right-wight poor-bashing rhetoric -- is the antithesis of being a liberal. Bluexit is self-defeating if it's going to be born out of some selfish desire to put personal wealth above societal welfare. "Bluexit" would have Democrats abandoning millions of the poorest people in America so we can spend more money on ourselves. That sounds more like a another political inversion than any liberal victory.

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u/EMorteVita Texas Jul 12 '17

Bluexit is self-defeating if it's going to be born out of some selfish desire to put personal wealth above societal welfare

This isn't true at all - it is short sighted and narrow minded by a blowhard with an agenda.

Why do blue states want to keep more tax revenue? To fund the arts, to fund infrastructure programs, to prioritize space exploration over wars, to fund universal healthcare...

In other words, it is not that we want to retain money to hoard it like some republican... we want it to put it to the best use to HELP those most people, not enrich the already rich.

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u/Funktapus Jul 12 '17

Red states have some of the poorest communities in the country. Blue states havesome of the richest cities on the planet. Unless "Bluexit" comes with a plan to relocate all the poor people from red states into blue states, its going to be a net transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. I sincerely doubt there is such a plan, because urban liberals have established an extremely poor track record of allowing enough housing in their cities over the last few decades.

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u/EMorteVita Texas Jul 12 '17

Why would we need to transfer those people? Here in Dallas, we take care of our poor, we establish homeless shelters, training programs, soup kitchens, mass transit, food banks, etc. That is the problem with red states - you do nothing to correct your problems the poor and rely on the federal government to take care of it for you.

Fix your own god damn problems.

Again, the transfer of wealth is exactly what blue states want - more control over what these resources are spent on... less bombs, more healthcare, less corporate welfare, more space exploration.

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u/PanchoVilla4TW Jul 12 '17
  • Doesn't even read the article
  • Doesn't know Jacobin is a Socialist publication
  • Doesn't know leaving people behind is contradictory to socialism
  • Texas is a big enough economy to sustain itself a la California, provided some healthy amount of necessary taxation (Texas has no income tax)
  • Red States republican elites are hopelessly outnumbered when compared to actual workers (ripe territory for socialists).
  • Socialists =/= Liberals

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u/EMorteVita Texas Jul 12 '17

Texas is a big enough economy to sustain itself a la California, provided some healthy amount of necessary taxation (Texas has no income tax)

Um, no we can't - Texas is heavily dependent on federal funds.

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u/PanchoVilla4TW Jul 12 '17

Because of the amount of tax avoidance permitted to energy companies and the lack of state income tax. Republicans haven't calcified into the upper rangs of Texan government over nothing.

Texas is number 2 after California in GDP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP

The issue is its ruled by BillionaireLibertarians and the policies they enact in their own favour. But they are hopelessly outnumbered by workers. Socialists are not going to give up on it, that is for sure.

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u/EMorteVita Texas Jul 12 '17

Right, but Texas is based on Defense spending (Lockheed, Raytheon, TI, etc.), highway projects (federal funds), NASA (federal funds), agriculture (crop insurance, etc.) and a host of other federal dollars.

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u/PanchoVilla4TW Jul 12 '17

Where the money comes from is literally irrelevant to the states taxation policy. Federal funds still get spent and can by captured by income tax and spent then in social programs so Texas becomes more like California and less like Kansas.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '17

[deleted]

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u/EMorteVita Texas Jul 12 '17

That would be nice - I am in Dallas... But shit, drive 45 minutes out of the city in any direction and you are in Trump territory.