Why Join the Red States?
November 11, 2004
The Democrats' defeat in the recent election has inspired many to say that the Democrats need to change and join the larger culture of America, which would mean that of the red states. But besides the differences in matters like religion and attitudes towards homosexuality, there are plenty of reasons why blue states should keep on doing what they've been doing.
Why live in a red state? I mean, there are plenty of beautiful areas in those regions, but every statistical ranking I've seen puts most states whose electoral vote went to Bush towards the bottom half. For example...
This all shows that people in the red states end up voting against their own economic, safety and health interests. My larger point, however, is to ask why the Democrats should try to adapt their party to the culture of the red states? The obvious reason is "to win," but it seems to me that, much like the election, Democrats are on the right side of things. I don't think trying to change to please the Bush voters is the way to go, since it will compromise our principles and probably won't even work anyway. What we have to do is change the issues to the ones that will make these people vote for us.
Posted by Krikor Daglian at November 11, 2004 10:53 AM