After the last US census, Dr. Merrill Matthews made a prediction:
Voters around the country are concluding it’s better to be red than dead—applying a whole meaning to an old phrase. If you do not currently live in a red state, there’s a good chance you will be in the near future. Either you will flee to a red state or a red state will come to you—because voters fed up with blue-state fiscal irresponsibility will elect candidates who promise to pass red-state policies.
His projection is coming to pass:
According to an Election Data Services analysis of the Census Bureau report, "The population projections point toward a ten [congressional] seat change over 17 states across the nation by year 2020." Seven states are projected to gain one or more congressional seats after the 2020 election; 10 states are projected lose one seat.
North Carolina is expected to pick up another seat in the US House.
This migration from states controlled by Democrats to states controlled by Republicans doesn't just mean increased political power in the red states, either. It means economic strength:
The stakes are large. A growing population for the winners means an increasing tax base, economic growth and investment. And as baby boomers age and pressure to fund pensions increases, a growing workforce is a windfall.
As one who left New York in 1992 for the sunny environs of the Charlotte area, I understand why people prefer the South - and North Carolina, specifically. I am glad to have you here!
All I ask is that you please leave your leftist ideology in the state that's being destroyed by it.
In a depressing example of irony, the influx of new voters from blue states into red ones has been bringing with it a surge of liberal, Democratic voters. This has led to some traditionally red states becoming increasingly competitive for the Democrats. (Texas is probably the best example, though the tide there hasn’t fully turned yet.)
The grim humor in this is that these migrants seem to fail to realize that the conditions they were fleeing in those blue states were a direct result of the policies put in place by liberals. Higher taxes, more oppressive governmental regulations and “woke” policies that are more tolerant of crime and damaging to traditional values made many of those places basically unlivable. But by coming into red states, where lower costs of living, more freedom, and better security were waiting, and voting the way they always have, they’re basically bringing their own poison with them into their new pool.
The optimistic view on this is that people who are fleeing blue states for red states are generally not supportive of the policies and politics that wrecked their states. In other words, leftists aren't the ones leaving California for Texas - it's the more conservative Californians who are doing so.
Unfortunately, I've encountered enough liberal refugees to adopt such optimism.
Pete's Prep: Monday, Jan. 13, 2019
- Asheville Citizen-Times: "A federal judge has agreed to further postpone the trial of a former Buncombe County commissioner accused of using taxpayer money to support various equestrian enterprises. Black Mountain Democrat Ellen Frost is now due in court March 30 after U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad approved a request filed jointly by Frost's attorney, Tony Scheer, and federal prosecutors to postpone a February trial date."
- WLOS: The Womens March in Asheville has been postponed.
- Carolina Journal: "North Carolina’s Republican legislators say they were left out of focus groups for a major education report that could seriously affect future policymaking."
- News & Observer: "In 2019 there were 652 shooting incidents reported to police; 190 people were injured, including 32 who died. All told, from gunfire and other causes, a total of 42 people were killed in Durham last year, 37 of those cases criminal homicides."