James responds to my somewhat intemperate critique of his post-election thoughts. (FYI, I know James is moving his blog to Substack, and I admit I haven't quite gotten around to making the change here. "Old habits," and so on.)
I think his idea about "group identification" is a bit thin, but perhaps that's an artifact of a brief blog post. The coalition that enabled a convicted felon to become president is by no means a monolith. Whatever Venn diagram that encompasses that group of voters, the only thing in common among the entire group is their selection of the prospective Felon-in-Chief.
Even among those celebrating his coronation, their happiness and joy likely comes from different sources. I'm sure at least some of them are looking forward to their tips and Social Security not being taxed. Others are hopeful that a nationwide abortion ban may be enacted. Some probably don't even know why they voted for him, other than they think Joe Rogen and Elon Musk are cool, so Orange Jesus must be cool too.
As a "group identity," I think it may be somewhat fragile, and there may be a way to chip off portions of the segments that gave him a majority. But, that may be wishful thinking on my part.
As regards how we interact with people in proximity on the "other side," we just don't talk about politics. That said, I also don't actively seek them out for casual social interactions. They're likely to be informants soon. (I'm sure there's a constituency of Karens who are likewise celebrating the elevation of the architect of insurrection. They're looking forward to having the DHS and ICE "deport-a-migrant" hotline on speed-dial.)
A couple of years ago, I wrote about meeting a couple who were enthusiastic supporters of Hannibal Lector's biggest fan. I suppose I had a greater reserve of empathy then, and lamented the binary, zero-sum mindset that divided us from one another. (No doubt an early "failure of imagination," that we would fairly soon find ourselves, once again, plagued by this huckster gifted with low animal cunning and a reality distortion field that makes Steve Jobs' OG-RDF look like a cheap parlor trick.)
Today, I'm not so magnanimous. I live in an area where the concentration of rightwing zealots has achieved a critical mass of self-sustaining chain reactionaries. I wave and say "Hi," but yeah, I'm not going go hang with these people. They're so confident that everyone around them thinks like they do, that it'll inevitably come up and I'll have to excuse myself.
Anyway, there are many ways to be an awful person, and we all share that in common.
So, migration.
Moving is such a pain in the ass that I don't know that I would leave Florida just because of its neo-fascist government. In many ways, it has become an ideal state to grow old and die in. We're surrounded with a wide array of medical facilities within a very easy drive. Because so many people retire to Florida to die here, there's a lot of hospice care available, as well as memory-care and assisted-living facilities.
Wherever we go, it won't be as convenient to grow old and die.
For me, probably 90% of the decision is climate vulnerability and risk. I have no wish to endure "recovery" as an old man. I'd rather deal with the day-to-day inconveniences of long drives to medical appointments, short days, cold winters and the occasional whiff of cow manure, than share the communal experience of dragging all our shit to the curb.
BTW, we are effectively disenfranchised here. Not just in St Johns County, but in most of Florida's counties, due to gerrymandering and closed primaries. Elections are won in the primaries where only Republicans can vote, having put up a straw-man "write-in" candidate on the ballot to close the primary. A "write-in" candidate is the cheapest way to get on the ballot. You're asserting that you'll raise no money, spend no money, you just want to be on the ballot. It think it costs $25. And, voila! Primary closed!
In those counties that might be competitive, Republicans put up sham candidates with similar names to the Democratic candidate, and then throw tens of thousands of dollars of advertising at them to dilute the Democratic vote.
It's not like they're interested in our ideas of how to make it better.
It's a horrible state. But it's been that way for a long time, and we're still here.
Not for long though. Mitzi was talking about "architects" yesterday...
Originally posted at Nice Marmot 05:54 Sunday, 10 November 2024