As we all know, America is extremely divided. While many here divide the country into red states and blue states, shades of purple, or anything else, most don't think too far in depth about the changing population as well as possibilities for the future that are bigger than we usually dare to discuss.
So, consider this something fictional, hypothetical, or even stupid and impossible. However, I would like to take a break from focusing on immediate problems and give some thoughts on a long term strategy, which would involve building a progressive hegemony in the southwestern U.S.
Before I lay out my ideas, I'd like to set a few facts down for the groundwork. In order to make a radical change in our nation, we have to have the right ingredients. So let's start by talking about people:
Population
California - I don't worry much about California, because it is a very liberal state. Sure, there are pockets of staunch Republicanism, and there are lots of wealthy people who do vocally support Bush. I lived in Irvine for a while and understood the "Leave it to Beaver" image that it has, as well as other cities in California. However, even the conservatives in California are not religiously conservative like you would find in Georgia.
Plus, California (especially Souther California) has a huge and fast growing population of latinos. Despite what the Republicans want you to believe, most people from Mexico hate Bush, they think that Republicans are crazy, and that the Democrats are a bit wimpy now but they loved President Clinton. Sure, the Cubans in Florida seem to like Bush sometimes, but they have as much in common with the larger latino population as the average person from Louisiana having in common with the average French person. Unfortunately Univision, which is the most widespread Spanish-speaking media source, is as big of a tool to the radical right as Fox is. Still, we are pretty safe in saying that California belongs to us, in part because of the stereotypical liberals, but also it is ensured somewhat because of the growing latino population.
Arizona - Arizona is quite a bit more conservative, and is in fact a "red state." However, even there it has both of the benefits of California, just in smaller doses. The major issue of Arizona that seems to put them in the red state category is immigration. This may be taken care of by their growing latino population, but this will be impeded by the baby boomers who will retire to Arizona. This state will be difficult to win over, but it is possible. The easiest front on which we can divide a wedge between the people of Arizona and the Republicans is water. For cities like Tucson and Phoenix, water is becoming a bigger problem, and we need to find a way to make the Republicans take the blame for this. If not, they will do it to us. If we can get the people angry at the Republicans over water, then we can easily drown out the furor over immigration. My main concern would be not to simply take the easy route on immigration there and blame Bush for doing a bad job. It's true that the guest worker program is essentially temporary slave labor that you and I know is wrong, but most Americans are too selfish to grasp the benefits of immigration, so we're best to not touch that topic. Also in Arizona, suburban sprawl is getting worse in areas like Phoenix, so we will need to address that. We also need to make sure that it doesn't become just a haven for old people, and to keep some industry or business there. Another good thing is that with the elderly majority in many parts of Arizona, Bush has offered us a place to attack him on with his attempting to take away Social Security. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this will only last four years at the most, so we can't fully rely on this unless we can frame other Republicans in Bush's camp on this. I say use it some now, but focus more on some of the bigger issues.
New Mexico - This is one of the worst states there is on many levels. This state has so many problems -- high crime, high poverty, high illiteracy, etc. It's daunting, but I think this state needs a lot of help from people. Education would be a big deal, and I don't just mean schools. We all need to help the people of New Mexico to understand their rights and the history of our nation. New Mexico needs a lot of work, but I think it could become a very productive state. I know that there is a large latino population as well as a large native American population, both of which can be on our side if we help them.
Texas - The problem with Texas is that it is too damn big. If you split Texas up, keeping cities like El Paso, Austin, San Antonio as the borders of one part, you'd possibly be able to swing it to be a blue state. If you included all the way over to Houston, it still might be possible. Most of the people I know in Houston hate Bush. Unfortunately, the northern Texans near cities like Dallas or Amarillo are the ones that tend to be more staunch Republicans. Don't get me wrong, they are everywhere in Texas, but again the latino population comes into play which is larger in the southern parts of Texas.
We can't win over people in the northern parts of Texas, but what we can do is to outpopulate them. We can also take advantage of the Texan individuality and steer people who are borderline against the Republican conformity. I constantly remind people that Bush is not a Texan, but a northeastern pansy former cheerleader who dodged going to war and even dodged serving honorably in the military. It's hard to explain the Texan mentality without living there, but I strongly encourage all of you progressives out there to not dismiss Texans as a bunch of ignorant hicks. Sure there are lots of religious loonies and rich oil bastards, but there are quite a few good people as well. I'm not quite sure of how to win over Texas, which is odd because it's the state I'm talking about that I lived in the longest (California being second, Arizona being third.) Still, I know it can be done, even if it requires us to break the state in two or more pieces.
Building a New Bloc
Northeastern liberals have a reputation. Southern conservatives have a reputation. Some of the states I mentioned have a strong reputation as well, but as they are newer states and they are a lot more fluid, they are a lot less entrenched into their ways of thinking. Because of this, we have a better chance of changing people's minds when the culture and system of life is less established.
The first thing we need to do is simply to help people. We can't expect anyone to agree with our politics until 1) their day to day problems are taken care of and they have time to focus on the big picture, and 2) they see us in action and learn that our way is the better way of doing things. This involves a lot of charity, a lot of community service, and not feeling bad about telling the rest of the world about how great we are. If we are to expand our political influence, we have to make sure that everyone knows who we are, what we stand for, and that our actions do speak louder than our words, which speak pretty damn loud. Humility is great, but we can't be afraid to do good things and be proud of it. It's just like at work, your boss won't consider giving you a raise if he doesn't know about your victories. Make people happy and don't be obnoxious, but make sure that they know you helped them.
The second part comes as part of the first, and that is educating people. Rather than just helping people solve their problems, we have to also be sure to help them to not need our help. If someone is weaker in some area in life than you are, help them get to your level by teaching them how to be there. This is education in reality, not a classroom. Teach people about their rights. Teach people how to start a business, do their taxes, change laws, run for office, or whatever. Just help people to learn. Knowledge is power, and if everyone knows their rights and the law, they won't be easily swayed by the Republican fear tactics.
It's also important to facilitate communication. Anything that we can do to help people organize is a good thing. The internet is a powerful tool, but it is not the only way. Put up signs, billboards, or even a commercial. Groups like Move On do this and are effective. Even a bumper sticker on your car can help people realize that they are not alone in feeling the way they do. We need to market ourselves and the truth. The right wing media is the best system of political marketing I've ever seen. They've really surpassed Hitler, although it's pretty clear that people like Rupert Murdoch have built off of Goebels. We need to get our message out there as loud and clear as possible, and in such a well-defined manner that our opposition can not twist it and redifine it like they have for so many years.
Another aspect of this is to remain honest and tell the truth. Do we know that the Bush family has had some level of dealings with the bin Laden family? Yes, it's a well established fact. However, the minute we exagerate it to become Bush inviting Usama bin Laden to Crawford to eat pork BBQ together, we are going too far. The right wins by lying. We have to be an alternative to lying. The truth is often more difficult than even a little white lie, but we have to remain honest and keep our integrity. Otherwise, we are no better than them. There is a lot of exageration on the part of people that post on this site, myself included. We have to tone it down and focus on facts. If we can do that, we can hit them harder with well-documented truths that they can't block against. A good example is how the CBS documents screwed up our chance of proving that Bush did not serve honorably in the military.
After this, there's nothing else we can do really. We help people become stronger in their personal lives, we remove the shroud of ignorance that permeates our culture and lives, and we help organize them. Then we have to leave it up to every individual to do the right thing. It's a lot like parenting, I suppose (not that I'm a parent.)
Results
What I predict is that we could make a very solid bloc of the southwest. We build upon the things that are most important to the people there and find common threads all the way from San Diego to Lufkin. We find out how to minimize the Republican influence, and expose the things that they have done wrong. We focus on the growing segments of the population, particularly latinos, and get them to be politically active. We don't leave anyone behind at the same time, and help middle class whites to adjust as well. If we can build a single region in the southwest that is strongly progressive, we can take back control of the nation and have the strength to keep it. At the very least, we can make the Republicans more honest. Imagine them as a Democrat-light party, rather than the way things are now. We need those votes.
Issues
There are issues that are important to winning the southwest, and we have to frame them correctly so that we can win people over, and not lose those that we already have on our side. Here are some of those issues, and how I think we should approach them.
Immigration - Legal, full immigration is the only answer. No guest worker programs, no building a fence. I've talked about it before, but here's the $0.05 summary. White middle class people need immigrants now to help keep the costs of labor down which keeps prices on things like food cheap. White middle class people will also benefit from full immigration to plug the population gap that will become a huge problem once the baby boomers are retired from the workforce. Full immigration causes people to spend their money here, rather than coming here to make money then taking it back to their old country when we kick them out. Immigration is great for Democrats because most immigrants end up supporting progressive viewpoints anyway, despite what the right wing media wants us to think. The more people, especially latinos, that become citizens and vote, the stronger we will become.
Environment - Every time there is a disaster such as a forest fire, a hurricane, or even unseasonable temperatures, we need to use that to discuss environmental devistation such as the Bush administration has been allowing and pushing to expand. There are too many problems with the environment and it's to a point where most people can see it now if you help them to. Air quality is horrible in most cities, for example. If we have another year like we did last year for hurricanes, I think we should try to find out of global warming has anything to do with it. Even asking that question alone is enough to make people think.
Food Quality - This is sort of a sleeper problem that most people are unaware of and is so prevelent that it will take a lot to wake people up from. The quality of our food is horrible. Sure, the FDA regulates our food to make sure that there is an acceptable amount of rat shit in our Frosted Flakes, but they do not regulate things like the amounts of saturated fat, or the amounts of different chemicals in our foods that they consider "harmless" but are actually really bad. I propose some fairly radical things with relation to our food, and America is not prepared for them, even though they are necessary. I'd like to see places like McDonalds unable to sell a hamburger to anyone under 21, and I'd like to see advertising towards kids regulated just as much as it is with cigarettes. Imagine if Joe Camel came back and gave a free toy with every carton of cigarettes? That's how bad Ronald McDonald is. Food from the supermarket is no better for the most part. Education is the first thing here that we need, and from there we can discuss how to deal with the problems. It's unfortunate that something as basic as our food is so contaminated, yet almost nobody realizes it. Want to know why your family suddenly got a history of cancer in the past fifty years? Look at what you put into your body.
Education Reform - Schools suck. People don't need to be in school until they are 18, then go to college. People don't need to learn the same boring shit from 5 years old to 21 years. The problem with our education is not just financial, but in the quality of what we teach. Limit things like the basics to elementary school. Don't teach high school kids a class called "English" teach them, "Literature" or "Contemporary Fiction Reading". Let them choose which to attend. Don't teach them how to make a pillow in home-ec, teach them how to balance a checkbook. Don't teach them history by telling them to remember boring dates, teach them history by discussing what happened and how it affects us today. Don't teach math at all, instead teach practical things that involve math. Teach high school students rocket science and make it a required course. It's possible. Teach how to set up a corporation and how to be an entrepreneur. Teach how to buy a house, get your services turned on, and then how to save up money to pay for your expenses. Teach every kid how to change their oil. I could rant about education for a long time, but I think you get my point.
Equality and tolerance - Teach people that it's ok to disagree, and that it's ok to be different. Don't try to force people to accept something, just try to get them to not stifle it. I know that many, particularly in the gay community, want to be accepted and treated just like straight people. It will take time, and the only advice I can give as a straight man is to treat your relationship like it is no big deal. If you come to your first day of work with a big rainbow flag and a t-shirt that says "QUEER" on it, you are going to make people uncomfortable. You don't win straight people over by announcing your sexuality first of all, because in our culture sexuality is usually a private thing. Let people get to know you as a person for your other qualities. If you are first known as a computer programmer, a great guitarist, a decent cookie maker, or even as a rude asshole, the fact that you are gay will be secondary and thus people will not make as big of a deal about it when they do find out. When I am at a job, I want the quality of my work and my personality to define me, not the fact that I am a man who enjoys sex with a woman.
I could go on, and looking back at this, it's unorganized and jumps all over the place. Still, I just wanted to get some of this out in my sleepy half-insomnia state that I am in at the moment. I feel that we need to focus on a few core issues that will allow us to win over the newer and growing areas of our nation. We don't need to win over "Nascar Dads" if that means becoming racists, homophobes, sexists, and putting sports above education. The other advantage to winning over the southwest is that if all else fails, we can easily start our own nation with those states, which sometimes I think would be better off anyway. However, that's going even more extreme, and we have to build upon what we have now, not what our fantasies could come up with.
Anyway, it's ten minutes until 2am, and I should go try to sleep.