Now that our president has declared his intention to use the Constitution, our shrine to equality, to deny civil rights to gays, it's time that we look at the big picture.
It's the economy, stupid.
Even if Bush fails, and Kos himself has argued well on this point, Bush is still undermining the economy through his intolerance. And after three years of the Bush swoon, we cannot afford even the slightest hint of bigotry.
Gays have become a key to economic success, but since political leaders of both parties (save Howard Dean) still feel all icky when discussing people who stick their dicks up each others' butts, no one talks about this.
It would be misleading to say outright that gays are integral to the economy. The truth is that openness to homosexuals is a key factor in a city's or region's ability to generate wealth.
A trend that has been percolating for decades but accelerated in the 1990s demonstrates this. And we on dKOS are well aware of this trend, though thus far we have only looked at it in terms of Democrats vs. Republicans. I'm talking about the blue states vs. the red states -- the demographic shift that shook the country in 2000.
When we've looked at the picture more closely, we've seen not just states but blue and red regions and neighborhoods. The blue neighborhoods -- Seattle, Portland, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Austin, Boston, etc. -- have been gaining their hue as homosexuals flee the intolerant red neighborhoods they grew up in. They got even bluer as immigrants decided to locate in them for reasons of tolerance and diversity. They turned bluer still when their universities attracted scientists and researchers from Eastern Europe, India and East Asia. The result was a cross-pollination of ideas that gave us the booming '90s.
The recipe for new jobs, companies and industries is there for everyone to see. And what led the red districts to their economic plight (look at a map, the red areas, the Republican regions, are the most economically depressed in the country) is also easily deciphered: Chase away the gays, close your doors to immigrants, turn your back on scientists. Say yes to Christianity and no to everything else. Close your mind.
Unfortunately the demographic shift that led to our economic rebirth in the 1990s also gave us George W. Bush in 2000.
And he is taking us backward. Bush has already used 9/11 to deny visas to foreign students, researchers and performers, and we're all the poorer for it. I'm not going to get into this, but if you're interested, check out this link:
http://www.creativeclass.org/hotpress.shtml
It's a Washington Monthly article by Richard Florida, who has been studying and detailing this demographic shift for years. His work has stoked a lot of the thoughts I put into words above (OK, some of the thoughts I merely lifted from him), and he goes much deeper into the issue. It's a long read, but well worthwhile.
At any rate, the cultural war Bush has chosen to fight against homosexuals will turn out to be an economic war waged against the United States of America. If he wins, all Americans lose.
