Facing federal paralysis and partisan weaponization, blue states are forming powerful alliances. From public health to climate, they are building their own future outside Washington’s reach.
I have been thinking how the country is too big and too diverse to be governable for some time and that we need to think about restructuring. Leave a defense umbrella and open travel/trade but let the regional blocks decide how they govern themselves.
This highlights the key, critical issue of our time: Why are we [in blue states] paying into a government that does not serve us, and does the republic that once bound us together still exist in practice? The answer to the latter question is clear. The open issue is how to address the first. Things are moving rapidly.
Great reporting! I especially appreciate the “explanation of methodology” at the end; I wish every substantive analysis were required to include those notes.
I've seen others say this earlier, but MN and ILL and WI and MI should be noted, too; there should be a big blue blob of delight in the middle of the looming Capitol. Please - we are not just flyover country.
This article should be on the front page of every newspaper in the US. That's if the newspapers would remove their heads from their backsides. What you so helpfully delineate is a logical consequence of the fact that our current cobbled-together and antiquated system of government has resulted in inequities which have become too much to bear. It seems to me that one of the single most hopeful things on the horizon is blue state blocs and soft secession. Especially when you consider the awful spectacle of what a rogue Federal Government has wrought. (And will, um 'wrought more.') Reform is paramount, and the things you suggest will be at the top of the list. Overnight, many things will change and many of our ills disappear, poof. Not all of course, but enough to give us renewed optimism. Thanks for once again speaking truth to power.
Thank you for that comprehensive review on how blue states support welfare red states who complain about welfare recipients. The House, as it currently stands, leads to many of the problems you describe. I wonder what the House would look like if it expanded as population expanded? Would there be more blue or red representation?
While I am sure there are laws that determine state inputs into the federal treasury, why don't blue states withhold excess payments and lower the taxes on their own residents? As politics stand now, overpaying into the federal govt gives more power and relief to welfare red states while blue states, which produce 70% of GDP are left with scrapes. I would like to see one blue state not overpay fed taxes, as Newsom has floated the idea. I am tired of blue states being ridiculed by republicans as being death dens while their red states snatch billions from the blue states they hate. Let them fend for themselves. The trump clown stretches the law to fit his manic desires. Time for blue states to stretch the law to feed teir own people.
Seems like the next logical step from regional compacts would be regional redistribution of excess tax outflows. I can see states like California and New York leading a movement of donor states to cap federal tax expenditures to match federal contributions to their states, with the excess taxes pooled within the blocs to cover natural disaster responses, health emergencies, and the like which the federal government has failed to deliver.
Red states that scream about 'socialism' while relying on blue state tax dollars to cover large portions of their states' operating budgets each year should find out what happens when they use their rigged majorities to rig-district blue states into permanent minority status. Personally, I think it's past time for blue states to come out swinging - starting with cutting off the flow of their tax dollars into smug welfare states that live off the largess of blue donor states.
Why do articles like this always leave out Illinois? Does Illinois have to chose between East and West coasts, or is there a central axis as well with Illinois and Minnesota at the top and maybe an ungerrymandered Wisconsin and possibly Michigan?
Georgia is a state to watch. Puzzled that Gov Kemp just agreed to send Ga Natl Gaurd troops to DC but think that announcement came just prior to the Hyundai plant raid down in south Ga. Ga State Troopers were said to have participated in that raid. There are at least two other large Korean green energy plants planned or already under construction in Georgia-one in Cartersville and one in Whitfield County I think. All of these Korean plants predated the second Trump adm.
There is also a lot of storm damage remaining in the Augusta area and perhaps other areas as well in south Georgia from storms that the current adm refuses requests for federal assistance for from a Republican gov in a largely Republican led state but one that has stood up to DJT in the past.
The vindictiveness is so striking. If the knee is not bent deeply enough, the aid does not flow no matter the politics and the retribution can come in an instant.
Those Korean plants are the largest job creators brought into Georgia in years. South Georgia just lost an International Paper plant that had been there for decades and now, according to Korean press, the fate of all these Korean plants is also at risk.
Excellent piece, I’ve been wondering since covid how many governors have been quietly getting their multi state coalitions in a row. With an insane & revengeful unchecked president and red states fearlessly suing or attacking blue states, it was inevitable that a back room self-preservation civil war would start brewing.
A reasonable person, after feeling his / her pocket picked repeatedly, would consider changing where they walked, wearing more secure pants, or moving. We are arriving at the “moving” part. We are in a spousal abuse situation with Trump, MAGA, and the Red States. Or, if you like fairytales, like Cinderella and her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. In the US the Constitution is the agreement by all as to how the Nation shall be constituted and managed. We seem to be in that terrible situation, again, where Southern style attitudes, deftly flavored by tech oligarchs, and autocrats, is relegating a large portion of us to the pay, obey, and get out of the way class. I am hoping my state moves from purple to Blue. But, I can move if need be. BTW, how much do I owe for Oil and Farm subsidies?
If we are to be a representational democracy, then we need to expand the # of House Members. We also need to expand the # of Supreme Court Justices to match with the Federal Circuits. So yes, we have work to do once we are through the current disruptions.
These are so much more than just disruptions to get through. These are fatal fissures that won't be addressed within the frame of an 18th century design.
Please fact check. Bob Ferguson is the Governor of Washington. Otherwise, good job.
I have been thinking how the country is too big and too diverse to be governable for some time and that we need to think about restructuring. Leave a defense umbrella and open travel/trade but let the regional blocks decide how they govern themselves.
This highlights the key, critical issue of our time: Why are we [in blue states] paying into a government that does not serve us, and does the republic that once bound us together still exist in practice? The answer to the latter question is clear. The open issue is how to address the first. Things are moving rapidly.
Great reporting! I especially appreciate the “explanation of methodology” at the end; I wish every substantive analysis were required to include those notes.
I've seen others say this earlier, but MN and ILL and WI and MI should be noted, too; there should be a big blue blob of delight in the middle of the looming Capitol. Please - we are not just flyover country.
The mentioned how the midwest worked together in the pandemic.
Washington governor is Bob Ferguson not Jay Inslee.
This article should be on the front page of every newspaper in the US. That's if the newspapers would remove their heads from their backsides. What you so helpfully delineate is a logical consequence of the fact that our current cobbled-together and antiquated system of government has resulted in inequities which have become too much to bear. It seems to me that one of the single most hopeful things on the horizon is blue state blocs and soft secession. Especially when you consider the awful spectacle of what a rogue Federal Government has wrought. (And will, um 'wrought more.') Reform is paramount, and the things you suggest will be at the top of the list. Overnight, many things will change and many of our ills disappear, poof. Not all of course, but enough to give us renewed optimism. Thanks for once again speaking truth to power.
Thank you for that comprehensive review on how blue states support welfare red states who complain about welfare recipients. The House, as it currently stands, leads to many of the problems you describe. I wonder what the House would look like if it expanded as population expanded? Would there be more blue or red representation?
While I am sure there are laws that determine state inputs into the federal treasury, why don't blue states withhold excess payments and lower the taxes on their own residents? As politics stand now, overpaying into the federal govt gives more power and relief to welfare red states while blue states, which produce 70% of GDP are left with scrapes. I would like to see one blue state not overpay fed taxes, as Newsom has floated the idea. I am tired of blue states being ridiculed by republicans as being death dens while their red states snatch billions from the blue states they hate. Let them fend for themselves. The trump clown stretches the law to fit his manic desires. Time for blue states to stretch the law to feed teir own people.
Seems like the next logical step from regional compacts would be regional redistribution of excess tax outflows. I can see states like California and New York leading a movement of donor states to cap federal tax expenditures to match federal contributions to their states, with the excess taxes pooled within the blocs to cover natural disaster responses, health emergencies, and the like which the federal government has failed to deliver.
Red states that scream about 'socialism' while relying on blue state tax dollars to cover large portions of their states' operating budgets each year should find out what happens when they use their rigged majorities to rig-district blue states into permanent minority status. Personally, I think it's past time for blue states to come out swinging - starting with cutting off the flow of their tax dollars into smug welfare states that live off the largess of blue donor states.
I loved how Chicago salt trucks blocked the roads.... may we all have automobile issues stalling on roads in the days and weeks to come
Why do articles like this always leave out Illinois? Does Illinois have to chose between East and West coasts, or is there a central axis as well with Illinois and Minnesota at the top and maybe an ungerrymandered Wisconsin and possibly Michigan?
They specifically mentioned mid-west blocs.
Georgia is a state to watch. Puzzled that Gov Kemp just agreed to send Ga Natl Gaurd troops to DC but think that announcement came just prior to the Hyundai plant raid down in south Ga. Ga State Troopers were said to have participated in that raid. There are at least two other large Korean green energy plants planned or already under construction in Georgia-one in Cartersville and one in Whitfield County I think. All of these Korean plants predated the second Trump adm.
There is also a lot of storm damage remaining in the Augusta area and perhaps other areas as well in south Georgia from storms that the current adm refuses requests for federal assistance for from a Republican gov in a largely Republican led state but one that has stood up to DJT in the past.
The vindictiveness is so striking. If the knee is not bent deeply enough, the aid does not flow no matter the politics and the retribution can come in an instant.
Those Korean plants are the largest job creators brought into Georgia in years. South Georgia just lost an International Paper plant that had been there for decades and now, according to Korean press, the fate of all these Korean plants is also at risk.
Excellent piece, I’ve been wondering since covid how many governors have been quietly getting their multi state coalitions in a row. With an insane & revengeful unchecked president and red states fearlessly suing or attacking blue states, it was inevitable that a back room self-preservation civil war would start brewing.
A reasonable person, after feeling his / her pocket picked repeatedly, would consider changing where they walked, wearing more secure pants, or moving. We are arriving at the “moving” part. We are in a spousal abuse situation with Trump, MAGA, and the Red States. Or, if you like fairytales, like Cinderella and her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. In the US the Constitution is the agreement by all as to how the Nation shall be constituted and managed. We seem to be in that terrible situation, again, where Southern style attitudes, deftly flavored by tech oligarchs, and autocrats, is relegating a large portion of us to the pay, obey, and get out of the way class. I am hoping my state moves from purple to Blue. But, I can move if need be. BTW, how much do I owe for Oil and Farm subsidies?
If we are to be a representational democracy, then we need to expand the # of House Members. We also need to expand the # of Supreme Court Justices to match with the Federal Circuits. So yes, we have work to do once we are through the current disruptions.
These are so much more than just disruptions to get through. These are fatal fissures that won't be addressed within the frame of an 18th century design.
Sometimes you got to do what you got to for the best of your people.