How did we get to a point where people make decisions about where they move based on how the neighbors voted in the last election?
I'd suggest that if someone is more than a couple of queer, atheist, racial minority, vegetarian, cyclist, artist, nerdy, career-oriented female, etc then they may find it even more challenging to fit in.
It's worth looking carefully at any community before moving in, but it's worth looking especially carefully before moving to a deep red area in a red state.
(Or vice-versa if you're a religious conservative -- you might find a dark blue community in a blue state a poor fit.)
That's the personal angle of course, but also I'd generally prefer to live somewhere where the neighbors aren't out to get other marginalised groups, either...
US political party identification is a decent though not perfect proxy for how your neighbors are likely to feel about a whole range of issues, and _people_.
Not nearly as much as you have been told it is. But that’s a really nice way to generalize conservatives as racists. The truth is as a local who has lived in both areas, I’ve met just as many left wing racists as right, just in different ways.
I find more diversity of thought among anti-establishment left because what’s important to them/us is addressed by such a variety of movements rather than mainstream politics.
In this sense establishment Democrats are a proxy for the anti-establishment left, many of whom can’t even vote.
And even though a bunch do not affect me, my kids might benefit from them someday. Was a no brainer for me to look at how my neighbors would be voting when choosing where to live.
Seeing those raving lunatics roving over the capitol grounds gives me pause though.
I know most people aren’t like that, but it’s hard to not be worried.
I know, the Kavanaugh protesters were totally unreasonable.
On the one hand you have folks that want to ban rights of LGBTQ folks, end ability to get an abortion safely, for example.
On the other there’s those that want to remove powers of the police, allow homeless drug addicts to take over neighborhoods, and more authoritarian style lockdown policies in public health.
There’s people that really don’t like some of that and will go where their lives feel less restricted.
But there is no place to go. The global status quo has me trapped here as a prisoner. There will no escape, no relief, and no freedom. I am and shall always be a slave of some State; I can only pick my poison.
These words will ring true, for some, in every corner of the world. But by all means, continue to ignore, marginalize, and exploit us. That surely will end well.
Recent rulings in Canada over speech are pretty nuts too given their history. Worse than the batshit crazy stuff going on in Britain today :p
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2569072-the-big-sort
The idea is a lot less about politics, and more about being comfortable in the area you live in.
If at all, her maps don't take that into account, as this is also on a state level, so a "blue" region in a state that has harmful legislation is still a dangerous place to live in.
Given that system, this is a very democratic and rational move.