I grew up in Maryland and while it is a smaller state that draws little attention it did deserve its nickname “America in miniature”. Maryland gained that reputation because it has mountains to the West, the Ocean to the East, a major city in Baltimore, suburbs surrounding DC, lakes, rivers, and rural areas, Maryland is indeed a geographic and demographic mini-America.
But where Maryland really is “America in miniature” is in the political divide.
And I am here to tell you that we all need a divorce.
You see, while Maryland is “America in miniature”, it also mirrors our political divide completely in miniature as well. Baltimore city may be a declining “rust belt” style city whose population has declined by hundreds of thousands in the last seventy odd years, but it is still the voting engine that keeps Democrats in power in the state. The same could be said for the DC suburbs of Maryland. All Democrat all the time. Maryland is a reliably one Party state. There are vast sections of “red” that just get dwarfed by “blue” city numbers coming out of Baltimore.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland which sits on the other side of the great Chesapeake Bay divide is reliably “red”. Sure there are small town “urban” pockets that vote “blue” such as Salisbury, but voting totals out of little Salisbury cannot overcome the rural “red” vote on the eastern shore. And the eastern shore is a reliably conservative “red” region. They just have no real representation because their counties are married to Baltimore and the DC suburbs. So the people of the eastern shore have no representation. They are orphans, subject to the will of the city and suburb dwellers that drive through their flat-as-a-pancake land on the way to vacation in Ocean City each Summer.
And the Western part of the state is reliably “red”, the “panhandle” of Maryland that stretches out between West Virginia and Pennsylvania, all mountains and woods with a giant man-made lake, and small ski resort. And one broken town that used to thrive when America actually made things, and shipped those things via railroad. But that town, Cumberland, died just after the big war, and sits as a shell of its former self, a ghost town populated with those who either can’t get out, or can’t find their way out.
So what you have in Maryland is one-Party rule predicated on the votes of those who occupy Baltimore city and it’s surrounding county, and those counties that ring Washington, DC.
For all intent and purpose the eastern shore of Maryland has no representation. Nor do the people out west. They are all captive to the voting habits of Baltimore and the DC suburbs. Who absolutely do not vote the values, principles, and conscious of the rest of the state.
What is happening out in Oregon-Idaho, where the rural areas of Oregon wish to secede from the influence of the “blue” big city votes of Portland and merge with rural Idaho where they have much more in common, really needs to happen everywhere in America, and especially in Maryland.
Counties across the rural sections of Maryland need to secede from the state, they need to abandon Baltimore, allow Baltimore to vote themselves into oblivion absent bringing down the rest of the state.
Why not, I can tell you no one’s interest is served in the “red” counties of Maryland by what happens in the legislature of Maryland .They are an after-thought to Baltimore.
Now in the old days, back in the 1950’s, when Baltimore was the thriving economic engine of the state it might have made sense for all those counties to stay together. But today Baltimore is a drag on the Maryland economy, poor, decrepit, and in permanent decline. Industry isn’t coming back as long as all products we consume are made overseas. There is absolutely no need for all those rural farmers to participate in a “democracy” where their vote doesn’t count. Where they have no say in how they are governed because the “blue” numbers coming out of Baltimore and the DC suburbs dwarf the number of votes the rural counties can produce.
What is happening in Oregon-Idaho needs to begin to accelerate across the country. And especially in Maryland.
We are all promised representation in America, a voice in how our lives are governed. But if the big city can dwarf our vote and voice what are we to do? What does an eastern shore farmer have in common with the city dweller in Baltimore, or the rich, DC fat cat living large in Potomac on Fed produced dollars?
The short answer is nothing.
The very real argument is that that farmer has no voice. He is a subject to the “blue” voices that dominate his state. He has no representation in state government. He is living a feudal existence, subject to the whims of those who can decree rules and regulations from far away from home.
We all need to divorce, and I mean now, right away.
We need to let “blue” cities vote themselves into degradation and filth Ala San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark, and Detroit.
And to free up the “red” areas to be allowed to self-govern with a fiscal responsibility, with rules and regulations set upon foundational principles, and to give “red” areas of states the ability to self-govern.
Something that “blue” cities have stolen from them in their states.
Rural Oregon has the right idea. People deserve representation. They deserve a voice in how their government serves them. You can’t shove Portland values down the throats of Wallowa residents. They do right now, but that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
A great divorce needs to happen.
Starting in Oregon-Idaho, but taking over America.
Texas can tell Austin to sink or swim on it’s own. Let Austin degrade into a homeless encampment shithole of crime and filth. Left on its own Houston would degrade into New Orleans. Even the oil business couldn’t save them from their politics.
I am sick and tired of seeing political votes move by “blue” city values that affect my own life when I have chosen to live far from city center. On purpose, I don’t want to live in their filth and degradation. I shouldn’t have to live with their politics.
Here in Florida you can color the cities blue while the rest of the state is red. I don’t want to be governed by Miami sensibilities here in a more rural section of the state. Key West has the right idea, become the Conch Nation and go its own way.
I don’t want to live in a world where Miami, Tampa, and Orlando reign supreme and control the entire state. What do they have in common with panhandle residents? I’ll tell you; nothing. What does my own lifestyle here in Palm Beach County have to do with Miami? Nothing. Let blue city dwellers live with the consequences of their actions and decline, they don’t need to take us all with them.
We need a divorce across the land. We need it now.
I’m tired of living under city politics when I’ve spent my lifetime removing my family as far from the city, its school system, its crime, its congestion, corrupt politics, and its values as possible.
LA and San Francisco aren’t Bakersfield. And Bakersfield shouldn’t have to live with a government that adheres to LA and San Francisco values. Upstate New York and the Finger Lakes region isn’t The Big Apple.
Let’s break up this country as soon as possible. Divorce is inevitable, let’s get at it.
I read Twitter, at this point you city dwellers just loathe us MAGA people, and we sure as Hell don’t need to stay together “for the children”, since you want to indoctrinate mine with drag shows and rainbows. You raise yours, I’ll raise mine, let’s see whose come out better and well adjusted.
Agree