At this point, making fun of The New York Times op-ed page is like shooting fish in a barrel that have already been shot, but sometimes you have to.
Asks David Brooks:
There are a lot of us in the Northeastern media who properly spend a lot of time slamming the Republican Party for what a mess it’s become. I have only one question: If we’re right, why are so many people leaving blue states so they can live in red ones?
David Brooks, it’s the fucking cost of housing. It’s between living in a closet with 35 roommates vs. having a home with a yard.
Between 2010 and 2020, the fastest-growing states were mostly red— places like Texas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina. During the pandemic that trend accelerated, and once again, most of the big population-gaining states are governed by Republicans.
The cost of housing.
If you go back further, you see decade after decade of migration toward the more conservative South. The Brookings Institution demographer William Frey has noted that in 1920, the Northeast and the Midwest accounted for 60 percent of America’s population. A century later, the Sun Belt accounts for 62 percent of the nation’s population. These days we are mostly a Sun Belt nation.
Why are these red states growing so rapidly?
The cost of housing.
The short answer is that they are more pro-business. In a study for the American Enterprise Institute, Mark J. Perry compared the top 10 states people were flocking to in 2021 with the top 10 states people were flocking from.
Yes, David Brooks. All of my friends who had to move from San Francisco or New York to red states did so to take advantage of the lack of regulations so they could start businesses. No they moved because of the cost of housing.
Brooks does hit on one solid observation (a stopped clock, etc). People might be flocking to red states, but they’re going to blue cities. Well yes, duh. Blue and purplish cities in red states are awesome. Why do you think all the drunk bachelorette parties take place in Nashville? (As per Brooks, probably because Tennessee is pro-business).
The conflict between red state/blue city actually generates very interesting politics. I spent a ton of time in Nashville with an ex. It wasn’t all “Grand Ole Opera” (tho that shit is fun!) there was a cool, thriving punk scene with extremely progressive politics. And sorry but even the most traditionalist country music “Real America” scene has always had a subversive edge. See, Dolly Parton. Also, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash were the first prison abolitionists.
And, with blue state politics calcified by the fact that the real estate industry owns every politician (The cost of housing) I think really interesting politics will emerge in blue cities/red states. I’m hoping that with new awareness among the privileged about the horror of the criminal justice system and the very longstanding awareness of it among poor people and people of color, we could see real change.
Concludes David Brooks: “We know the policy mix that creates a dynamic society. We just don’t yet have a party that wants to promote it.” Yes. And that’s creating affordable housing. Any lawmaker who grasps that this is pretty much the main issue for millennials and younger (and not looser business regulations) has a bright political future (See, Julia Salazar).
The perfect title for this piece - don't forget that Brooks preaches about family, community, etc., and I wonder how his leaving his wife to marry a 20-something research assistant informs his views on those issues. As you said, David Brooks is a moron.
It seems reductive but almost every major issue we face comes back to housing.