A worrying trend: Americans moving to other states as they sort themselves by ideology
The “Harry Potter” books famously feature a sorting hat, a magical way of determining in which house Hogwarts students truly belong: Gryffindor? Slytherin?
Last week, The Associated Press reported that Americans have no need for such sorcery to find the like-minded: Republicans and Democrats are separating physically at such a furious pace, the news agency reported, the ideological divide between the states is now starker than at any point in living memory.
The most striking evidence? A single party controls the legislature in all but two states. And only 10 states are led by governors of parties that differ from the one that controls the legislature.
Some of that is a consequence of pernicious gerrymandering, of course. And as Florida has learned, lopsidedly partisan control actually enhances that practice — which is how Gov. Ron DeSantis got away with ordering lawmakers to adopt congressional maps that maximized the number of GOP representatives Florida sent to the U.S. House, in the process running roughshod against a state constitutional prohibition on nakedly partisan districting embraced by voters just 12 years prior.
But there is so little common ground these days that Americans increasingly are picking up and moving to where they feel at one with the dominant cultural norms and free to express themselves. That’s also being felt in Florida, though hordes of traditional Democratic voters turned out for DeSantis in 2022’s elections, flipping Miami-Dade County in the process.
Lives are impacted
If you want to put out a gay pride flag, you might think twice about living in one of the seven states — Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina — where the Republican attorneys general issued a threatening collective letter to the retailer Target last week over its display of LGBTQ-friendly merchandise. The same holds true for Florida, where many transgender residents are considering a move after a spate of legislation that threatens their access to health care.
Conservatives, on the other hand, also told the AP that they can be made to feel uncomfortable, in their case if they display a pro-police flag in liberal communities or even the Stars and Stripes. That’s a sad state of affairs. Americans should have the right to indicate their support of law enforcement or express their patriotism with displays on their own property.
In some ways, of course, the so-called “big sort” is a harmless clustering of the like-minded: Certain college towns long have attracted progressives just as other communities, offering lots of space and open air, have appealed more to conservatives. And we’d also note that these divides are not always marked by a state line.
But the busy moving vans still represent a worrying trend. Homogenized states mean less incentive for politicians to work together and less incentive for Americans to see the other side of issues. They represent the diminishment of core American values that enhance the nation’s unity.
At its worst, it can embolden representatives of the dominant party to act as if law should be completely subject to their will, as DeSantis has shown through his shredding of long-established protections (including many embraced by bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers and voters in the past decade) meant to keep Florida politicians of all parties ethical and accountable. And it can incubate hate, as seen in the rise of vocal proponents of ultra-right fascism, demonstrating on Florida streets and waving DeSantis signs.
And on the most personal level, it means less chance to learn something from, and teach something to, a decent person with different views who just happens to live next door.