Obviously, the Times sorta takes the side of the Blue states, but, does play much of this straight (you can also see at Yahoo News if the paywall gets you)
Flurry of New Laws Move Blue and Red States Further Apart
After the governor of Texas ordered state agencies to investigate parents for child abuse if they provide certain medical treatments to their transgender children, California lawmakers proposed a law making the state a refuge for transgender youths and their families.
When Idaho proposed a ban on abortions that empowers relatives to sue anyone who helps terminate a pregnancy after six weeks, nearby Oregon approved $15 million to help cover the abortion expenses of patients from out of state.
As Republican activists aggressively pursue conservative social policies in state legislatures across the country, liberal states are taking defensive actions. Spurred by a U.S. Supreme Court that is expected to soon upend an array of long-standing rights, including the constitutional right to abortion, left-leaning lawmakers from Washington to Vermont have begun to expand access to abortion, bolster voting rights and denounce laws in conservative states targeting LGBTQ minors.
The flurry of action, particularly in the West, is intensifying already marked differences between life in liberal- and conservative-led parts of the country. And it’s a sign of the consequences when state governments are controlled increasingly by single parties. Control of legislative chambers is split between parties now in only two states — Minnesota and Virginia — compared with 15 states 30 years ago.
“We’re further and further polarizing and fragmenting, so that blue states and red states are becoming not only a little different but radically different,” said Jon Michaels, a law professor who studies government at UCLA.
Well, yeah. On one side you have states which do not want parents and teachers to force the trans agenda on kids who really do not know better. Which want to limit killing the unborn, especially since Dems seem to treat abortion as contraception. Restricting teaching CRT, which demonizes white kids, and even Asians and Latinos. Giving parents control over what their kids are taught. Stopping the insane climate cult stuff. Upholding 2nd Amendment Rights (maybe a bit too much, IMO. I’m all for permits for concealed carry. That’s a long explanation). And so much more. Dems want the opposite, adding on huge taxes and fees, authoritarian government over citizens, and more.
With some 30 legislatures in Republican hands, conservative lawmakers, working in many cases with shared legislative language, have begun to enact a tsunami of restrictions that for years were blocked by Democrats and moderate Republicans at the federal level. A recent wave of anti-abortion bills, for instance, has been the largest since the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
They call these restrictions, and they’re right: except, most are restrictions on government and government employees, with the others mostly protecting citizens, especially the most vulnerable, like children
Many, however, send a strong cultural message. And divisions will widen further, said Peverill Squire, an expert on state legislatures at the University of Missouri, if the Supreme Court hands more power over to the states on issues like abortion and voting, as it did when it said in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering was beyond federal jurisdiction.
Some legal analysts also say the anticipated rollback of abortion rights could throw a host of other privacy rights into state-level turmoil, from contraception to health care. Meanwhile, entrenched partisanship, which has already hobbled federal decision-making, could block attempts to impose strong national standards in Congress.
“We’re potentially entering a new era of state-centered policymaking,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside. “We may be heading into a future where you could have conservative states and progressive states deciding they are better off pushing their own visions of what government should be.”
The Conservative vision of government is that it is limited, empowers Citizens, and is based on the Constitution. The Democrat vision is that government is Great and should be huge and control everything, with parents having little control of their children and abortion should be whenever for whatever till birth, and sometimes after. Citizens should be disarmed, at the beck and call of government. That citizens earnings are the government’s money. Dissension is not allowed, on pain of cancellation. Comply, Comrade!
But no state has been as aggressive as California in shoring up alternatives to the Republican legislation.
The state with high taxes, high cost of living, high housing, and massive restrictions on citizen freedom and life choices? The one people and companies are abandoning? And lets not forget about all the high crime in California and other Progressive meccas.
The question now becomes “are we moving to a Big Split”? And, if so, will it be amicable, or war?
Read: NY Times Notices New Laws Push Red And Blue States Further Apart »
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