This is sort of about politics, but I want to take a step back and look at it objectively.
A friend of mine on facebook posted this and made comments about how red states are bad for business.
I added a little fuel to the fire by saying “By “better” they mean the policies harm the people they don’t like. It’s not about human flourishing and raising all boats, it’s about them feeling better.”
And he fanned the flames some more, “So what you are telling me is that they are a bunch of selfish a-holes? About time to call a spade a spade I think.”
But, I clarified that I was talking about a few rich and powerful people who actually can make policy. Specifically:
it's more complicated than that. Most people are too busy surviving to think about how to design a better world, let alone something like state laws for economic policy. They don't wake up each day choosing to be selfish. But there are some people who do, people with lots of cash and lots of free time, and they use it to play on the minds and emotions of the people who work hard and go home tired every nightThis is why I think we need to shift this focus on what is currently called "the divide". It's not red vs blue states, it's the same old rich vs poor. The poor are better off in many ways than 500 years ago, but the issues remain the same. We (the middle class liberals) have much more in common with the middle class conservatives than we do with the rich liberals.