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The biggest bit is things like ag subsidies that indirectly sustain the region not personal welfare state. In fact Red rhetoric is based on larping individualism one degree removed from direct welfare.
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Very indirectly; ag subsidies keep the market even; it doesn't pay for farmers to larp as individualists, it pays to keep their production in reserve as the market demands; just like power production. Respectfully, I think you speak from the same ignorance you project on them.
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For example, would Silicon Valley be the tech epicenter it is without Northrup Grumman parking there or DARPA funding an internet? Government contracts continue to fund the private technical advancements in California, Maryland, NoVa and Texas...
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We’re talking about 1985-2020, not 1945-70. At least I am. If you think red and blue are economically equal partners today there is no real conversation here.
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The defense economy bootstrapped Silicon Valley — in the 50s-70s. It is a fraction of that economy today. The Googles and Amazons have emerged from that state bootstrapping to create a thriving private sector. No similar vitalism took root in what us now Red America.
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I think part of that is that we produce product whose cost for distribution is pretty much sunk in AT&T's past; write once, run anywhere, right? WAY different in commodities markets, which you acknowledge; a harder market, but equally if not more important to everyday living.
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You seem to be arguing 3 things: 1. Both regions were bootstrapped through state support (true) 2. Both regions are equally dependent on state support today (I believe this is false) 3. Red has a moral case for greater state support (food security), which I reject
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I’m arguing 3 things and it is not clear what part you object to 1. A big differential has emerged since 1980 for various reasons. Blue began thriving more economically. 2. It would be good if Red were to also begin thriving again economically 3. Blue can/should help
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Solely the mechanism by which 3 occurs; you believe red has an absurd caricature of blue, then proceed to make one of red; based on that caricature, you seem to think they need an understanding of shared humanity instead of job opportunities.
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I find that Red America is deeply caught up in a “decline of the west” neo-spenglerian narrative with no desire to even look for a shared new common humanity narrative. They see no place for themselves on a world that the west doesn’t unilaterally dominate.
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This is not a caricature. I’ve had red ideologues make pretty much this exact argument at me multiple times. And their relentless support for Trump and everything he’s done/tried to do dies not exactly falsify the caricature.
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