World Refugee Day isn’t until June 20 (that’s a Tuesday) but why wait? The UN refugee agency’s Global Trends report shows 27.1 million refugees and 4.6 million asylum seekers, but that’s based on 2021 reports. Conflict, persecution, human rights abuses, and climate change displaced millions in 2021. The epicenters of displacement in 2021 were the wars in Ethiopia, Syria and Afghanistan. Then add on the people of Ukraine, and the Russians trying to avoid conscription. According to one report, the Russians are going to Alaska.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “People escaping violence or persecution must be able to cross borders safely. They must not face discrimination at borders or be unfairly denied refugee status or asylum due to their race, religion, gender, or country of origin.” Obviously these are people who still believe in the promise of the United States. Perhaps they haven’t heard of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who shipped 50 Venezuelan refugees to Martha’s Vineyard in his own private version of trick or treat. It was such a great way to stick it to the Libs. Then there’s Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign to provide what he’s described as relief to overwhelmed border communities by sending refugees to the US Naval Observatory – home to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence.
These governors are simply trying to demonstrate what a terrible time they have with all these people trying to crowd into such a small space. Consider Texas. Texas used to be proud of how big it is – and it’s still the biggest of the lower 48 states. It’s home to 29,145,505 people, give or take a few dozen. That works out to 112 people per square mile, which is pretty much mid pack. The winner for most crowded state goes to New Jersey, which has 11,295 people in every square mile, while the state with the most elbow room is Alaska with only 1.3 people for every square mile. Admittedly it can get pretty cold in Alaska during the winter, but that may be a reason to get more people so they can share body heat. Wyoming comes in second at six people per square mile.
Yes, there is a serious problem with the number of refugees and people seeking asylum, but there is also a problem caused by the hard right turn of the rural areas. Recently the Washington Post published a report under the head, “Why resentful rural Americans vote Republican.”
Many of these voters think they are under represented, under-resourced and overlooked.” Paul Krugman in the New York Times echoed this, writing, “Political scientists have found that rural Americans believe that they aren’t receiving their fair share of resources, that they are neglected by politicians and that they don’t receive enough respect. So it seems worth noting that the first two beliefs are demonstrably false — although I’m sure that anyone pointing this out will be denounced as another sneering member of the urban elite.”
The fact is basic to economics and political science, neither of which are really scientific. The red states in general are low population and are being heavily subsidized by the blue states. The balance of payments are the result of some of our best program, the social safety net that offers Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The populations of these states are aging, and increasingly dependent on these programs, while younger people are moving to areas of higher population density. It’s the result of major economic changes, and the evolution of the United States away from an agrarian society to knowledge-intensive industries. These, in turn, favor major metropolitan areas where people work closely together in Dilbert-like cubicles.
The shift in work patterns is intense. There are only about two million farms in the United States. While people in the metropolitan areas still have an idealistic idea of the small family farm, of people living close to the soil, (while it seems that rural people think they’re being looked down on, and aren’t receiving their fair share, either of money or respect.) The term “fly over country” is considered an insult, and no proper city dweller would use it any more. On the other hand, rural people have been told that major population centers are filled with elitists and criminals. The perceptions are wrong, but perceptions frive voting patterns no matter what the facts are.
The fact that Republicans can take advantage of these disparities results in gerrymandering which allows them to get political control without a majority of the votes. Neither Prof. Krugman nor the writers in the Post offer answers to this misperception, but the causes are there – it’s time to look for answers.
Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in Louisville, Ky. Email sdu01@outlook.com.
From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2022
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