Democrats control Oregon, and the place is rapidly going to hell. Extremely high cost of living, rampant homelessness, high taxes, tax money being wasted on superfluous traffic lights instead of actually helping people, and so on.
Clearly, more is needed than to just elect any old Democrats and call it a day.
New “blue” states like Minnesota and Michigan are doing a lot of good for their citizens and cementing their blue status for years to come, but old school blue states have this NIMBY mentality that prevents fixing problems, and it is ruining WA, OR, CA, MA, and NY, all of which have big housing shortages that CAN be easily fixed with new housing, but perennial zoning laws written 50 years ago to protect housing values are generating homeless situations. Red states have these NIMBY laws too.
Yes, something important to remember about Oregon specifically is that there were really explicit exclusion laws up into the 1920s to stop black people moving there. We think of Portland and hippie bookstore taco garage vegan ice cream shops and whatever but it’s still a very non-diverse state to this day (something like a 2% black population).
So I think the overwhelmingly white demographic combined with a rural area that is still quite racist and conservative, are what make Oregon a weirdly behaving blue state.
Not every state is sitting on their hands. California (at least) is doing something about it.
In Sept. 2021 Newsom signed California legislation with $1.75 billion in funding for additional housing. Besides the cash infusion it tries to make it easier to deal with NIMBY zoning issues. That’s obviously not enough and there’s more legislation in the works with lots of different proposals to increase available housing.
Sorry, argv_minus_one, we Oregonians and Massachusettsers aren’t allowed to note all the things wrong with our states because we get weed and abortions.
I get how it can feel a little inconsiderate for us to gripe in the presence of folks in states where their rights are newly under attack. But also maybe there’s a reason both of our states have high costs of living, low rates of diversity, and pretty bad housing crises?
I feel this so hard lately. Probably going to end up leaving the state because of it. I lean anarchist/anti-authoritarian but I’ve been heavily considering moving to a red state. Or at least a purple one. And I’m transgender so don’t even start with that stuff, I know. >.>
That’s the terrifying thing. Live in a blue state, and you starve on the street while the landed gentry laugh and shoo you away. Live in a red state, and you get murdered by angry cultists if you’re lucky, or imprisoned and enslaved if you’re unlucky. Very few places are actually safe to live in. And heaven help you if you need health care.
Democrats control Oregon, and the place is rapidly going to hell. Extremely high cost of living, rampant homelessness, high taxes, tax money being wasted on superfluous traffic lights instead of actually helping people, and so on.
Clearly, more is needed than to just elect any old Democrats and call it a day.
New “blue” states like Minnesota and Michigan are doing a lot of good for their citizens and cementing their blue status for years to come, but old school blue states have this NIMBY mentality that prevents fixing problems, and it is ruining WA, OR, CA, MA, and NY, all of which have big housing shortages that CAN be easily fixed with new housing, but perennial zoning laws written 50 years ago to protect housing values are generating homeless situations. Red states have these NIMBY laws too.
Yes, something important to remember about Oregon specifically is that there were really explicit exclusion laws up into the 1920s to stop black people moving there. We think of Portland and hippie bookstore taco garage vegan ice cream shops and whatever but it’s still a very non-diverse state to this day (something like a 2% black population).
So I think the overwhelmingly white demographic combined with a rural area that is still quite racist and conservative, are what make Oregon a weirdly behaving blue state.
Not every state is sitting on their hands. California (at least) is doing something about it.
In Sept. 2021 Newsom signed California legislation with $1.75 billion in funding for additional housing. Besides the cash infusion it tries to make it easier to deal with NIMBY zoning issues. That’s obviously not enough and there’s more legislation in the works with lots of different proposals to increase available housing.
Sorry, argv_minus_one, we Oregonians and Massachusettsers aren’t allowed to note all the things wrong with our states because we get weed and abortions.
I get how it can feel a little inconsiderate for us to gripe in the presence of folks in states where their rights are newly under attack. But also maybe there’s a reason both of our states have high costs of living, low rates of diversity, and pretty bad housing crises?
Legal weed and abortions aren’t worth much to people who live on the street and are too poor to afford them.
What do you think it is?
I feel this so hard lately. Probably going to end up leaving the state because of it. I lean anarchist/anti-authoritarian but I’ve been heavily considering moving to a red state. Or at least a purple one. And I’m transgender so don’t even start with that stuff, I know. >.>
This state has made me despise democrats.
That’s the terrifying thing. Live in a blue state, and you starve on the street while the landed gentry laugh and shoo you away. Live in a red state, and you get murdered by angry cultists if you’re lucky, or imprisoned and enslaved if you’re unlucky. Very few places are actually safe to live in. And heaven help you if you need health care.