this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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What I don’t get is why leftists don’t support states’ rights the way conservatives do. Shouldn’t you go all-in on states’ rights do you can build your socialist paradises on the coasts? Why do you care at all about what happens in flyover country?
Let me throw it back to you, why do conservatives keep fucking with us instead of leaving us alone to build their fascist paradise in flyover country?
Texas forced immigrants onto buses and then dropped them off in the middle of Chicago, with zero resources or connections, in order to "own the libs." Chicago responded by saying, "Hey, we don't mind you sending them here, but could you please give us a heads up so we can coordinate with services to help them get homes and jobs?" and Texas responded, "Go fuck yourself."
Then, the federal government said, "There's too many immigrants in Chicago" and sent their fascist thugs to abduct people off the street, with no due process, explicitly on the basis of race, against the protests of state and local government. And Texas sent their National Guard too.
Now you tell me: what the fuck did we ever do to Texas? What "states' rights" could possibly exist in such circumstances? In this ideal that conservatives pretend to care about where states are more like independent countries, Illinois would be entirely justified in declaring a defensive war against Texas, which is doing everything it possibly can to create instability and chaos.
They're literally coming here and releasing human beings to hunt for sport in our cities, and then they turn around and have the audacity to talk about "states' rights."
Wasn't 'states rights' all about owning slaves?
I like the idea of embracing the "laboratories of democracy" approach, but it can only really work if there's some kind of federally funded relocation program. States rights sound great until you're born a broodmare in a theocratic state.
You can’t have it both ways though. If you’re going to insist on a strong federal government, you have to accept the risk that you end up living under a broodmare theocratic federal government. States’ rights would protect you from that.
They protect the blue state eloi who have never cared about anyone other than themselves, sure. But good people in red states get fucked. Which you're HAPPY with.
No, those people move from red states to blue states. That migration has been going on for a long time. It’s one of many reasons why the states are so polarized.
The ones who can afford to, yes. Funny thing about states' rights. When blue states raise their minimum wage, their voters stop caring about raising wages nationwide.
Socialism isn't about endlessly balkanizing the world into microstates, but stitching together humanity to work on the same page, for the same purpose. Capitalism already made humanity incredibly interdependent, socialism just shifts the benefits of that social surplus from going to just a few people in a few countries to the working classes.
Because a lot of us saw how that worked with the minimum wage, abortion, cannabis, and a host of other things where blue states stopped trying as soon as they got theirs.
I think it's because they are overrepresented federally which erodes states' rights in the long term.