This is something to drive our steel pipe, hand laser, and match wielding rioter/protester into shrieks of hysterical comparisons with the Wehrmacht conquest of Europe … for the halfwit semi-literate on our college campuses capable of making the comparison. In July of 1861, Union forces in their first major confrontation with Southern troops fled in a panic from the battlefield on Bull Run Creek all the way back to Washington, DC. It was called The Great Skedaddle. A similar Skedaddle is taking place as many are fleeing the violence and totalitarianism on the west coast for the safer environs of the mountain time zone.
The evidence of it is all around, especially if you live in the epicenter of the destination of the teeming hordes, as I do. My sons are trying to buy a house in our corner of the country and are facing a feverish market. Real estate agents, based on the statements of buyers, say it’s due to the rampaging disorder and totalitarian shutdowns throughout the Pacific time zone. Yes, low interest rates play a role, but they say that an unusually high spike is occurring right now. It seems that freedom and safety have a quality all their own.
The prevalence of the totalitarian shutdowns is indeed taking a toll. Many in the market say that the shutdowns and particularly the school closings have lasted way too long. The prospect of their kids falling further behind by the mandated “distance learning” is intolerable. In contrast, Hellgate School District in the Missoula area has announced a full-open of 5-day in-person instruction in the fall, with an in-home option. Try that in California as sunshine state dwellers face the opposition of the teacher and public employee unions and the trendy and despotic cultural leftism in Sacramento. Good luck with that.
Many have mentioned the blue/red divide in the country. Me too. We are sorting each other out by belief and geography. But its more than that now. The current atmosphere has taken on the character of a panicked flight for safety. The more accurate dichotomy might be blue/sanctuary (by “sanctuary” I don’t mean the silly boilerplate used to disguise the effort to nullify federal immigration law). More and more people see the pyrotechnics, beatings, shootings, shuttered businesses, and empty schools as a Mad Max movie set that they happen to live in. So, for many, off to the next time zone over.
As a refugee myself, I understand. I have a greater appreciation for the predicament of the Sonoran resident fleeing the cartels. And, now, so do the nervous denizens of Seattle-to-LA. Welcome to The Great Skedaddle II.
RogerG