freelansing in Seattle

Time for some real talk: The United States of America is over. These states have not been united for many years, sharply divided between red and blue, between two political parties with irreconcilable differences.

The Republican Party, already far to the right, has lately experienced a hostile takeover by MAGA forces with deep allegiance to a single man—a man exhibiting every character flaw we can imagine, yet who is still trying to recast the entire country, and every cherished institution, in his own image. The United States of America now exists only in our memories.

And it’s only getting worse. Republicans—who have a long practice of minority rule, capturing the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the White House even when they get fewer votes than Democrats—are now using every unearned advantage to further rig the system so they can never lose again. Gerrymandering Texas is just the tip of the iceberg. Project 2025 is working hard to rig every system in every jurisdiction controlled by Republicans. They aim to prevent any Democratic or progressive win anywhere, ever again. Not just preventing progressive victories, but punishing everyone to the left of Ted Cruz at every opportunity. No objective view of their actions can deny it.

So what do you do in any relationship with an abusive partner? You get out of that relationship as fast as possible.

Republicans believe they have all the advantages within the system they have rigged, but take away that rigged system and their hand is weak. Red states are subsidized by blue state tax dollars. Without their blue-state sugar daddies, they are at a severe disadvantage. But red state voters are already voting for impoverishment while cutting public services, so they have brought that upon themselves.

So what does it mean to end an abusive relationship in this context? Let’s start with my own home state of Washington. Only 39% of Washington voters supported for the con-man-in-thief. In my Martin Luther King County, he only received one in five votes. Consequently, Washington is one of many states being targeted for punishment by this regime. Our state can fight back within the system, and it is, but that resistance can only go so far within a rigged and abusive system.

California is obviously another state being targeted for punishment. They are also resisting within the current parameters. But when your own state’s National Guard is deployed against your own citizens, are current parameters acceptable? Only 38% of Californians voted for the regime now abusing them.

We see similar patterns in other Pacific states. Only 41% of Oregon voters supported this current regime. In Hawaii, it was 37%.

See a pattern here? Pacific states are not like the others. That’s also true of the blue states of the northeast, and others in other regions.

The question is: How much abuse will we tolerate before we just walk away?