OPINION:
“So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.” Book of Revelations 14:19
Once again, political bad girl Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, proves herself the smartest person in Congress.
OK, that sounds pretty backhanded. But it is meant as an actual compliment. It’s not her fault how dumb everybody else in Washington is. Not any more than it was former President Donald Trump’s fault.
Speaking of Mr. Trump, Mrs. Greene is the present version of him circa 2015.
Ridicule, vilify and dismiss her. Whatever you do, just do NOT take her seriously!
But just like Mr. Trump in 2015, Mrs. Greene is the only person speaking honestly about important things these days that matter to actual voters. So, ignore her at your own peril!
Her latest Twitter imbroglio exploded when she suggested that so-called “red” states should file for a national “divorce” from so-called “blue” states. There are many reasons why this is a terrible idea, but she puts her finger on a vitally important issue.
In real-time, we are watching a mass exodus of people fleeing murderous, high-tax, left-wing states run by Democrats for free, open low-tax states run by Republicans.
On the face of it, this seems like a good thing. It is the miracle of federalism. Citizens are voting with their feet to leave the failed American experiments in favor of the successful American experiments. Hopefully, over time, this process eliminates the failures and spreads the successes, thus making America great again.
And before you dismiss these concerns as some kind of right-wing crank issue, consider this. These people who are moving from New York and California to Texas and Florida are not conservative nut jobs who wear Ted Cruz Underoos. These are self-professed “woke” liberals who are so appalled at the state of their own failed political experiments that they are fleeing into the waiting arms of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, evil conservative Republican.
Stop and think about that. How bad would things have to be for you to pick up and leave everything behind to move your family to another state, run by people you have always despised as dangerous, immoral heathens?
This is not just some passing fad or flight of fancy. These are vast, life-altering decisions made by desperate people.
The Democrat politicians they are running from today are the Dust Bowl of the 21st century. This is a modern-day, man-made “Grapes of Wrath.” Only the rich are escaping, and the poor are left in their wakes of wretched misery.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, has turned the verdant plains of plenty into parched desert sands sprinkled with rusty hypodermic needles and colonized with foul tent cities. When the sickle comes for her, will the angel find her living in Florida?
But here is the problem. The very “refugees” who are now fleeing are the same ones who put Nancy Pelosi in charge in the first place.
Now, just as the ghettos and carnage and concentration camps are being discovered, these people are shaving their short mustaches and fleeing to South America with all the looted gold teeth they could carry in their pockets.
They are political refugees fleeing tyrannical injustices of their own making.
This is no small matter. What responsibility do these people have to live with the horrible, real decisions they have made for decades? What about all those poor people they left behind who cannot afford to escape to the sunny beaches of Florida and Texas?
What about all the tax bills they racked up back in California?
These are the same vile people who thought it was okay to dine and dash when they were in college and low on cash. They are the same people who think it’s funny to get drunk, hire a cab and then ditch the fare at a stoplight three blocks from their home.
They are the vile trash who collect cute little puppies — only to later abandon them at a dumpster beside the highway when the dogs grow up.
They are the Ghislaine Maxwells of the political rapists they enabled for decades back in San Francisco and New York.
Even the wrath of God is not terrible enough for these political arsonists.
The wise American political philosopher Pedro L. Gonzalez, editor of Chronicles Magazine, has an idea. Force these freedom thieves to register as poll offenders. Make them carry papers. Levy against them a “sin” tax until they prove themselves worthy of suckling at the teat of Red State freedom.
Not reeducation camps exactly. More like political parole.
As with everything from Mr. Gonzalez, it’s a brilliant idea.
Maybe it doesn’t work, but that is the beauty of federalism. Give it a try. If it works, keep doing it. If it fails, stop.
And in the meantime, if people don’t like it, they can always move back to California, where an angel with a sickle awaits them.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
