That said, what struck me is how the author is saying she is baffled how people could move from blue states and then vote for Democrats.
Of the countless head-scratching elements of the O’Rourke phenomenon, one wins handily as the head-scratchingest of all: A troubling percentage of the Betomaniacs I have met in Texas moved here after fleeing places ruined by Beto’s favored policies. These locales are often expensive, increasingly dysfunctional, wildly overregulated, sometimes mystifyingly poop-ridden despite being wildly overregulated (here’s looking at you, San Francisco!), and inevitably run by Democrats. Why does no one seem to make this connection? I don’t know! One hero in Austin has taken to posting stickers around town featuring an image of a giant locust, paired with the following text: “I MIGRATED TO A THRIVING TEXAS FROM A LEFTIST [NIGHTMARE] AND NOW I’M VOTING FOR BETO FOR SENATE.” (The posters feature a word much worse than “nightmare,” which I’m not reprinting because I run a PG-13 column here.)
Speaking of someone who did exactly that, I am baffled that she is baffled. Below are a list of possible reasons, with the ones that apply to me in this election starred.
- People may have moved here for things that the government has no control over, like the climate, or family, or the culture of Austin.
- People may have moved here for cheap property and any job they can get, but then seek higher wages and property values once here.
- Though Beto is a bit of an exception, Texas Democrats are usually less left-wing than California Democrats.
- Different cities specialize in different things, and it is possible to move from a place with a strong job market that just happens not to specialize in your thing. *
- Texas is unusual for a red state (you don't exactly see people flocking to Alabama, Utah, or South Dakota), and a lot of its success probably isn't based on things that any politician from the last couple decades has done. *
- Sustained one-party rule is never desirable in red or blue states. *
- Unfortunately, we have a binary choice between Democrats and Republicans. It is possible to hate Democratic zoning policies that make housing unaffordable and still think the Democrats are the lesser of the two evils. *
- Beto is running for the Senate, he has no control over state politics. *
- The Trump-era GOP is something that many people feel need to vote to oppose even if the Democrats lead to undesirable policy outcomes. *
- Political science has shown repeatedly that people vote based on things other than the policy outcomes they hope to achieve. *
There are probably other reasons too, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I've been trying to figure out why it bothers me that she claims she couldn't think of any reason someone would move from a blue state to Texas and vote Democratic, and I think I figured out why. It suggests that she is making no attempt to understand people who disagree with her. And given that the National Review is supposed to be the most thoughtful member of the right-wing media, I find that worrying.