Most Americans have seen it happen: Progressives discover some idyllic spot, fall in love with it, and soon they’re all moving in — and bringing their horrible ideas with them. The next thing you know, you feel like a stranger in the place you’ve lived your whole life.
No one wants to see their beloved hometown fundamentally transformed into someplace unrecognizable. If a blue invasion is in the early stages, it can sometimes be turned back. Here are some helpful clues for helping you figure out when it’s time to push back and when it’s time to start packing.
There Are More Dogs Than Children
Marriage, white picket fences, and 2.3 kids isn’t the right fit for everyone, but there’s a world of difference between a community that prioritizes the well-being of children and one that prioritizes pets.
In a healthy, sane community, dogs are expected to behave and pull their weight, whether it be tending livestock, retrieving game, or alerting their owners to an approaching stranger. In a woke town, “fur babies” have the same rights as your children, including being allowed into any and all establishments, public or privately owned. Is there a nature preserve or beach where you love to unwind? Get ready for pet parents to demand access for their dogs, some of which will be off-leash, menacing you and chasing away the wild animals.
The local kennel will give way to a prevalence of doggie day care centers and pet spas. Pedestrians who push a pampered pooch around in a custom canine stroller that cost more than your three kids’ back-to-school wardrobes will become a common sight. Your new neighbors won’t even be aware that they’re waving a baggie of dog poo around when they stop to chat.
There’s a Burgeoning Art Scene
Art galleries and museums start opening up, and the contents are almost always the disturbing modern variety. Vacant industrial spaces are reborn as lofts and studios, and populated with “artists.” Public money is spent on murals that cover high-profile walls with vapid, vaguely leftist messaging or mindless, discordant illustrations. Now that the navel-gazers are moving into town, they’ll bring their jarring, incongruous “culture” with them.
Participation in Local Volunteer and Civic Groups Is Waning
Progressives don’t like to get their hands dirty; they’d much rather pay high taxes so the help can haul away the trash and put out the fires. And they don’t volunteer, at least not for the salt-of-the-earth organizations that make a community run well. If your local Legion Post can’t muster the numbers for a Memorial Day observation, or professional firefighters are crowding the volleys out of the firehouse, you may have a progressive problem on your hands.
Related: Does America Still Work?
Protestors Start Being a Thing, and They Interfere With People Without Consequence
One thing leftists will volunteer for is agitating for progressive political action. It starts as a small organization, a local chapter of Indivisible or Black Lives Matter or any of a number of national Marxist groups that spread their tentacles into towns by partnering with local cranks. These chapters publicly pledge to adhere to a perfectly reasonable-sounding code of conduct. But they receive their marching orders from their internet overlords, and soon they will begin having demonstrations at your town hall, police headquarters, or school board. These will be orderly and peaceful, and you’ll probably point and laugh at the handful of aging hippies with their expensive placards, but they will set a precedent of protest in your town.
Next, the fringy kids at the high school, encouraged by their progressive parents, will start holding marches in protest of something that happened thousands of miles away and has nothing to do with your town. Their behavior will be worse than that of the adult political group. They’ll shout and curse and make angry accusations against good folks minding their own business, and the level of polite discourse you’re used to will be diminished. Soon, you’ll start seeing obnoxious lawn signs and political graffiti around your beloved town.
Increased Acceptance of Lower Standards
Things that never used to be tolerated become more commonplace—and people seem okay with it. You’ll grow accustomed to the aforementioned demonstrations and graffiti in town parks or along major streets. There’s more litter. Panhandlers commute to your town and begin plying their pathetic cardboard signs wherever motorists have to sit at a stop light. No one will make them move on, because they have a “right” to be there.
Voter Registration Goes Blue
This is never a good sign. Sane communities generally have a red majority or even a red-blue balance. Once your town’s voter registration flips blue, though, its days of health and prosperity are numbered. While it’s still possible for your community to turn back the infection and recover its health and character, this is unfortunately usually the beginning of the end stages.
The Good News
Sophisticated urbanites enjoy the good things in life, and there will be more food and entertainment choices in town. You’ll have new restaurants with a variety of healthy, tasty options to choose from. A farmers’ market will probably spring up, with fresh ingredients for meals. If you like coffee, you’ll be pleased to see some high-end roasters open up, and they’ll probably sell fresh-baked goods as well.
But eventually, the blight will surpass the improvements. Your values and way of live will pass from being merely frowned upon to being banned, then erased.
Luckily, progressives have plenty of money, and the value of your property will shoot up for the first few years. This makes it a lot easier to land on your feet if you ultimately decide to put the house on the market, pull up stakes, and join the red flight to Free Florida.
