Imagine that you are a left-leaning resident of a city in a red state. Over the last few years, your state legislature has done everything in its power to limit your ability to influence policy, even in your own municipality. The boundaries of the state legislative districts were gerrymandered in favor of conservative Republicans from rural areas years ago. In response to Trump’s demands and the recent Supreme Court decisions, US House district boundaries in your state have now been gerrymandered, so your representative is a Republican. You still have the ability to elect sympathetic city leaders, but even there, the legislature has preempted the City Council’s ability to enact legislation on a long list of important topics. The system is now rigged against you. What do you do about it?
You have three choices. You can learn to tolerate life as a subject, rather than a citizen; you can beat your head against the wall and work fruitlessly to overcome the obstacles the system has created for you; or you can move.
Most people will take the first option. Is it any wonder that so many Americans are depressed about the future?