As America grows more liberal, conservatives are retreating into a variety of isolated subcultures and, when necessary, making or manipulating law to insulate them from contact with the masses. Like a cultural manifestation of Going Galt. Welcome to white America’s waiver society.
For years I've noticed, on the periphery, the carving out of small enclaves of privilege and paid-for security on the margins of big cities and thought it only the backlash of a wealthy, formerly dominent class. Sort of reverse Bantustans. But this essay also suggests the attempt to inoculate some groups from the rule of social laws they're increasingly uncomfortable with. As the author points out, it's of a piece with stand-your-ground laws and Affordable Care Act opt-outs, as well as proliferation of members-only communities where private security services operate as if they're in a Green Zone. Such a development should be offensive in America. We justifiably pride ourselves on everyone being equal before the law, and while that's not always true, and maybe never has been, it's an ideal worth seeking. "I want my country back"? It's debatable it was ever yours to begin with, but beyond that it excluded far, far too many people from its largesse. We are better than that. Good pride, like good religion, should be inclusive.
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