Ten years ago an economist and associate dean at the UConn business school floated a theory that seemed pure crackpot to many people at the time.
Connecticut could benefit, Lewis Mandell reasoned, if the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe vs. Wade.
He was no right-wing fanatic. Far from it. The idea is that states would be free to ban abortion if the high court overturned the landmark 1973 decision. Places such as Connecticut would keep reproductive rights intact, while states such as Texas and Oklahoma would enact strict prohibitions.
Eventually, progressive-minded folks would settle - or choose to stay - in Connecticut and other like-minded states. Since socially liberal people tend to be well educated, the ranks of technology workers and creative types could swell here. And that, clearly, would be a boon for the state's vibrancy and prosperity.
Cut to the aftermath of Bush Victory II. Mandell, now a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, has revived his old idea these last two weeks. He's shared it with other people. So have I.
It's not a crackpot theory anymore, and it's not just about reproductive rights. Now we have a label for the states - red and blue - and we have a battleground of gay marriage, school prayer and curriculum, stem-cell research, gun control, the death penalty, cultural values and a host of other lifestyle concerns.
As the nation lurched to the right on Election Day, Connecticut moved hard the other way, creating a veto-proof Democrat majority of 24-12 in the state Senate, ousting a leading gay- and abortion-rights opponent in the Senate, picking up four seats in the House.
Now - long before a Bush-appointed Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade - is the time for Connecticut and other blue states to put progressive mobility to work.
Lawmakers could sanction gay marriage, embrace stem-cell research, abolish the death penalty, decriminalize marijuana, require registration in the private sale of all guns (not just handguns) and strengthen the wall between religion and public schools.
They should do all of this because it's right - although that's the subject of welcome debate. Economically, establishing a socially liberal agenda is exactly the tonic Connecticut needs right now.
When it comes to attracting and keeping people here, we have a lot to gain by calling attention to our outlier status on the national map. The further we push, the more of a magnet we become.
It's tempting to throw in the other half of the progressive agenda - tax and spending issues. To name just one of many shortfalls that need fixing: Connecticut two years ago threw low-income adults (but not their children) out of state medical coverage if they were above the poverty line, a shortsighted move.
Tempting, but that's where we need to tread carefully. Unlike social issues, economic reforms - if they lead to higher taxes - call for a lower profile, compared with other states.
We still want to be out front because intelligent public investment is part of our image as a civilized state. But not too far in front because people and companies do think of taxes when they decide where to settle, or resettle.
The migration trend based on cultural values and laws is real. We see signs of it in the blizzard of post-election e-mails among Northern and West Coast liberals and moderates grateful that they live in a place where public morality is about justice, not ideology.
There's a remote but frightful danger that the Bush people will push through backward constitutional amendments or win court decisions that nationalize their social agenda.
For now, states can distinguish themselves. Red and deep-purple states will feel empowered to enact all sorts of conservative laws.
"I could see them in the red states, saying 'This gives us the opportunity to teach creationism in the schools,' " said Mandell, dean of the business schools at Marquette University and SUNY Buffalo after leaving UConn in 1995.
"I hope we see Mississippi going all-out in that direction," said Mandell, who has written books on industrial location and quality-of-life issues. "We need to see the consequences. ... Up to this point, quality of life has been a question of how many golfing days are there in the year."
No more. Of course, people have always considered cultural preferences when they decide where to live. For eight years in the '60s, I lived in Alabama because my father managed a factory for a company that moved South to escape Northeast wages and unions. When my older brother finished elementary school, we scurried back north.
But as the so-called New South rose up after the Civil Rights Act, the nation became more socially homogenized, and high costs worked against the Northeast. People migrated South and West.
The Bush-lashing of America may change the pattern. It's likely to happen slowly, and not in great numbers. But it doesn't take many people to make a big difference, especially if they are scientists and entrepreneurs.
Connecticut, unlike blue neighbors Massachusetts and New York, doesn't have a major city as a natural draw for cosmopolitan professionals. So we need to act fast. These reforms aren't just an abstract concept; they are before lawmakers now.
In the last two years, for example, Love Makes a Family, the advocacy group for gay marriage rights, has targeted 2005 for a vote, and this group appears to be on track.
The death penalty issue heats up just as the legislature returns to action, with the scheduled Jan. 26 execution of serial killer Michael Ross.
A bill supporting stem-cell research passed in the state Senate this year, but died in the waning hours of the last House session.
Betty Gallo, lobbyist extraordinaire for many economic and social reforms on the left, has long pushed for what she calls issues of choice and tolerance "because what we will get here is a much more vibrant, welcoming society."
Gallo sees maintaining and rebuilding the economic safety net as every bit as much of a lifestyle concern. That's a sign of how broad the divide has become, and how much states such as Connecticut can gain in the Bush era.
A generation after Roe vs. Wade, the issue that sparked Mandell's thinking - abortion - has blended into the fuel mixture.
Thankfully, we don't need to see the court overturn the decision in order to crank up the machine of progressive mobility.
Dan Haar can be reached at dhaar at courant.com
http://www.ctnow.com/business/hc-haar1114.artnov14,1,412772.column?coll=hc-headlines-business
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