Review: American Refugees

Roger Simon is one of those California transplants to Tennessee we’ve heard so much about. The mystery novelist and former columnist for The Epoch Times spent most of his career as a screenwriter working with legends like Paul Mazursky and Richard Pryor. Like the hordes of coastal urbanites who’ve defected from America’s Blue Walls, he set up shop in Nashville a little over half a decade ago. And, with his new book American Refugees, he wants us lifelong Southerners worried about this influx to know that we’ve got him and other members of this diaspora all wrong.

For those concerned about the California values these interlopers will bring, Simon offers a word of caution: those values took root here long ago thanks to a host of establishment politicians under the thumbs of corporate interests, national lobbyists, and D.C. ambition. In fact, these newcomers who saw their own states destroyed may well be the calvary. As Simon writes, “For the refugees, this political bait and switch–having been lured to a red state promised land only to be confronted by local politicians whose interests often bent more toward self-preservation and personal gain–fomented the development of numerous independent conservative/libertarian political organizations.”

Though Simon casts a wide net in his chronicle of politically motivated migrants, taking readers from Texas to arguably purple states such as Georgia and Arizona, American Refugees opts to focus on Tennessee as its central case study. Known far and wide as a state with low taxes and an enviable record for personal freedom, Tennessee is ground zero for that other migrant crisis, the one legacy media has deigned to cover that's turned suburban enclaves (such as Franklin's aptly named Westhaven) into red fortresses of disgruntled Californians.

American Refugees serves as an engaging record of the last three years. The Williamson County School Board wars, Gary Humble’s work with Tennessee Stands and eventual takeover of the Williamson County Republican Party, the manufactured rise of “The Tennessee Three,” and the ouster of fellow migrants Robby Starbuck and Morgan Ortagus from the 5th congressional district ballot make up the bulk of the project.

Simon is uniquely positioned to offer his perspective because, to paraphrase Brian Williams, he was actually there—having lunch, attending cocktail parties, and amassing text chains with the major players. More importantly, he was the mastermind behind The Epoch Times’s 2022 fifth-district debate that aimed to shake up the tired, journalist-driven format abysmally illustrated by ABC two weeks ago by replacing the typical unabashedly biased journalists with subject expert moderators. Though the format has yet to catch on, it resulted in 500 attendees and 51,000 Epoch TV livestream views—a blockbuster performance for such a localized race.

While Simon has high hopes these COVID-era refuges will act as red state reinforcements, he takes care to offer several other caveats about career-minded politicos motivated to move so they can initiate their ascendancy, plus some choice words about disparate groups more occupied by infighting than actually picking electable candidates. More importantly, he frequently underscores Tennessee’s embarrassingly low voter turnout as a signal that the blue exodus did not create an unassailable majority able to serve as an anecdote to the urban center. According to Simon, “Big cities all over the red states are hotbeds of a reactionary and self-destructive form of liberalism that seeks to turn those states blue from the cities outward, with carless populaces stacked in high-rise buildings, moving about only on public transport and, when possible, working in cubbies like characters in a dystopian novel or film.”

In stitching together memoir, travelog, and astute political journalism, Simon has crafted an essential read for those looking to understand the shifting landscape of red state politics. Whether Tennessee will heed his words amid those other outside forces hellbent on making a “New South” rise is another story.