What the heck is "soft secession"?

[Art_from_Ark]

39. Let me tell you something about "redstaters" and "bluestaters"

as they pertain to my part of Arkansas. Up until the time I entered high school, my county was solidly Democratic. A lot of the "old-timers" I knew would get all sentimental when someone mentioned FDR. or JFK or RFK. Most of the adults I knew growing up were die-hard Democrats.

But a paradigm shift in the demographic started to occur in the '70s-- there was a huge in-migration from so-called "blue" states-- particularly Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois. And guess what? My county suddenly started voting Republican in big numbers. A large part of that shift was due to an influx of rich retirees from the Frost Belt settling down in the retirement community of Bella Vista, which is now overwhelmingly Republican. The same could be said for Rogers and Bentonville, the two largest cities in the county, which have both experienced a huge in-migration of rich people from out-of-state and now vote overwhelmingly Republican.

So most of the people who moved to my county (and probably other counties throughout the South) from the Frost Belt helped to make their home states bluer while making my state redder.