2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhat it is like to live in a Red state
Last edited Mon Oct 24, 2016, 06:43 PM - Edit history (3)
(I posted this as reply to another post by Nurse Nancy asking what it is like to live in a Red state. However, I know many people don't read all of the replies to OP's, I thought that I would make that post an OP so some of you folks can quit pitying us.)
I have lived in red states nearly all of my life
I have lived in Louisiana and Alabama my entire life except for 4 years in California while I was in the Air Force (when it wasn't as blue as it is now). The Birmingham area is my home now and I love it. (I count my entire time in Louisiana and Alabama as being "Red states" even though a lot of that time they were totally controlled by Democrats. The residents of the South changed their party, not their politics.)
State politics can be a strain. As you can imagine the legislature and governorship are dominated by conservative Republicans. That means that to attract votes some legislators try to grandstand by introducing bills which are really out there. However, many of those never get out of committee because the state doesn't want to spend a lot of money defending stupid laws in courts only to have them shot down. Reason often prevails.
People of Alabama are also finding that their Republican leaders have feet of clay. I am sure you have heard of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moor who was one thrown off of the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to remove his Ten Commandment monument from the lobby of the court. Well he was elected again and again got in trouble for advising clerks of courts around the state of Alabama to ignore a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary just unanimously threw him off of the court again for that judicial ethics violation.
The Republican Speaker of the House, the most powerful leader in the legislature, was just sentenced to jail for ethics violations and the Republican Governor is about to be impeached for ethics violations associated with his romance with one of his female advisors. His wife of over 40 years has already very publicly divorced him. So for the leaders our three branches of government, we are about to go three for three.
On the other hand, while I was doing some lobbying work on behalf of getting UAB's football program back in the State House in Montgomery I met a state representative who was involved in same cause. We became friends and we kid each other about our ideological differences. He may be a Republican, but he is a stand up guy.
I really like most of the people I deal with on a professional basis - they are not red neck bumpkins which seem to be the stereotypical characters which are so often depicted. They are well educated and cultured - their brand of conservatism is not extreme. If they know you hold liberal views, they are not going to press their views on you. Except for very close friends with whom I can mutually and cheerful agree to disagree, we don't talk politics.
The most difficult thing is dealing with people who doesn't know your views and automatically assumes you agree with them politically. I can remember one incident in our break room at work. An associate that I didn't know very well was watching something on the TV and as a result said something to me which was very unflattering to President Obama. Rather than letting it pass I said, "I'll have you know that I voted for him and I still support him today." She was dumbstruck and stood there looking at me with her mouth hanging open until I turned and walked away. After that, she was always very friendly as if she were trying to make up for her lack of civility.
Most of the people of Alabama are good folks. They are kind, they contribute heavily to charities - I've heard that they have the highest rate of charitable contributions per capita in the country. They are quick to volunteer to help one another when disaster strikes. You simply have to understand that people are very much a product of their environments. Had you been born and reared in the South of conservative parents there is a good chance that you would be conservative as well. I was just fortunate that my father, the major influence in my young life, saw things differently. Then again, Cajuns are certainly not typical Southerners. For the most part we are much more of the "live and let live" persuasion.
Many of our friends, including my brother and law who I really like, are Republicans - we just don't talk about politics much. I have, however, learned that Trump's candidacy has made them very unhappy - they won't vote for Hillary, but I don't know if they can bring themselves to vote for Trump. And I don't ask; that would be unkind of me to ask.
I just want everyone to know that all and all I love living Alabama. And I don't know how a lot of you endure those cold winters.
luvmybluestate
(54 posts)and continuously clinging to guns/religions. and thus voting against their own best interest. i could care less about who they elect locally, my prob is the idiots they send to dc to infest/infect the day to day workings of the government. u can't convince that they, not the gubment, is the prob. so glad to be expat and watching the last 3 yrs fr afar. already proud to have voted for hrc. thanks for taking the time to post
CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)Every state has its idiots
DK504
(3,847 posts)I'm happy to hear you have had a good experience in the South. I too was born and raised down here. I was born and raised in Louisiana, I lived here for half my life, the rest I spent in California, for 25 years. I miss Cali every day of my life. I don't have educated, cultured or polite citizens you have had the pleasure of dealing with.
I had to move to Mississippi when my brother contracted cancer. I honestly thought I would only be here to settle his estate, that lucky SOB beat it!!!! Are you kidding me?? LOL.... I thank God he survived, but I have to get the back to Cali., the people here can barely read or write much less involved in analytic thinking skills. There are a few bright spots down here, but that is around 12 people.
I can't get back there fast enough.
CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)With Mississippi we know we will never be at the bottom of any category.
greymattermom
(5,751 posts)My Georgia friends include a group that call themselves the McGovern women, because that's how they met, and some of the civil rights era folks, including Julian Bond's brother. I talk politics with them, and we love to do that because it's safe.
GWC58
(2,678 posts)Hendersonville, North Carolina. I love him dearly, although we do not discuss politics, or religion. He's a Fox News watching conservative Southern Baptist Republican. Hendersonville is up in the mountains in western NC. Damn 11 hour drive to get there. Believe me if not for the meds there's no way I could make that haul. It's torturous. 😩
LeftInTX
(24,560 posts)And are probably liberal people even in small towns.
I've got friends. I go to classes for seniors and they are like a support group! Great people. Totally surprised that it wasn't a bunch of conservatives.
I have issues with state politics and what they are doing up in Austin. They are trying to erode public education and are considering a bathroom bill. This is my biggest complaint.
StevieM
(10,499 posts)I heard that they are claiming that McCarthy was vindicated and that the internment was not aimed at Japanese-Americans.
nolabear
(41,915 posts)I don't know why I was the only liberal in a conservative family, but I was. I found that "liberal" and "conservative" are very fluid terms in that area. There's an enormous mix of races, beliefs, religions, sexual orientations depending on where you are. New Orleans is as big a gumbo as anywhere on earth. It's "the Westernmost part of the Caribbean." Mississippi cities tend to be built around universities and medical centers and have some of the most educated people anywhere. The delta has food and music and racial diversity that makes it rich and a joyful place to be. People are open and so get into all kinds of emotional situations together, for better or worse.
And there are very, very bigoted people in all of these places. Lots of them. Interestingly it is mostly of the kind where they hate a group but love individuals who belong to that group. It's amazing to watch them twist themselves into pretzels trying to deal with that, but both emotions are real.
I live in Seattle now, where people are extremely liberal, and for the most part have never had to deal with the conflicts because it's extraordinarily segregated in many ways. People in general are isolated from one another, for some reason. My Southern gregariousness is "exotic." They don't argue and they don't bond tightly.
I love things about both.