Yankee Pride - The Land That Rejects Rightwing Bigots

[ruggerson]

This is not meant as a slam on the South. Or any other region of the country for that matter.

But with all the rightwing propoganda about the "liberal elite" and the endless demonization of New England by rightwing bigots, I thought those of us born and bred in the Northeast could use the occasional dose of reality:

- New England is the birthplace of the entire damn country. None of the rightwingers would have the freedom to complain about the "liberal elite" if it weren't for New England. We created the idea of America, we spawned many of the men who crafted and signed the Constitution and we helped propogate freedom and liberty as fundamental rights of mankind.

- New England consistently ranks at the very top of intelligence rankings. Recently, the top 3 rankings in the annual "Smartest States" list were ALL in New England: Massachussetts, Connecticut and Vermont.

- New England is the home of the planet's most venerable and distinguished institutions of learning, including Harvard, Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, Andover, Exeter, Choate and St Pauls.

- New England has a proud libertarian, hard work ethic. Live and let live. We are good neighbors, we are hard working and honest.
We care about those less fortunate and we are wise enough to realize that smart government has a role to play in keeping us safe, healthy and educated.

- We are a proud, spiritual people who do not let religious superstitions sway us into bigoted lifestyles. We are the most Catholic area of the country, but also the most enlightened when it comes to issues relating to privacy, choice and family.

All of these and more are the very reasons rightwingers hate New England so much. Rightwing political influence DEPENDS on the gullibility of the masses. New Englanders have more than their fair share of critical thinkers and they, by and large, reject illogical religious righwing propoganda. This irritates and frustrates the leaders of the Republican party and the religious right, hence the perpetual demonization of New England. It is the land they cannot control.

New Englanders have an enormous influence on the rest of the nation. America would be damn lucky to once again have a President who hailed from the Northeast. We are a proud people, unfairly demonized by a chattering rightwing political class and media, and yet we determinedly and quietly continue to live and breathe the founder's ideals for this land in our everyday lives.

Here's to New England!!!

[noahmijo]

1. As much as I despise the South

My heart really has to go out to progressives who live out there and refuse to budge for any crazy ass neo-con. I live in Arizona (formerly from NYC) and I gotta say this state does have its little pockets of progressive politics especially where I live in southern Az but overall it's a shithole and an obvious product of right wing politics (shitty worker rights shitty job market shitty treatment of vets, shitty treatment of teachers ect)

:::starts to play Jet City Woman:::: take a guess where I plan to move someday soon....:)

[GeekMonkey]

2. I live in Atlanta, which is much more liberal than the surrounding

state, which is full of reactionary knuckledraggers that think Bush is going to bring about the second coming of jeebuz.

[ThomWV]

3. Yeah .... But you don't have

Sweettea.

Its a silly argument. Good people are good people and they come whereever their mother happend to be when she shat them out. That happened frequently in the south as well.

[ruggerson]

7. Not talking about individual people

but the culture at large.

And the culture of New England has been unfairly attacked for twenty years now. And a lot of us are a bit tired of it, so it's nice to occasionally acknowledge the truth about the region.

[Benhurst]

4. "New Englanders have an enormous

influence on the rest of the nation. America would be damn lucky to once again have a President who hailed from the Northeast."

Connecticut-born George Walker Bush was educated at Andover and Yale. Harvard admitted him to graduate school when even the University of Texas law school wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.

I love New England; but unfortunately it must share part of the blame for the Banana Republican occupying the White House.

[ellenfl]

5. in today's political climate, this makes me wish

i had never left connecticut, but then i was only 2 and my parents wanted to move to florida . . .

the good news is . . . i can try to make a difference here in florida which is, if i remember the numbers, mostly a democratic state. i hope all floridians will sign the petition to undo the redistricting that has so skewed our state electorate.

Fair Elections

this should have a non-partisan appeal.

ellen fl

[mainer]

6. Don't forget Yankee thrift and Yankee ingenuity!

other qualities the nation ought to value.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

8. The work ethic and tolerant people.

I am a transplanted New Englander and I agree. I like all the regions of this country, but I have found there to be a special work ethic and very laid-back, nice, tolerant people in New England. One proof of the work ethic is in how nice people keep their houses here, most are truly neat-looking.

The right-wing HAS succeeded in demonizing New England. I can remember when I was a child in the Sixties and Seventies and people appreciated New England qualities. But for years now all you hear is negative things being said, the media seems to follow along with all the sleazy Republican code words and insinuations about how only "real" Americans live in the "heartland."

I like your post!