Ohio is America....

[WCGreen]

Let me tell you why...

It's really like two segments of the Country. The northern area, the place called the Western Reserve which was founded by settlers from Conn. and Mass. They brought that New England brand of philosophical religion into what became the Cleveland area...

If you really want to look into it, Cleveland was, up until the early 1960's, the 7th largest city in the US. We were home to over 50 companies in the fortune 500. We had an impressive combination of manufacturing might and legal and accounting acumen that sent out tentacle that are still felt today. Ernst and Young started in Cleveland, Jones Day started in Cleveland. Rockefeller started in Cleveland.

Cleveland is the largest city to have a free art museum. We have a world renowned Orchestra. A celebrated Medical Center and one of the top medical school in the country. And Oberlin College is one of the most progressive colleges in the world. One of the first, if not the first, College to open it's doors to women and African Americans.

Then there is the rest of the state. You could seriously draw a Mason Dixon line which follows the Ohio Turnpike.

Southern Ohio was settle by poor farmers and frontier adventurers from Virginia, North and South Carolina. Up until the late 1950's, the southern part of Ohio, outside of Cincinnati, was pretty much an extension of Kentucky and West Virginia.

Now, Cincinnati. Columbus and Dayton are starting to shift toward the Democratic Party. Especially Columbus. That old time religion that was embraced by the GOP isn't playing so well now that a whole new generation is coming into power that realize Gay folks are a rather large market and why would anyone want to carve off a huge potential market. Pragmatism rules the day.

So yes, Ohio does swing back and forth. But perhaps no other state is as equally divided between Eastern roots and Southern attitudes.

In other words, Ohio is a like a mini-USA...

Sometimes I hate living here and then, like last weekend when I went to see top notch performances of MacBeth on Saturday and Into the Woods on Sunday, I rather enjoy the place.

So love us or hate us.

It really doesn't matter all that much.

Perhaps I am living in a bastardization of that old Chinese Curse.

May you be forced to live in an interesting state.

Just remember this, for every Ken Blackwell there is a Howard Metzenbaum. For every John Boehner there is a Dennis. For every George Voinovich there is a Sherrod Brown.

[RagAss]

1. For every Bengal, there is a Brown !

[BlooInBloo]

2. Bullfuckingshit. 75% of the fucking population lives on the fucking coasts...

It's fucking idiotic for interior folks to claim they have more claim to being America than the vast majority of the population.

[WCGreen]

4. Boy oh boy you sure don't read anything anyone ever writes do you...

I never once claimed that Ohio was all American, I just pointed out that Ohio is a very diverse state with roots from two distinct and opposite traditions in America...

So Fuck you...

[BlooInBloo]

7. And fuck all who imply that not-Ohio is not-America.

[WCGreen]

9. I didn't say that....

I said Ohio is like a microcosm of the US...

With a distinct North and a disctinct South...

[PretzelWarrior]

10. I don't think that's what they are saying. lay down the crack pipe

simmer down. New York is not microcosm of USA. Utah is not a microcosm of USA. Ohio and Missouri typically are.

[FedUpWithIt All]

16. Ohio has picked the president in every election for the past 100 years, with the exception of 2.

It simply shows that the state is a small microcosm of the nation.

It IS a very diverse state.

[PretzelWarrior]

22. and Missouri has picked all but ONE since 1902.

and that was Adlai Stevenson in 1956.

[FedUpWithIt All]

28. And both states are considered important bellweathers.

I think it is fair to say that they both represent the national sentiment the majority of the time.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. When Ohio's good, she's very, very good...

And when she's bad, she's horrid...

Your post is beautifully put!

K&R

:patriot:

[woolldog]

5. God, I hope not.

[WCGreen]

6. It swithces back and forth, it ebbs and flows....

You have to be from here in order to understand...

[PretzelWarrior]

8. I admit it. It's a lot like my home state of Missouri

a good cross section of how the nation at large is feeling.

[WCGreen]

11. Yea it is...

There are a few states that switch back and forth...

Ebb and flow so to speak...

[PretzelWarrior]

13. and back in late 80's Missouri was also the POPULATION

center of the USA. Not sure if the population crawl has changed that.

On Edit: Kansas is GEOGRAPHIC center of contiguous US and SD is GEOGRAPHIC center of 50 states.

Missouri still lays claim to population center though it has been creeping west from where it was on the eastern edge of US

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_U.S._population

[WCGreen]

23. Yea and Missouri still carries the scares of the Civil War...

As does a lot of Ohio...

The sourthern part of Ohio wanted to side with the South in the Civil War...

[Brooklyns_Finest]

12. America is Changing

This election might be the one that changes the electorate forever. If the West goes blue like people are predicting, the GOP will be hard pressed to ever win in this country again. SO many of the GOP's support stems from xenophobia that with the rise of the Latino population, they are setting themselves up for many many sleepless tuesday nights.

[WCGreen]

20. That is so true...

I hope we can change this time...

We went for Carter back in 76, Clinton in 92 and 96...

We will go for Obama in 08...

[melody]

14. States are arbitrary constructs crafted for convenience

We live in our own lives, in our own neighborhoods. Anything else is just an abstraction which can be drawn like a circle, starting anywhere.

[PretzelWarrior]

17. uhhhh....a few framers of Constitution might disagree with you

States have their own laws, identity, and trade borders and relationships.

[melody]

24. They're still arbitrary constructs

And I was partially quoting John Adams. :)

[WCGreen]

19. The way a state was first settle really still has a large impact on how

that state, for lack of a better word, feels...

[Motown_Johnny]

15. have you ever lived anywhere else? I have lived in OH, CO, NY and MI

and while some of your analogy is correct the proportions are wrong.

Yes, you have all the ingredients there for a smaller version of the same dish, but not in the correct amounts.

[WCGreen]

18. I lived in Oregon for Awhile and Florida....

It's pretty evenly divided...

It really is two states, a northern one and a southern one...

[VolcanoJen]

21. If everyone who doubts Ohio this election would just click on the link in my sig...

.. they'd get it.

[WCGreen]

26. That's great....

It almost makes me want to come to Ohio...

Oh wait, never mind...

[VolcanoJen]

29. lol!!

It's really not so bad here, is it, WCGreen?

[WCGreen]

30. If you could have seen MacBeth and then Into the Woods...

They restored one of the old Off Broadway Theaters and this was the grand opening...

Ah, art does florish away from the coasts...

BTW, that video was great...

[VolcanoJen]

31. I was at the event in downtown Cincinnati, it was a gathering on Fountain Square...

... to watch Obama's Acceptance Speech in Denver. The Obama people and local candidates were there, but it wasn't really a planned, hyped event, just one of those moments where people say, "Where should we go?" and thousands showed up on the town square. I'll never forget it, it was the highlight of my election season seeing that happen in Cincinnati of all places.

And it illustrates why your thread is important, you know?

[iamthebandfanman]

25. uh, no

as someone who lives by southern ohio, they are even more backwards than northern kentucky. ive seen more poor living conditions and rebel flags flown just in two counties in southern ohio than i have the entire region of north central and north eastern kentucky. says alot.

they are also the poorest counties in ohio as far as taxes, income, and budgets

so say they are an extension of kentucky would be a compliment.

[WCGreen]

27. I meant from the old settlement days...

Did you ever hear Dwight Yokum Readin' Writing, Route 23...

It's about all the people from Eastern Kentucky who took Route 23 (High Street in Columbus) up into Ohio to work in the factories during the week and went back home on weekends...