Hey rural voter dissers: : Vermont is the most liberal state in the country

[cali]

According to exit polling more voters in Vermont identify themselves as liberals than anywhere else.

Only one state in the entire country voted more overwhelmingly for Obama than Vermont: Hawaii.

We're shockingly and sadly undiverse when it comes to people of color. We're largely hicks. We're not wealthy.

We are really rural.

Every town but 4 in this state of 237 towns voted for Obama- and that includes some very redneck towns like mine- like every town in the Northeast Kingdom.

Yeah, I know we're an exception, but so are NH and ME and many other rural areas.

[Ian David]

1. Maybe it's the maple syrup? n/t

[supernova]

2. Nothing so confounds our fellow urban DUers

moreso than the concept of a liberal and rural person.

:hi: From the Wilds of Very Blue for A Long Time Orange County NC.

:rofl:

[cali]

6. so true

and it really doesn't matter how many times you tell them that there are indeed rural libs.

:hi:

[Forkboy]

14. I get amused watching it go both ways.

I've grown up in both rural and urban areas, and I've been called a city slicker in Ohio and a backwater punk in Mass.

City and country people both need one of those trading places moments. :)

[amdezurik]

3. that really is no excuse anymore

with the internet there is no excuse not to be informed unless you choose to be so.

[shireen]

4. i like rural

who's dissing rural people? That's awful. :(

[ingac70]

5. I'm Larry, this is my brother Daryl...

and this is my other brother Daryl.

[DireStrike]

7. Do you have a theory?

You seem to not at all like the urban diversity theory. Can you explain the trend towards liberalism in urban centers AND NH, VT, etc with a single theory?

[cali]

9. I can't really explain Vermont's liberalism except to say

we have a long history of independence and liberalism despite our until recent republican history.

We were the first state to outlaw slavery. In fact we outlawed it before we became a state and we outlawed it in our Constitution. We have always allowed incarcerated felons to vote. Hell, in 1802 we elected Matthew Lyon who was in prison having been convicted under the Alien and Sedition Act.

We have long elected such pioneering Senators as Ralph Flanders who introduced the censure motion of McCarthy in 1954.

And Vermonters seem to be largely tolerant of others. Not sure why that is, but it sure seems to be true.

[glowing]

12. I think its the live free or die.. green mountain boys thing that is ingrained into

our little minds at an early age..

[cali]

19. heh. that actually probably is part of it.

[glowing]

20. I remember learning that in second grade and running home to proudly

recite how important VT was for the Revolutionary war.. and having a geneology chart taking my family back to the days of the revolution.. and serving in the continental army as a captain next to George Washington...

[sl8]

30. Regarding Vermont and slavery.

Reminds me of a passage with which Richard Ketchum chose to end his book, Saratoga.

Vermont Ranger scouts, serving under Captain Ebeneezer Allen, skirmished with the British on November 12, 1777 and took some prisoners. Among the prisoners that the scouts returned to Capt Allen was a female slave named Dinah Mattis. He released her with this letter:

To whom it may concern, know ye: whereas, Dinah Mattis, a negro woman, with nancey, her Child of two months old, was taken Prissnor on Lake Champlain ... by a scout under my command, and, according to a Resolve passed by the Honorable Continental Congress, that all belong to the Captivators thereof I being conscientious that it is not right in the sight of God to keep Slaves ... I do therefore give the said Dinah mattis, and Nancey her child freedom to pass and repass anywhere through the United States of America ... without being Mollested by any Person or Persons....

(signed) EBENEZER ALLEN Capt.

Looks like Capt. Allen was a 1777 progessive.

[glowing]

11. My mother equates the transition in VT to people from the cities coming in and touristing

and buying second homes.. Or permanently transplanting. Also, as a young Vermonter being schooled, there was ton of focus on VT and its history.. The Green Mountain Boys, and the state next to us "Living Free or Dying" rings a bit true. In the end, I think a great deal of it comes from education.. our teachers are those funny dressing hippies, re-living their drop out days. I think that influences a bit of our minds at an early age.

Also, we have a lot of influence over what happens in the immediate of our lives with town hall meetings.. Every spring, there is town hall meeting day.. People go and decide on their budgets and people are selected to run things. If you want a say, you show up. There is no school on those days, and most of us from baby on up get dragged to the meetings. To see Democracy in action in real time is awesome.. Something other states could really benefit from. I never knew I was liberal or had liberal views until I left for college in South Carolina. I thought most people were like me and were taught like me. I had no idea there was there were crazy people who actually believed all the lies that the Republicans told.

[annabanana]

8. Where in Vermont would be the best place to retire to?

moderate pension.. new england childhood (love the region).. eventual mobility issues. .

[cali]

10. Probably somwhere near Burlington

it's just a really nice town.

[glowing]

17. If you can survive the lake effect off of Lake Champlain in the winters.

but otherwise, pretty cool.. Bennington and Bratt are on the opposite sides, pretty neat, and close enough to go back into the cities.

[droidamus2]

15. Not sure

I've only lived in Vermont for a little over 3 years but one place I have visited that looked real nice was Newport. Nice little town, sits on a lake and as long as you can handle the snowy winters probably wouldn't be too bad. The closer you get to Montpelier, Burlington and probably the ski resorts the more property costs. I haven't looked into the property values around Newport but you could probably look on realtor.com to get an idea.

[DS1]

16. 2nd vote for Burlington area

[DS1]

13. Not surprising at all

I've yet to meet a Vermont farmer who didn't grow and :smoke: some on the side

not that being a burner is a true political measure

[cali]

18. *snicker* I know. Lots of farmers do that here.

[Mari333]

21. I will probably be flamed :)

but I live in a small rural community in SW MI...its pretty diverse, we have black and white folks, a jewish temple, a lot of hassidic jews come in the summer, we have rednecks and confederate flags on trucks along with malcolm X t shirts in town. I kind of like the mishmosh here, and there are a lot of weirdo artists here also.
One of the things I LIKE about this area is that people actually help each other because we sort of all know each other. You cannot go into town without meeting someone you know, especially when the tourists leave.
and there is a disconnect from that, for me, when I visit a city.
I kind of like sitting in the local restuarant/truck stop here, and sipping coffee and smoking a cigarette, because no one will come up to me and start hassling me about the evils of smoking (which I experienced in Santa Barbara whilst sitting on the beach from a lady snacking on a Little Debbie snack cake)
on the other hand, I wish I could find a menu around here that had something besides meat on it
the tourists that come from Chicago have pretty much banned smoking in the other restuarants here, and demanded that the latest local restaurants sort of 'yuppify' themselves. I have watched a lot of local businesses , because they need money, go from being everyday resturants for everyone, to high-end faux latte foo foo establisments to cater to the Land's End crowd.
Nonetheless, there is still a local feel here, tacky and funky, which I like. The locals have acceded to the tourists somewhat, and the bars are more on the outskirts of town where the locals can go have a cold beer and schmooze.
Oh, and this county went for Obama. So did the town.

[Dark]

22. What I wonder is what's the difference between your rural societies and those in the south/midwest.

The urban places across the country largely (though not all) voted for Obama and democrats. But the rural places were split, as you suggested.

I'm just curious as to why?

[dogpatch]

23. Thank you!

I'm a native Californian who moved to Vermont as a child with my back-to-the land parents and grew up around Rutland (one of the redder parts of the state). Even though I came back west as an adult I'm half-and-half Vermonter/Californian, my folks still live in on the land we bought back in the 70s, and my brother and his family are 100% Vermonters through and through.

I love my native state and I love my adopted state, I love cities and I love the country and I think that is how we all should get to experience the world -- we're all so much more complicated than these schematic divisions.

So I agree, this whole BS about rural voters necessarily voting red always drives me crazy, it's so condescending, so limiting, and so much a product of manipulation. Despite my hippie California roots I've got a little "red state" in me, I love monster truck rallies and the song "Redneck Woman" (or did until it became Sarah Palin's anthem).

And my family and I know lots of real old time woodchuck types way up in those Vermont mountains who are so sharp about common-sense things like growing food with no pesticides or conserving energy --- things that some political marketing jerk-off would try to label "left" or "blue," and unfortunately something a few isolated Berkeley-ites might consider the unique province of the enlightened urbanite.

Anyway, thanks Cali, and a hearty "Jeesum Crow!" to you from out west. :hi:

[bigtree]

24. you couldn't argue this in the original thread?

What a joke. I didn't 'diss' your state. I didn't imply ANY of what you're defending against here. It's ridiculous to suggest that I even would.

[cali]

25. gad. you are taking this way too personally. your OP was just the

50th one or so I've seen about how rural voters invariably vote repuke. This is not a reply to your thread. It's simply a response to the masses of comments and threads generalizing about rural areas.

[bigtree]

26. it looks like you just continued your argument outside of the thread

with mine still floating. And you know I never said rural. I was speaking about a pattern that exists - of votes and opinions - in the areas surrounding the concentrated Democratic votes in the larger populated cities. I apologize if that was taken as a slam on 'rural' voters. But, there are these particular regions which are distinguished by their disparate views and votes.

[Lefty-Taylor]

27. Didn't Vermont just elect a Republican governor?

I thought that was odd, on that election night of all election nights, that that fabulous state Vermont would go for a Republican.

[cali]

29. it was a three way race: Dem Speaker of the VT House

Gaye Symington ran the worst campaign I've ever seen here. Progressive Anthony Pollina ran ran a great one- though on a very limited budget. Jim Douglas our incumbent milk toast repuke lite governor ran the same kind of affable ribbon cutting campaign he always does.

it was predictable that he'd be re-elected.

[THUNDER HANDS]

28. well, Vermont is largely rural, but it's also a big hippie college area

and very libertarian.

and not very religious, which I think is the key.