I am REALLY PISSED OFF at a lot of DU'ers here on this website

[Tx4obama]

For quite a long time now I have wanted to have my say, so here it is ...

Every time something happens in the 'south' many DU'ers feel the need to bash the south and the people that live down here.

Well it is time for it to STOP.

I can not rattle off numbers for other states but I can tell you a bit about Texas.

In the 2008 presidential election 3.5+ MILLION (3,528,633) Texans voted for Obama. Yeah, sure McCain got 4.4+ million (4,479,328) votes but hey Obama's 3.5+ MILLION votes isn't anything to sneeze at. Obama won the majority of the major populous cities/counties: Austin, Houston, Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio, etc. whereas the only large city McCain won was Ft. Worth - that's right McCain won only ONE major city.

WE down here are trying our damnedest to turn Texas BLUE. And while we are doing it we do not need DU'ers bashing us every time some idiot like Gov. Rick Perry says something stupid. Btw, Gov. Perry was put into office in his last election by LESS THAN 40% of the vote. Perry does NOT represent the majority of us Texans and the majority of us Texans do NOT support the idea of secession, which is against the law anyways :)

I am sure there are other democratic Southerners from other states that also frequent DU and are probably fed up with the 'south bashing' as much as I am. I would just hope that when DU'ers post comments that they remember/realize that when they bash our southern states they are STEREOTYPING and stereotyping has no place in our modern society.

It is time to embrace ALL democrats no matter where they live and join in the fight to turn the red states BLUE!

Thank you for listening to my rant :)

[cali]

1. don't let it get to you.

South bashing and rural bashing is a mindless, knee jerk kind of thing.

[sui generis]

97. yep, kind of like telling watermelon and fried chicken jokes.

:shrug:

Everyone should have thicker skin.

On balance though, there are some hayseeds in this state. They do not represent urban life in Texas and they are polar opposites from their urban counterparts in many cases. It's just more fun to generalize to everyone from the stupid half than from the smart, and even that statement was unfair to many rural democrats.

Best to just stop bashing.

[bjobotts]

205. Criticism is not bashing. But Texas being bold about its stuidity doesn't undermine progressive Texa

[bjobotts]

206. For instance when Texas textbook authors want to get rid of MLKing and add Rush and Ann Coulter-WTF

[bjobotts]

208. The rest of the country need not be scolded for pointing out the massive amount of Texas ignorance

When so many Texans hold it up as a banner of bragging rights.

[bjobotts]

209. Stop 'not' speaking your piece and start pointing out Texas' progressive points to change image

[sui generis]

247. Wrong, wrong, and for the third time wrong.

That's like saying nigger or wop or kike jokes are okay, and we should reply by pointing out the elder statesmen who don't fit those stereotypes.

[cyclezealot]

235. South bashing is totally unproductive .

We should find allies where ever they may be.. A question though. Why do so many idiot congress members come from the south. 'It's not the south, but that all the evangelicals pretty much come from there.
. Not that the south has not given us some able politicians. Such as Arkansas' Sen. Dale Bumpers. Lawton Chiles of Florida was a favorite. But, why can't the normal people of the south prevent the south from giving us idiots such as Jim DeMint, Jesse Helms,Trent Lott, Tom Cockburn.. It's not just that they are lousy representatives of the south. But, they bring the whole country down..
.............Don't consider that south bashing.. It's just our failed message fails to get the normal people of the south to stop harming the rest of the country by them continuing to send their crazies to the congress....

[jobycom]

2. I'm with you. I hate all those damn yankees who bash the south..

:rofl:

[peace frog]

96. Heck, I bash my home state of Flori-DUH all the time

We're also trying like hell to turn F-L-A blue, but FL Dems know we've got a tough row to hoe to make that happen.

:hi:

[jobycom]

105. Oh, I bash Texas and Mississippi all the time, but that's different than hearing an outsider do it.

The outsider really means it, I'm just expressing frustration when I do it. :) It's like the difference between calling your mother a bad name and hearing someone else call her that.

[peace frog]

111. In the case of FL...

whatever criticism is being hurled, by outsider or insider, is usually true so I take no offense.

[tosh]

152. Yes, we are a magnet to all kinds of wierdness, LOL!

[SteveM]

174. I call it the Midnight Cowboy effect, after the movie & its final destination(nt)

[tosh]

180. Good one!

I may borrow that.

I don't complain, though, because it gives great material to our most excellent fiction writers.

[Jamastiene]

172. For me, it depends on if they are bashing ALL of my state

of just the assholes here. If they are bashing the assholes here, I'll join in. Hell, I don't like the assholes here either. If they are blaming all the people from my state for the assholes, I'll point out that I'm not that asshole, nor do I have control over that asshole. :hi:

[jobycom]

191. Yeah that. nt

[bjobotts]

211. Oh the irony

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. They bash Kansas too

So you're in good company.

[SusanaMontana41]

232. And Nebraskans

Slam the politicians, but not the people. Lots of sincere, hard-working people — conservative and liberal — live in flyover country. :hi:

[Violet_Crumble]

4. I refuse to discriminate based on southness when bashing Americans! n/t

Had to remove our local fond name for Americans just in case anyone thought I was referring to only americans who live in some northern part of the US...

[BluDemocratGirl]

5. They bash my state, Mississippi ALL THE TIME!

We were going to turn my state blue 'cause McCain had ALMOST didn't show up for the 1st presidnetial debate in 2008.

[pleah]

189. I live in MS and have been know to bash it once in a while.

I know there are dems here, but some of the stupid shit I see every day makes me wonder about most here. I will try to behave myself in the future, but sometimes it is hard.

[bjobotts]

213. Yep, we should just ignore this last place progressive state who had to have civil rights forced oni

[jberryhill]

6. All right, but what about Oklahomans?

[Tx4obama]

7. What about Oklahomans?

As long as there are democrats there in Oklahoma then I support you!
We need to do ALL we can to turn ALL the states blue!
It starts with education and eliminating the hate and the stereotyping ;)

[jberryhill]

13. Are there any?

The last time any part of my family went to Oklahoma, it was at gunpoint.

[Broken_Hero]

15. There are a few

in Oklahoma, my wife's side of the family is from NE Oklahoma and there are a couple of Dems on that side.

eta:to change ffew, into few.

[jberryhill]

29. Can they be evacuated to a refugee area outside of the state?

...after a suitable quarantine period, they may be able to safely integrate.

[Broken_Hero]

33. Maybe, :)

I'm know there are other good Dems in Oklahoma(somewhere in there!) its not like SW MO is any better though, although I'm from Alaska, so I gotta hear/deal with a lot of grief whenever Palin is mentioned, or the bridge to no where, cause my hometown is "where the bridge to no where" is located...

So, even states WAY up north catch grief, we had Palin, Murkowski(sp) and Young....

eta:clarify

[grace0418]

88. A dear friend of mine lives in Tulsa. Not only is he a liberal, he's gay to boot.

I don't know how he stands it, but he does. I visited him there once, and I love him but I don't wish to make a return trip.

[fl_dem]

167. I grew up in the Tulsa area

and many of my family and friends that still live there are democrats, they are out numbered of course, but working on it. The ones who remain conservative are just so ignorant they don't know any better, its the educated ones that lean left!

[bluestateguy]

8. Show me the Blue

Just show me the Blue down South and the name calling will stop.

Show me the Blue.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. So, in other words...

...you will continue to make bigoted remarks and assumptions about the South?

[bluestateguy]

10. Say it with me again

Show me the Blue!!!

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Say it with me....

...BIGOTED BROADBRUSHING!

[DrDan]

54. and against the rules of the site

[Jamastiene]

141. Ok, another map

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/election/uscounties.html

[change_notfinetuning]

108. Show me the electoral votes. That's not bigoted. That's a fact. n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

118. Making assumptions of an entire group based on its location is bigotry.

[change_notfinetuning]

119. Are you telling me that citing electoral vote totals of the south is evidence of

bigotry? I'm confused.

[Behind the Aegis]

121. You are confused. Hopefully, this will help.

If you think all Blacks are lazy...you are espousing a racist view.
If you think all gays are child molestors....you are espousing a homophobic view.
If you think all Southerns are inbred, racists, hicks because we don't have the 'required' number of electoral votes to pass your (general) purity test...you are espousing a regionalist (bigoted) view.

[change_notfinetuning]

139. With all due respect, because I'm sure you are a great Democrat and we would

agree on most issues, concluding that citing the electoral votes of southern states is as bigoted as the ludicrous examples of bigotry that you cited - lazy Blacks, gay child molesters, inbred southerners - is as illogical as all of those southern states that voted for Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. In fact, the liberal "egghead" from Illinois got almost no electoral votes except from the south. That was to the South's credit (and mistaken loyalty to a party). But, ever since Nixon, the United States of America has been saddled with the real bigots, you know, the confederate flag types, as well as people like Bush, Saxby, sorry I don't have enough time to list them all.

Of course there are millions of great people in the south. I'll even stipulate to that. At the same time, you can't deny that the USA cannot do what it needs to do to right this ship, so long as the electoral votes of the south are squarely in the red. Southern states control our destiny.

I'm a reasonable person, often prone to sarcasm and humor, but surely we can keep this civil if we both want a progressive United States of America, far different than what we are and the direction we are headed. Right?

[Behind the Aegis]

237. I think you and I are talking past one another.

"...concluding that citing the electoral votes of southern states is as bigoted as the ludicrous examples of bigotry that you cited..."

You surely don't think my examples of bigotry are "ludicrous" in as they are not examples of bigotry, but rather they are "ludicrous" in they aren't accurate or true, yes?

The OP made a comment about people making bigoted remarks because of someone's location (Texas, in his case). The person to whom I responded basically said s/he would not not stop such bigoted remarks until that state (the South, in general) were "blue states." Citing facts is not bigoted, it is how the facts are used.

Fact: There are more African-Americans in jail than other groups combined.
Fact: Based on percentages, there are more African-Americans in jail than other groups based on their population in the US.
Conclusion (passed as fact): AA are more criminal than other US populations based on race.

The first two are indeed facts. The "conclusion" can be passed off as fact based on the other two facts. But it is a logical fallacy, but many wouldn't see it as such and blindly accept it as fact.

So...

Fact: The Southern states (TX, OK, LA, AR, MS, AL, TN, KY, WV, MD, DE, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, and FL command 189 electoral votes.

()

(based on the US census)

Fact: The Southern states have more electoral votes than any other region: Pacific - 7; West - 117; Mid-West - 124; and Northeast - 101 (Grand total of 538).
Conclusion: "At the same time, you can't deny that the USA cannot do what it needs to do to right this ship, so long as the electoral votes of the south are squarely in the red. Southern states control our destiny."

Again, we see what a logical fallacy this is.

• First, not all of the Southern states were in the red this last election (FL, NC, VA, MD, DC, and DE), and have varied depending on election.
• Second, it takes 270 electoral votes to win a presidential election, and while the Southern states have 189 electoral votes, it isn't enough to "make" a president. If McCain had taken all the Southern states, he STILL would not be our president, without winning states from other regions.
• Finally, there were 11 states, which were not Southern (AK, AZ, UT, ID, WY, MT, ND, SD, NE (4), KS, and MO (a total of 55 electoral votes)), that were red.
• So, even with a sweep of the Southern states and the additional 11 states McCain took, he would have ended with 244 electoral votes, 34 votes short of a presidential win.

The true conclusion: the Southern states do not control the destiny of this country and blaming them for such is akin to bigotry. "SHOW ME THE BLUE" as a requirement to stop generalizing Southerns as bigots, small-minded, and/or a detriment to this country is a form of bigotry.

Also, if the requirement is "show me the blue," go ahead and show via this map: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/election/uscounties.html Seems our nation isn't as "blue" as people would like to think!

[Enthusiast]

143. If you think all Palestinians are terrorists....

Just sayin'

[Behind the Aegis]

227. If you think all Jews hate or think all Palestinians are terrorists...

Just sayin'

[howmad1]

202. Well, one way to stop the bigoted remarks about Texass.......

....is for Texass to succeed from the union. I guarantee nobody will ever make fun of Texass anymore. Oh, BTW, have the dems leave before Texas becomes part of Mexico.

[Behind the Aegis]

228. Says the poster hailing from red state Arizona, "home" of McCain...

[Tx4obama]

12. I already did....

I outlined the BLUE in the cites/counties of Texas.
Apparently you did not read my OP up above.
You are apparently stereotyping a whole state due to its 'whole' instead of its 'makeup'.
State 'boundaries' do not totally represent what is going on within a state, especially Texas - Texas is a diverse state that has a land mass AND population equivalent to 'several' states.

[jberryhill]

31. As in Blue v. Gray or as in Blue v. Red?

Because, frankly....

[DrDan]

53. how about showing you the rules

"Do not post messages that are bigoted against . . . region of residence."

Does that make a difference?

I also am tired of this elitism. A poster about a week ago described Florida as a "mental institution". Do you think that is ok? I assume you do.

[bobbolink]

89. Too bad there aren't rules against bashing poor folk.

There are many forms of discrimination, and discriminators USUALLY defend their actions.

[lark]

130. Hello blue person here

I live in FL and there are many Dems here, but unfortunately I live in No. FL. so am outnumbered by the reds. Not all Floridians are hick rednecks, quite a few of us are educated and left wing.

[BlueJazz]

226. Boy...I understand... I lived in North Florida for a while. The Hicks are like Roaches.

:)

[Fla Dem]

246. I live in NE FL and all the RW'ers are not rednecks. Many of them

are transplanted northerners. I work in an office of 12 where no one is a native Floridian. For the most part they are educated, reasonably economically comfortable middle age or older. Some are from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. None are from a "southern" state. I am from Massachusetts. I am the only liberal in the office. There is Obama and Democratic bashing all the time from about 3 of the people. The others have made their opinions known, but are not fervent RWers. One of them listens to Neal Boortz and Limpballs everyday. His wife is a Sarah Palin devotee. I hold my own when the topic turns to politics, and when I overhear anything outrageous coming from the radio I let them have it. Thanks to DU and other sites I'm able most of the time to refute some pretty ridiculous charges these folks parrot from RW talking heads. Yes, rural Florida is pretty redneck, lots of confederate flags on double wides and stickers on trucks, but the rest are just your average citizen.

[Jamastiene]

134. Ok

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/

[carolinayellowdog]

135. Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida ALREADY SHOWED YOU

in 2008-- and are among the most populated states of the South. If you're still namecalling based on the illusion of a solid "red" South, you're already 14 months late.

[mnhtnbb]

184. Yeah for NC!

[tosh]

155. Here's a nice pic of Georgia's Blue Belt...

That blue area in the southwest is RURAL. (My hometown is there.)

[Jamastiene]

157. Looks like DeKalb County(Atlanta) got more blue votes than Suffolk(Boston) in 2008.

Interesting.

DeKalb County (Atlanta): 188,199
Suffolk County (Boston): 147,006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/election/uscounties.html

[tosh]

159. Now, that IS interesting.

[Lucky Luciano]

194. Those blue belts in the rural south have large black populations?

Seems like a feasible explanation.

[tosh]

199. In the case of southwest Georgia, yes.

I am incredibly proud that that blue belt appears on EVERY election map of Georgia. The turnout was not just there for Obama, but for Kerry and for Gore as well. It is always blue in statewide races.

[SmileyRose]

251. Excuse me - but COBB barely went for Grandpa ?????

and the MILITARY CENTERS went for Obama ??????


:rofl:



And the Republican's think they are going to take this year's elections in a landslide???? LOL

[tosh]

252. Great observation, SmileyRose.

Thanks for that. :hi:

[Extend a Hand]

161. scroll down and look at election results by county

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/

[DainBramaged]

14. Since when is Texas 'the South'? And since when did Texas want to be associated with 'the South'?

oops, sorry, some folks just can't recognize :sarcasm: without a fecking road sign...........

[Tx4obama]

18. Are you serious?

Every time people talk about getting rid of the SOUTH and say that the USA would be better off with out us they always mention Texas.
I've read 1000s of comments of people that hate the South that say that Texas should be given back to Mexico.
Don't give me your BS about Texas not being part of the South.
If your going to pick a state that isn't considered Southern then I would say it is Florida since a good part of those folks are retirees from 'other states' and besides those folks don't have a 'southern drawl' like us folks here in Texas ;)

I'm guessing you've never spent much time here in Texas... otherwise you'd know that we ARE THE SOUTH!

[DainBramaged]

20. (sigh) insults, it's what Texas is all about..........

:eyes:

[WolverineDG]

74. Don't forget all the loverly liberals & progressives

who openly post their hopes that a hurricane will hit Texas & wipe out the state.

dg

[Blue_In_AK]

110. Oh, yeah, Texas is DEFINITELY the South.

I moved to Houston from Colorado my sophomore year of high school and for several weeks I couldn't understand a word anybody was saying. It was like a foreign language. And I got called a damn Yankee more than once. I was from COLORADO for Pete's sake -- since when is Colorado a Yankee state??

[change_notfinetuning]

123. Big-OTS in Texas? You're shitting me. You probably messed with Texans. n/t

[TicketyBoo]

153. OTS?

Damn, I hate acronyms. Always make me scratch my head, feel stupid, and then make me head for the acronym finder. Not much help this time around.

http://www.acronymfinder.com/OTS.html

Okay, I admit it. I AM stupid. So is the acronym finder.

[change_notfinetuning]

217. Sorry to confuse. It was just the word bigots, with a pronunciation inspired

by an All in the Family episode ( like big HOTS, without the H). I was just responding to the poster who said when she moved from Colorado to Texas, she was called a damn Yankee. Plus, everything in Texas is big, right?

[Enthusiast]

145. What's wrong with Yankee states? nt

[Blue_In_AK]

182. Nothing wrong with Yankee states at all.

My point is that Colorado ISN'T one, since it wasn't even admitted into the Union until 1876.

[Enthusiast]

236. 1876? Hell, that proves it,

Colorado ain't even a real state.

[Jamastiene]

166. We spell damnyankee as one word in the south...

no matter how many syllables and how long it takes us to say it.

The more you know...

:P

:evilgrin:

[TicketyBoo]

150. Oops.

The most I've heard about Texas leaving the Union is from your own governor. He seems to think Texas would be better off without the rest of us.

[struggle4progress]

19. Surely you jest.

A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union
... The States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa, by solemn legislative enactments, have deliberately, directly or indirectly violated the 3rd clause of the 2nd section of the 4th article <the fugitive slave clause> of the federal constitution, and laws passed in pursuance thereof; thereby annulling a material provision of the compact, designed by its framers to perpetuate the amity between the members of the confederacy and to secure the rights of the slave-holding States in their domestic institutions-- a provision founded in justice and wisdom, and without the enforcement of which the compact fails to accomplish the object of its creation ... http://americancivilwar.com/documents/causes_texas.html

Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union
digg Share this on Facebook Huffpost - Gov. Rick Perry: Texas Could Secede, Leave Union stumble reddit del.ico.us RSS
AP | 04/15/09 06:58 PM
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!" ... Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html

SEGREGATION ... Attitudes regarding racial separation probably arrived in Texas during the 1820s and obviously accompanied views toward the "peculiar institution," slavery ... Although the law specified until 1890 that black schools were to have equal access to the common school fund, they often did not ... Railroad-car segregation began in 1891. In 1910 and 1911, the legislature passed laws dictating that railroad companies provide separate waiting rooms in railroad stations. Several Texas towns adopted residential segregation laws between 1910 and the 1920s. Legal strictures called for segregated water fountains and restrooms. By 1930, black citizens could not attend sports or cultural events, eat at the better restaurants, or get lodging at the finer hotels unless these facilities provided separate accommodations ... In 1956, for example, the voters approved a referendum that opposed compulsory attendance in integrated schools and another that prohibited intermarriage. The 1957 legislature passed laws encouraging school districts to resist federally ordered integration ... http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/pks1.html

CIVIL-RIGHTS MOVEMENT ... Black leaders established a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Houston in 1912, three years after the founding of the national organization; by 1930 some thirty chapters existed throughout the state. The association pursued the elimination of the white primary and other obstacles to voting, as well as the desegregation of schools, institutions of higher education, and public places. Tejanos established their own organizations to pursue similar objectives, among them the Orden Hijos de America ... In conjunction with the National March on Washington in 1963, approximately 900 protesters marched on the state Capitol. The group, which included Hispanics, blacks, and whites, attacked the slow pace of desegregation in the state and Governor John Connally's opposition to the pending civil-rights bill in Washington ... http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/pkcfl.html

[Tx4obama]

22. Texas can NOT legally secede from the union...

After Gov. Perry's comments received considerable attention and news coverage, Rasmussen Reports polled Texans and found that 31% of them believed that Texas has the right to secede from the United States, although only 18% would support secession.

Btw, it is AGAINST the law in the USA for ANY state to secede from the union.
Texas does have a right to 'divide' into several smaller states, but does not have legal standing to secede from the union.

[struggle4progress]

26. Of course. I merely cite the noisy rhetoric as evidence the old confederate attitudes

have not completely vanished 135 years after the war. When I lived in Texas decades ago, it was still popular to cuss Yankees. Dallas has a big old park named after Robert E Lee. It should be easy to multiply examples, but I think it's clear enough that Texas can properly be called a southern state

[derby378]

63. Lithuania couldn't legally secede from the Soviet Union, either

But they did. And they turned out okay.

Me, I don't think Texas should secede. We've tried being a republic once. It was okay, and we had a good laugh. But we do so much better as a state than as a republic.

[Tx4obama]

23. Here ya go...

Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869) was argued before the United States Supreme Court in 1869. The Court held in a 5–3 decision that the Constitution did not permit states to secede from the United States, and that the ordinances of secession, and all the acts of the legislatures within seceding states intended to give effect to such ordinances, were "absolutely null". However, the decision did allow some possibility of the divisibility "through revolution, or through consent of the States."

[struggle4progress]

32. I am afraid you have misread my intent. I do not think Texas can legally secede.

I do think Texas did secede to join the confederacy, motivated by slavery considerations. And having grown up in Texas, back in the days when the schools were still fighting desegregation and lots of folks were Dixiecrats because Great-grand-pappy had hated Lincoln and the carpet-baggers, I heard plenty of apologists for secession. When I hear texans talk about secession, it convinces me those people are still around, though it seems their numbers are dwindling

[Tx4obama]

35. To be honest....

To be honest I did not read your whole comment ... my glass of rum and coke have made my eyes a bit blurry this evening ;)

[struggle4progress]

37. Yall is jest beggin for this here Yankee sympathizer to rant on illiterate Southern drunkards ...

but being as Ah now live in Nuth Caolina, and has been knowned to misread posts sometimes mahself, I'll forebear :)

[Tx4obama]

41. Shhhh.. don't tell anyone but....

my first 15 years were spent up there in Yankee land - Illinois (the land of Lincoln and Obama) ... been down here in Texas for the past 35 years ;)

[rebel with a cause]

200. Not all of Illinois is Yankee land....

Haven't you heard that Southern Illinois is compared to Alabama. Chicago region is the north, Springfield area is considered the plains region (mid-America), and the Southern tip is...considered the south. If it was left up to the southern region the state would likely be blue for regional politics and red for national. I happen to live in a bluish island in a southern red region. :shrug:

You talk about the North and South insults, you should read some of the things that have been published over the years in the newspapers about differences between Northern and Southern Illinois. Northerners in Illinois are rude, loud and pushy and Southerners in Illinois are inbred backward hillbillies. I have lived with and laughed at these attitudes all of my 64 years. They can only be taken as serious as 'you' take/make them.

[Jamastiene]

169. Welcome to NC

:hi:

[struggle4progress]

224. Thanks. I just moved here in 1989, so I'm still learning my way around

Yall got any post offices in this state?

[jmowreader]

65. Did y'all look at the map you posted, son?

Texas appears to be colored in, meaning it is one of the Southern States.

But seriously, the real rednecks in Texas don't want to be part of The South. They want to be The Republic of Texas--a completely separate country.

You'll love these sites:

The Texas Nationalist Movement: http://www.texasnationalist.com/

The Republic of Texas Official Site http://www.texasrepublic.info/newsandevents/newswatch.html

And for extra insanity...http://texasrepublic.info/1836/2007constitution.html. Doesn't allow women to hold public office, sanctions slavery, doesn't let anyone who isn't white move into Texas after the formation of the Republic--although it's mighty nice of him to put in that any black people living in Texas on the effective date of his constitution don't have to leave.

[anniebelle]

16. I live in Tennessee, what more can I say.

The problem in my area is there are so few liberals, it's a joy to find a like minded person in a 30-mile radius. During this last campaign, we noted with glee the Obama/Biden stickers, few as they were, but we didn't give up hope. My husband and I fill our newspaper with our letters to the editor and get the most hateful and downright scary letters from the local yokels sent to our home. I've lived in the south most of my life and have never found it to be quite so "RED". I am just taken aback with all the absolute hate the people in this area have for their native son, Al Gore. But, I have no illusions that even in a 'blue' state, you will not find your neanderthal knuckle dragger's.

[Tx4obama]

25. Well in my opinion ....

You can't go by the bumper stickers or the yard signs.
Many people don't want their neighbors to know how they vote.
I'm ten miles west of Houston and on my street we had more republican signs out in the yards than Dem signs and our district when for Obama :)
Btw, my Obama sign was stolen 15 minutes after I put it out in the front yard! I still don't know if it was stolen by an Obama hater or someone that supported Obama and wanted the sign as a keepsake ;)
I now keep my Obama signs on the inside of the house in the windows!

[Fly by night]

43. You could say a lot more. For instance, 8% more Tennesseans identify themselves as Democrats ...

... than Republicans (47% vs. 39%), according to the most recent Gallup poll. With that advantage, Democrats have to attract less than 30% of independents to win elections, while Republicans have to win over 80%.

You could say that, in 2008, Democrats registered four times as many new voters as Republicans.

You could also say that Republicans are fighting tooth-and-nail to keep us voting on unverifiable voting machines that delivered them our legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, despite the almost unanimous support for the TN Voter Confidence Act in 2007. (I know that Hamilton county is one of only two counties that votes on paper ballots, something we wanted the entire state to do, and to add random manual recounts to the mix everywhere.)

There are certainly some far-reich wing Republicans in control of the state now. But without their unverifiable voting machines, I do believe that wouldn't be the case. (Of course, you are from the land of Zach Wamp and WGOW, so I don't doubt that the state seems redder to you than it really is.)

You could help us by contacting your state Senator Bo Watson and asking him to keep the Voter Confidence Act intact and on-track for 2010. Senator Watson supported the bill in the past and we need his vote to prevent our 2010 elections from being once again cast on "vapor ballots".

[druidity33]

45. there are some

great communes in TN. Short Mountain, Ida, Sassafrass, Pumpkin Hollow, Dunmire Hollow, etc...

Lotsa Liberal folk hang out there.


:)

[Behind the Aegis]

17. I agree with you.

I guess because California is a "blue state" we should excuse Prop8. :eyes:

It is supposed to be against DU rules to "region bash," but many here fail to see how it is bigoted. It just goes to show that even liberals/progressives/democrats can miss their own bigotry.

[struggle4progress]

21. As a former Texan, who still has friends in the state, I have sometimes joked here

qbout giving Texas back to Mexico, or building a border fence along the Red River to keep yall out of my country. But it really is just a joke. I hooted and hollered for joy when I saw that Dallas county was really turning blue. I think yall are doing a wonderful job, trying to push the state in the right direction, and the only thing I can say: Take that state senate and state house this year, so Dems can control Texas redistricting after the 2010 census

[MrsBrady]

24. Tarrant county/ Fort Worth is the key to getting a

Democratic governor.
And yes… we are working are asses off.


Thanks! :hi:

[Tx4obama]

39. 2012

I'm hoping that the Democratic Convention will be held in Dallas in 2012
The new Cowboy stadium in Arlington would be great for Obama's acceptance speech!

[MrsBrady]

60. it would be...

is that possible???

how would that happen? have they been talking about it?

[sonias]

87. That won't be decided until late 2010 or early 2011

They do have to decide early in order to get good convention rates, so I'm sure they are looking at a lot of possibilities.

The state convention this year is in Corpus Christi. This year is a smaller state convention since it is not a Presidential election year. If you have never been to a state convention, this year would be a great year to go. Show up to your PCT convention after election night for the Democratic primary election. You can early vote of course, but the pct conventions are the same night as the regular election day March 2, 2010.

TDP web site
2010 Texas Democratic State Convention

Preparations are well under way for the 2010 State Convention, scheduled for June 25th and 26th in Corpus Christi, Texas. As in previous years, the convention will begin with a kickoff reception and silent auction the evening of June 24th – so be sure to make plans to attend and mix and mingle with fellow Democrats from across the state!

The TDP will be sending out information on housing, exhibitor opportunities and events in the New Year – so be on the lookout for updates from the State Party in the coming months.

Sonia

[tammywammy]

100. It's really too far for me to go this year.

:( I hope in 2012 it's within a 3-4 hr drive so I can go.

[sonias]

107. We'll miss you this year Tammy

I'm going to go if I can. It was insanely crazy in 2008 right? You did a great thing stepping up to volunteer.
:yourock:

Hope it does go to your neck of Texas in 2012!

:kick:


Sonia

[tammywammy]

151. Even if it's just within a 4 hr drive.

Maybe something will change and I'll be able to go.

Hey I was excited to get my new voter registration in the mail yesterday. :)

[Hekate]

27. I hear ya all the way to SoCal -- and I hope others do as well.

I'm really impressed at how "purple" Texas has become, btw. :hi:

Hekate

[shireen]

28. my rant about Texas

i love Texas.

I spent 5 years in Austin at college, had a chance to spend time in West Texas, Davis Mtns. Spent one Christmas on a rural panhandle farm. LOVED it!
It a beautiful state, wonderful people.

how's that for bashing Texas?


:hi:

[Tx4obama]

40. That's pretty gosh darn good! ;) n/t

[callous taoboy]

85. This Texan thanks you. n/t

[BlueIris]

30. Regional elitism is just as vile as any other kind of elitism (read: bigotry).

Half my extended family lives in the South or Southwest. Those places are horribly and unfairly stereotyped by the mainstream media and dominant culture and have been as long as I've been alive. VILE. (I alert all bigoted posts on site, and encourage others to continue to do the same.)

[Tx4obama]

34. Other Southern States....

There are TONS of Democrats in the South and if you really look at the numbers Obama did not really do all that bad in the South! The states that are red are actually pretty much divided amongst the two parties.

Folks that voted in 2008

Florida: Obama 4,282,074 McCain 4,045,624
Alabama: Obama 813,479 McCain 1,266,546
Georgia: Obama 1,844,123 McCain 2,048,759
Louisiana: Obama 782,989 McCain 1,148,275
Mississippi: Obama 554,662 McCain 724,597
North Carolina: Obama 2,142,651 McCain 2,128,474
South Carolina: Obama 862,449 McCain 1,034,896
Tennessee: Obama 1,087,437 McCain 1,479,178
Texas: Obama 3,528,633 McCain 4,479,328
Virginia: Obama 1,959,532 McCain 1,725,005

[Tx4obama]

38. Also

Arkansas Obama 422,310 McCain 638,017
Oklahoma Obama 502,496 McCain 960,165
Kentucky Obama 751,985 McCain 1,048,462

Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky also had a good amount of Obama voters ;)
They are not going to be blue anytime soon but there are still tons of democrats that live in those states!

[billybob537]

47. I went to Houston to

Get the "Spank Tom DeLay mobile" after he quit.

[era veteran]

117. We are working hard in KY

If Obama had bothered to campaign here he might have won. He certainly would have done better. People's feelings get hurt when they are discounted. We never seceded but still were re constructed. Re construction was a failure. Too bad OUR native son Abe Lincoln was assassinated. I have seen more overt racism in Yankee land. Enough with the hillbilly, incest, no teeth jokes. Apply this saying from the 60's to this problem "racism is the tool that keeps them on the top and us on the bottom." Education sure has suffered down south. Remember the United part of USA!! I have visited this subject before and it burns me up some person who may have never been in the south are so god damned judgmental. Peace, Richard

[Enthusiast]

148. Okay

At the present time what is President Obama's approval rating in the South, overall?

[proteus_lives]

36. Preach it!

A good chunk of my family lives in Texas (As did I once once a time) and I hate south/region bashing. It's ignorant and unworthy of DU.

[depakid]

42. Sorry to say, but Texas' reputation is- and has been well earned

From http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/05/texas.police.seizures/">Tenaha to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulia,_Texas">Tulia.

From http://motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/medicating-aliah">TMAP to folks the state sends to Washington, D.C.

And worse into other states all across the nation- with Dick Armey's and Charles Hurwitz, to name but a few.

The lesson for the rest of us- after the last 20+ years can be readily summed up by Molly Ivins:

Texas: The (inter)national laboratory for bad government.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/23/ivins.borders/index.html

Sorry to say- but that's just the way it is.

Hope you all can help to change it.

[WolverineDG]

76. I guess there's absolutely *no* public corruption in your state

:eyes:

dg

[liberation]

103. But that was not the point of the previous poster... is it?

[Libertas1776]

44. I'm surrounded by rednecks

and I live in New York. The South bashing needs to stop.

[Daphne08]

46. I've lived in California for a few years now, but I'm still

as Southern as they come, and I hear you.

The 'Southern bashing' pops up now and again here on DU, but there are plenty of us here who speak up.

[DailyGrind51]

48. But, bashing someone or some group is the American way!

[Tx4obama]

49. Is that you Sarah? ;) n/t

[Lerkfish]

50. they bash overweight people and liberals christians as well as liberals and

well the list is too long to go into.

needless to say, there's not much to do about it.

[DailyGrind51]

163. Not to mention the threads that bash "baby boomers"!

[JNelson6563]

51. Nothing but hugs and encouragement here

:hug:

Julie

[TexasObserver]

52. Yeah, it's pretty stupid when people attack states.

As with all kinds of bigotry, the bigotry about states relies upon the willingness of the biased to use events to confirm their prejudices. If the same event happened in New York, they wouldn't say "damn, it's New York - what do you expect?" But if it happens in a part of the country of which they disapprove, it becomes confirmation.

It's really very similar to racism in action. You know how that works. The racist sees the arrest of a black man for a crime as confirmation of his prejudices about blacks. It's not true, but it fits the needs of the person who uses the event to confirm his prejudices.

Regionalism, Statism - they're both really stupid prejudices, and those who embrace them are weak minded.

[timtom]

55. Thank you!

I have the same feelings -- whether it be Texas or Florida! When something bad happens in one of those states, the bashers prove themselves to be moronic, juvenile, and remarkable uncreative.

I grew up in Florida and lived in Austin for 6 years.

[AB_Positive]

56. I will never forget what one of my favorite Texans said about this...

Her nickname, appropriately, was "Texas".

Here's how our first meeting went:

Me: "That's a lovely accent ma'am, where down South are you from?"

Her: "I'm not from the South."

Me: *puzzles* "Huh?"

Her: "I'm from Texas. Never tell someone from Texas they're a Southerner. I'm not a Southerner. I'm from TEXAS"


So while getting the South to be blue is a huge undertaking, I think the issue at hand here is more that you're taking offense to South-bashing. Because you aren't in the 'South'... you're from TEXAS! :D

[Tx4obama]

64. And YOU are completely WRONG. Texas IS in the South. n/t

[AB_Positive]

241. That's what I thought...

but I've had multiple Texans 'correct' me. So... I don't know. You're the first Texan I've talked to that said "Texas is in the South" instead of "Texas is Texas".

[caitxrawks]

57. i haven't been here long enough to experience this.

But I'm sure I'll see it sooner or later, seeing as how I see someone complaining about it all the time xD I'm from NC, born and bred. I'm probably the most AND least southern person you'll ever meet. I think I was born in the wrong region.

[Dappleganger]

58. South-bashing is a longstanding DU pastime...

I hate it too but end up putting those people on ignore because they tend to broad-brush a number of other groups as well.

[Iggo]

75. It's a long-standing AMERICAN pastime.

Try not to spread it to the children and maybe we can kill it...but I'm not holding my breath.

[KG]

59. heh. i lived in rural GA for several years. not much brain activity there.

the present governor was elected on the promise to return the stars and bars to the state flag. :eyes:

[Fumesucker]

62. I've lived in GA for most of my life..

You're right, very little brain activity beyond the reptilian core.

And we have a gubernatorial candidate who admits having sex with farm animals here..

http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/georgia-candidate-for-governor-admits-to-bestiality/

In Georgia, the Creators’ Rights Party candidate for governor is creating quite a stir by admitting to the fact that he’s had sex with a mule, men, and a watermelon, among other things. He has done these things even though he advocates a strongly anti-gay agenda.

[Babyhoneylips]

68. WHOA!

a watermelon? really? hahahaha

what a strange man.

[SteveM]

177. Let it get hot in the field first, then roll it in the shade. Remarkably cheap (nt)

[bigwillq]

61. Happens to many states here

Connecticut gets bashed a lot for "electing" Lieberman. No biggie.

[raccoon]

66. From SC, I feel your pain. nt

[GoCubsGo]

91. Me, too.

Not a native, but I have lived here half of my life.

[FlaGatorJD]

67. Silly Texan, don't you know all things good comes from the North?

Aw shucks, if it wasn't fer that 'Yankee Ingenuity", us dum Suthners wuld stil
be fiten with the Semnoles and gators. They brot all that smarts down here
and taught us how to bild strip malls, musement parks, and thim fancy
McMansions, in a style a like to call Villa Crapola! Shoot, for long, Florida
will be one big fancy mall, with paking lots coast to coast! Won't that be nice?

Ever since I wuz a lil boy, we always herd, "Well, here's how we do it up North,
meaning of course the better way to do it is . . . .

It made me always wunder, well heck, if it's so great up there, whyn't they all
staying up there in that paradise?

Back in the good 'ol days, we had a bumper stiker that sed,

"How come they call it Season,
If we cant' shoot at 'em?

It seemed to keep the migration down a little for awhile. Ah, the good 'ol days.

I'm just so glad they came down here and helped us so much :sarcasm:

[tosh]

156. ...

:fistbump:

:yourock:

[AngryAmish]

69. At least it's not Florida

[kjackson227]

70. I don't like the divisiveness either...

especially when our country AND party is in such turmoil. I've donated to blue state representatives, so hopefully our blue state DUers will do the same for us to help elect strong progressives and turn Texas blue.

[WolverineDG]

78. Keep your money in Texas

Blue staters won't send money to Texas & the DNC uses Texas as its cash cow.

dg

[kjackson227]

93. Well, I will do just that...

especially if I don't see the DNC or OFA helping us out this year with our elections.

[WolverineDG]

126. They won't. You can bank on that. nt

[tammywammy]

193. +1 I don't donate except to specific candidates

I don't want my money going out of state, it needs to be spent here.

[w8liftinglady]

71. a lot on "our" side need help registering to vote

an aggressive voter registration campaign and help getting to polls would do a lot to help...especially in Tarrant County.And,yes,I am a Connecticutt yankee who's lived in Texas for 30 years,and I will never give up increasing our voters here.It has worked-slowly but surely.

[WolverineDG]

79. You deserve an award for all your LTTEs

:patriot:

dg

[Iggo]

72. Anytime anything happens anywhere, people will bash that area.

It's inevitable. I live in California. Every time Ah-nuld says something stupid or there's more bad news about the economy, it's somehow my fault because "you Californians" voted him into office (I didn't). When gay people lost the right to marry here, it was my fault because "you Californians" voted for Prop Hate (I didn't). Oh and that one's Utah's fault, too, somehow. Boycott Utah! LOL. What I'm trying to say here is that I've had to grow a thicker skin lately (and that's probably a good thing).

I do agree that The South has historically caught more shit more often than other areas.

[WolverineDG]

73. Yeah, funny how some here are willing to post crap about Texas

yet when you ask them for help to turn the state blue, they're no where to be found. Afraid of breaking a nail, I suppose.

Houston's mayor got sworn in on Monday, yet the only mention in GD was a post by someone who had to really stretch it just because he could NOT say something positive about Texas. Yet, had Ms. Parker been elected the mayor of a city in any other state, GD would have been FLOODED with positive posts about it.

dg

[niyad]

142. when she won the election, there were multiple posts about her victory.

[joeybee12]

77. Sorry, but I am WAY against Texas these days..

...they shouldn't be in the BCS game tonight! :evilgrin:

Of course, I don't think there should be the pointless BCS at all.

[livefreest]

80. bashing the WHOLE south will leave southerners feeling down

so let's all keep that in mind as we express our frustrations of some southern nut-jobs.

[livefreest]

81. bashing the WHOLE south will leave southerners feeling down

so let's all keep that in mind as we express our frustrations of some southern nut-jobs.

[sonias]

82. Thank you for ranting my fellow Texan

:grouphug:

For all of us fighters in the South and for anyone who will give us some respect. All we are asking is give us a chance.

:kick:


Sonia

[bvar22]

83. In 2006, we moved from Big Blue Northern City...

..to deep RED Rural South.
The South is BEAUTIFUL,
and belongs to ALL of us!




Turning The South Blue.

But if you "hate The South",
please don't come here.
We won't miss you.
:hi:

[callous taoboy]

86. Nice!

[Jamastiene]

171. Those are gorgeous pictures. n/t

[MilesColtrane]

84. That's the reason I first started using the Ignore function.

I recommend it.

[madmom]

90. I live in Ohio, we DID turn it blue, we are still bashed. Ignore it, I do, I have

more important things to worry/fuss about.

[Enthusiast]

149. I am surrounded by

rednecks in Ohio.

[madmom]

242. Me too. I can count on one hand the dems in my neighborhood, and it doesn't

get much better when I go into more populated areas, all farmers yelling about how poor they are,while raking in government subsidies , living in mc-mansions, driving a new car every year and new farm implements, I'm talking the big pieces, combines that hang over both sides of the road etc. I know some farmers are good people and really DO live off the land and help our country, but not around here I'm afraid.

I'm waaaay up in the northwest corner of Ohio, where are you?

[Enthusiast]

250. S.E.

But the farmers are Republicans here, also. My 90 year old mother says it is a tradition with farmers. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php>

[WildEyedLiberal]

92. I'm from a northern state, but I live in the rural Midwest, so I kind of feel your pain

Even though my state is very historically "blue," I don't live in or anywhere near an urban center, so I still get perturbed by all the "flyover state" and other assorted bigoted remarks against rural people/areas. It's far more subtle than the south-bashing, but it's still there. Having known many good, brilliant, liberal folks from south of the Mason-Dixon line, I rec'd your thread eagerly. Region-bashing is ignorant and provincial and far, far below anyone who claims to be of above-average intelligence or of a liberal political persuasion.

[NightWatcher]

94. dont get mad, just join with me and start making Yankee jokes

they talk so funny up there
etc
etc

[suzie]

173. The group that we locals call "Snowbirdus Americanus" has arrived from

the North for the season. Which is always a pain since most Southerners drink sweet tea, and the restaurants remove all the sweetener and sugar packets from the table because the Yankee snowbirds take them all home.

After they've left their tiny tip.

[liberation]

221. Just be glad your trees don't change colors and go through all the leafing...

... then they would never leave.

[varelse]

95. From way out here on the west coast

This California woman is with you. The broad brush smearing and the bashing needs to stop.

Don't these folks realize that the only people who will even see their sneering putdowns of voters in the southern states are other DU'ers who are OBVIOUSLY NOT THE PROBLEM? Oh, yeah, and they're also your fellow PROGRESSIVES AND DEMOCRATS.

Hello?

[PatSeg]

98. I lived in Texas for a while many years ago

It is a very big and diverse state. It is really hard to stereotype Texans if you've spent any time there. After all, the same state that gave the world George W and Karl Rove, gave us Ann Richards.

[liberation]

102. George W is a creation of Connecticut.

for what it is worth....

[PatSeg]

133. True

A Texan wannabe.

[struggle4progress]

225. He sure sounds like a garden-variety spoiled rich rightwing Texas brat to me. He was

raised in Midland

[sonias]

114. And Molly Ivins and Barbara Jordan...

Yes big diversity in every state. For every rat we've produced we had an equal number of inspiring forward thinking leaders.

Thanks for standing with us!

:hug:


Sonia

[PatSeg]

131. You're welcome

I have very mixed feelings about Texas as I met some of the best and worst people I've known there. For all the fundamentalists who tried to save my sorry soul, there were the total strangers who invited us to their homes for dinner. Lots of good memories from those days and unlike anywhere else I've lived.

[bvar22]

176. AND...

Bill Moyers
Jim Hightower
LBJ

[Romulox]

99. A lot of Southern "Democrats" aren't very Democratic though...

You don't get respect by hanging a (D) after your name--your get respect by putting forward liberal ideas. :hi:

[suzie]

137. Great, come on a thread asking people not to bash Southerners on DEMOCRATIC

UNDERGROUND and bash southern Democrats.

I sure do wish you'd take all the transplanted Michiganers and other "I've never voted for a Democrat and never will" yankees back home.

But no, we southern Democrats can never do enough--we have to listen you folks who call themselves "progressives" and Democrats bash us. And we have to listen to all the Republicans who've moved here from Michigan tell us how awful things are in the South.

It's the most fun thing to be in local store and have Michigan snowbirds come up while a clerk is trying to help you and drag her away because you're only a Southerner and they're from Michigan--they're important. Or have them push in front of you to order their 5 slices of cheese, "Only 5, do you hear?" at the grocery store.

Not to mention repeating "5 slices only" 3 times, because the poor little clerk is from the South and she probably can barely count to 5.

[Romulox]

140. I gets old to hear time and again that the plain truth is "bashing".

:hi:

[suzie]

170. I'd say the plain truth is that Southern Democrats have long had to deal with

the overriding problem of race, which tends to dominate our politics. So perhaps we do have fewer "ideas" because we look at how politicians come out on that issue first.

However, I've watched the racism expressed by so-called "progressives"that has overwhelmed Democratic Underground since the election of our first President of color. I'd say that, far from bashing us Southerners, people who consider themselves superior because of their focus on whatever they think of as "ideas" would do well to go back and concentrate on the one that we Southerners have been dealing with for so long.

[liberation]

101. It is easier to tell the people pointing out the smoke to stop, than it is to put out the fire out

got it.

[Blue_In_AK]

104. Alaska gets bashed, too,

even BEFORE Sarah Palin. You know we're all a bunch of lazy welfare cheats up here, don't you, who get more than our share of federal money PLUS money from the state? None of us works for anything, we just sit around on our butts and collect our checks.

[tammywammy]

195. Holy crap I'm moving to Alaska!

I wanna sit on my butt collecting checks. :P

[Hello_Kitty]

106. Texas seems a helluva lot more progressive than my state, Arizona.

Especially here in Maricopa County. Home of the dumbest, most ignorant and bigoted fucks in the nation. :(

[kaehele]

109. nature of the beast

Tx4O, I pretty much left this site weeks ago when my posts were greeted with derision and general teenage snottiness. So don't come here expecting mature reflection and treatment. Ya won't find it.

[wryter2000]

112. New Yorker, Connecticut yankee, Californian with you

It's easy to be a liberal where I live. It takes a lot more guts to do it in a red state.

I've been to Texas, and I'd live there happily if I weren't a climate wuss.

[Malikshah]

113. Grow a pair (take your pick). One has to suck it up and deal to be here. The south needs

grow up and deal. I've never seen a more defensive bunch of whiny butts. Hell, we Floridians take it in stride.

[comrade snarky]

115. I shall never stop making fun of Texas

As someone born and raised in Houston it's my birthright dammit!

Up until the 1960s the British foreign service considered it a hardship post, like Calcutta.

Is there a biting, stinging insect or poisonous reptile in N. America that isn't found in Texas? I don't think so.

Armadillos? Yeah, they carry leprosy!

As a favor I'll spare you my rant on mosquitoes and giant cockroaches that fly, but cant fly well and end up heading straight at the face of the person trying to kill 'em!


In all seriousness though best of luck to you. Texas is also the home of Ann Richards and Jim Hightower and enough of my relations to fill a small stadium.
:toast:

[HughMoran]

116. I stopped doing that prolly about a year ago

I realized it was unfair and that people live where they live - and we all know y'all are fighting like heck down there!

[wroberts189]

120. I do not see much south bashing here....

But Blue dog bashing... yes.

But I think most of us would agree Dean's every state strategy was a brilliant success.

But back to your point.. and it is a good one. Truth is just because a state is "red" there will always be smaller blue districts within it. We are all one country now for better or worse.

A new civil war ...? How would anyone even know who to shoot at?

I was in the Army once and knew a certified southern tobacco chewing redneck.. complete with full southern drawl accent.

One of the most liberal and funny guys I have ever met. He blew the stereotype so bad he would joke about it himself.

And if you know anything about Mike Malloy ..well listening to him talk about living in the south is quite educational. He likes it and the people.

Our true enemies....? Right here in this interesting post below. Lincoln feared the bankers more then the south.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x420316

[WyLoochka]

122. An invitation to bash my red state

to your heart's content.

Have at it - bash Wyoming all you want. It is two thirds occupied by "libertarian" ignoramuses who have, since the beginning of statehood, been way too easily duped by wealthy corporatists into believing that being low wage serfs is the equivalent of being "free."

I won't take the bashing personally. I think most people know that there are good progressives in every state - even here.

[cyclezealot]

239. red states normally equal stupid people..

No one need bash Alabama when we have Kansas..

[Javaman]

124. Meh, I live in Austin. most of the bashing is right on the mark.

LOL

Cheers.

[anonymous171]

125. I like the non-racist aspects of the South and Southern culture

Very community oriented and friendly. A great breeding ground for (properly applied) liberalism. :)

[depakid]

168. Actually, the region has the lowest social capital in the nation

(outside of Nevada- which is an anomaly for obvious reasons).

Kind of surprised me- because one wouldn't necessarily think so without looking at the objective analysis.

Interestingly enough- it also mirrors public health indicators and educational attainment.



More about that here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4582647&mesg_id=4582851

[hfojvt]

127. what about bashing red states in general?

Your post is similar to one I have done a number of times. I have pointed out that there are more Obama voters in Texas than there are in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut combined and that there are more McCain (or Bush) voters in California or Illinois or New York than there are people in Nebraska or Kansas.

[RoccoR5955]

128. Like this Yankee says, it's better to get pissed off...

than pissed on!
The day that Texass turns blue, is the day I will strip naked, and sing the Star Spangled Banner in Times Square!
Sorry, I just don't like the South. Not the smell, not the people, not the heat, not a darn thing about it.
Yep, I am generalizing, but for me there is no life south of the Mason-Dixon line!

[bc3000]

129. I was often guilty of this and you are 100% correct.

Recently I had occasion to meet several people from Georgia and Kentucky and they were more liberal than I am. It really made me think about how I've been wrong in my attitude towards the South.

Take Alabama for example where Obama received some of his worst results. Approximately 1,200,000 people voted for McCain and around 800,000 people voted for Obama. Sure, when you look at the percentages that's a landslide. But we should think about that 800,000 before criticizing the entire state as some backwoods third reich. If you were at a party with 20 people and 12 of them were republicans and 8 of them were democrats would you consider it to be a republican event? I don't think so.

The same goes for the states that vote for democrats reliably. That doesn't mean it's some liberal paradise where conservative politics are uniformly scorned. It just means there somewhat more democrats than republicans.

And while sometimes it seems like it's always been this way and will never change, that's not necessarily the case. Check out the map of the 1976 presidential election if you want to see how things can change: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1976

Hell, in 1992 Georgia, Louisianna, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri went for Clinton.

Let's build on the positive: the millions of progressive voters who live in the South.

[niyad]

132. and just before I got home--was passed by this big, honking suv--with a "secede" bumper

sticker, driver with cowboy hat, the whole bit. wanted to ask him how soon he was planning on leaving.

[abelenkpe]

136. I'm from the south

and know that I left many democratic family members there when I left for the left coast.

Honestly, I don't know how they do it. I mean remain. Gotta be a stronger person.

Here's to hoping we can turn the red states blue.

:beer:

[niyad]

138. I am wondering what you think about this little tidbit:

Faculty Protest Texas Football Coach's Raise




There is no state in the union more synonymous with football than Texas. From the Dallas Cowboys to the unbeaten Texas Christian University Horned Frogs and Texas Longhorns, to Friday Night Lights, pigskin has long defined the Lone Star State. Yet one group is determined that in a time of serious economic crisis, football know its place: the faculty at the University of Texas, Austin. In the face of withering media criticism, they deserve our support. Following an undefeated season and a trip to this week's Bowl Championship Series national championship game, the University of Texas System Board of Regents upped coach Mack Brown's total compensation from $3 million to $5 million a year. In response, the Faculty Council voted to condemn the raise as "unseemly and inappropriate." Why would it critique a raise for the man who has led UT football to national glory and millions of dollars in television, alumni and bowl revenue?




Predictably, the sports media have been out front and center defending these priorities. Former Washington Redskin All-Pro Lavar Arrington addressed the faculty on his radio show, saying, "Hundreds of thousands of people don't show up to watch you teach." Edwin Bear on Bleacher Report wrote in an article subtly titled "Texas Head Coach Mack Brown Deserves His Two Million Dollar Raise," "The Texas football program brought in a nationwide record $87 million in 2008. To add Texas' football program channeled $6.6 million into UT's academic programs in recent years, according to UT's president William Powers Jr. in an ESPN article. (By the way how awesome is the last name Powers esp when he's the president where he works?!)" Yes. It's so awesome, it almost makes up for the fact that the school is raising tuition and cutting salaries to the bone. It also mistakenly gives the impression that surpluses are a fact of life at top football programs. Hardly.

. ,. . .


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100111/zirin2

[seabeyond]

144. why the fuck should i care what offends you.

you arent bothered at all who you offend.

[SteveM]

179. If this were a personal chat room. But I think it's about the politics of persuasion(nt)

[seabeyond]

186. actually

i am a calif living in the state of texas, married to a texan, and have two texan kids. not thrilled with texas and i dont want to be buried in texas, BUT.... i argue the bullshit so many give to texas as a truth, that is incorrect info.

i am not opposed to not bashing. i dont believe in bashing.

the point of my post, is this poster doesnt feel any remorse at all putting up the most offense threads to many as she whines at being offended by others on the board with texas or southern bashing.

so a basic hypocrisy on the part of op and screw you, .... to the op, lol

[liberation]

220. LOL Right on the money...

... I have been to Texas a shitload of times. Every time I am glad to be on the plane out.

And you know what pisses me the most? That they can be fucking open regarding their ignorance and bigotry, yet they are some of the people with the thinnest skin I have ever encountered all over the world. I have been told so many "cute" jokes about those darn hippies in California, and I have seen the same jovial guys turn into complete dicks once I return the favor and make a joke about their awesome state. Esp. if you remind them that the whole "everything is bigger in Texas" seems the motto of the national association of insecure men.

A significant amount of people I have interacted with down there seem to be suffering full blown passive aggressive personality disorders. I have seen people literally telling me and my acquittances to fuck ourselves with the biggest and brightest smile. Phonies...


Yeah, there are some great exceptions. And that is why they are known as "exceptions" those true liberals in the red states are real heroes because of their uniqueness. But lest stop pretending that when we criticize some of the crap that comes from the South, that we are somehow attacking them. I am frankly tired of all the dishonest BS by the perennially offended Christians and Southerners, always playing the victim card no matter what, even if it requires using those who are actually working for a change as a shield to deflect any criticism regarding on why the change was needed to begin with.

I assume that playing the victim is orders of magnitude easier than actually working to change some of the BS that lead other people to be weary of the South. So in a sense, I can't say I blame some of these professional victims... so much for that whole cowboy tough guy thing they had going for a while down there. LOL

[seabeyond]

222. i came here for a visit before moving her. father has size 14 foot.

we are in shoe store and employee says, no 14s. i turn to him and say

i thought everything was big here in texas.

lol

he didnt think it was funny

i get that so much.... stupid little sexist jokes and i call them on it and offended that i dare say something out loud. racist and homophobic jokes too.

i was only going to spend a little time here. just a little. then got married. hubby told me the other day, when kids out of high school, we are outta here.

oh

fingers crossed

[SteveM]

248. Well, I try not to get into someone's thread history. Sometimes...

it's better just to look at the content of the instant thread, and to see if it has any validity. Frankly, complaints about bashing the South and Texas, Florida (if folks want to argue over what is "Southern" or not) is a valid one.

Liberals play this culture war frequently. They are not very good at it.

But I see your point.

[DailyGrind51]

240. For example, I hate people who refuse to use capital letters!

Fuck you, e. e. cummings!

[seabeyond]

244. you hate me because i didnt capitalize the Y. hm. ok. bah ha ha. nt

[change_notfinetuning]

146. Non-bashing question: If Ronald Reagan came back to life and could, legally

and mentally/physically run for president, could he get elected again?

Could he get elected without the electoral votes from the southern states?

In 100 words or less, please explain how we Americans, in the North and the South, who want a better America, can reasonably still have hope under the current system.

[TicketyBoo]

147. If it makes you feel any better,

everybody can bash Nebraska for all you're worth.

I was born here, raised here, and never lived anywhere else, but I feel like a fish out of water.

Johnny Carson drew on his Nebraska roots anytime he portrayed Floyd R. Turbo.

So, make all those redneck jokes about Nebraska, and I'll just be nodding and thinking about my neighbors.

(It's not me, you know, and the South bashing isn't about you, either, if it's any comfort.)

[jeff47]

154. I've been to Texas, and I've been to the south.

Texas isn't in the south. Sure, geographically it's pretty close, but attitude-wise it's nothing like the south.

[shadowknows69]

158. Wouldn't dream of it. We have plenty of miserable people and happenings here in NY.

Ignorance knows no geography.

[MichiganVote]

160. You must have missed the auto threads and unions re: Michigan

[voteearlyvoteoften]

162. REC from FLA

[DFW]

164. I pay it no mind at all

I have some roots in New York, but like my maternal grandfather, was born and bred in the south,
and have called Dallas home for over a quarter century now. If someone tries to get your goat
by binging up some horror like Rick Perry, remind them that Peter King is from New York, and Ann Coulter,
Glenn Beck, as well as is the Bush family are all from Connecticut. Jim Hightower, on the other hand, is
from Texas.

There are things more asinine than regional stereotypes, but they are not numerous.

[kurtzapril4]

165. I'm from Kentucky

But have lived in Illinois for most of my life. I have assimilated to the Yankee ways. I consider myself a hillbilly, and am proud of it. I guess the PC way to say that is that I'm a person of Appalachian descent. I do enjoy a good hillbilly/southernor joke. My parents retired to FL in 1977. My dad still lives there. I'm there at least 4 times a year, as he is very elderly, and since my mother died, alone. I make fun of FL all the time. All I got to do is read the Hernando Times. There's a difference btwn. a good natured observation, and vicious bashing. I don't bash the South...but sometimes, I just gotta wonder.

I must admit I have some reservations about Texas. But I've never been there, so I don't judge Texas, though I think I'd be comfortable in Austin. I haven't forgotten that Anne Richards and Molly Ivans were Texans. When you get right down to it, people are people no matter where you are, or where you're from, and some people are going to be reactionary assholes, and jerks (for cripe's sake, there are Klan rallies in Skokie, IL. So there). But most people are just fine.

However, as a southernor, I still am sick of the "did you marry your brother, Uncle Daddy" BS. Unless it's very clever, of course. ;->

[rosesaylavee]

175. It's those crazy Cheeseheads from Wisconsin's fault.

:rofl:

[Skittles]

178. I live in a very red Texas county and I saw plenty of Obama support

mine included

[RainDog]

181. my "south-bashing" is based upon my life. I grew up in the south

I've lived in three different southern states, visited every single one of them, have relatives who live in five of them still, and, you know, sometimes people don't like the things you like. I don't like the overall mentality of the south. I don't spend time in the south unless I have to.

So, maybe you're assuming that those who say negative things about the south are saying them out of lack of experience. The reality might just be that people are relating their negative experiences of the south to others on this board.

I do my south-bashing with a southern accent.

[mrbarber]

183. Live in Georgia, feel the same way.

Great post.

[Bluesbreaker]

185. Nothing in the middle of nowhere

I know there are a lot of good Dems in Austin and elsewhere, but there are precious few in Abilene (the buckle on the Bible Belt). While I was home there visting for Christmas, I consoled myself by eating some of the best food that can be found anywhere: Barbecue, Mexican, and down home cooking (Perini Ranch in Buffalo Gap, just south of town). Yeeeha!!!

[Major Hogwash]

187. We're all in this together, Tx4obama. Good rant. I myself get tired of hearing it.

Half of my family lives in the South.
It gets tiring real damned quick hearing how the South is so dumb and everything all the time.

Hell, Jimmy Carter was from Georgia, and he was about twice as honest as any President we ever had.
I voted for him twice and won the first time, and I'd vote for him again in a heartbeat.

And Texas is a great state, my aunt still lives near Dallas.
And some of the best down-to-earth people I ever worked with were from Texas.

[cry baby]

188. Amen from Tennessee! We're working hard against the current in this state. nt

[laughingliberal]

212. Ah, yes, my home state

Keep up the good fight. My family had a long history of fighting against the current, there. I still miss seeing the azaleas in bloom in the spring.

[NashVegas]

190. Maybe You Should Take a Break Then

A couple of weeks away might help.

[defendandprotect]

192. Of course, you are right. . . . but it was also Nixon's "Southern Strategy" which suggested that

the South was in the racist GOP's bag --

I think we have all suffered from that reality invented by the GOP ---

and of course the right wing didn't begin creating our "reality" just yesterday --

it's been going on a long, long time.

A few years ago I came upon a book called "Votescam-The Stealing of America" --

can't give you a link at the moment - having trouble with my computer.

The book is free at the website -- some libraries have it -- and it can be purchased

for a few bucks.

Here's the link to it --

http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm

At any rate, it's about two Florida journalists in the late 1960's who began to investigate

computer voting in Florida and came to see the "stolen elections" and hijacking of computers.

They wrote a book which they had a contract for, but upon release it was immediately taken off

of bookstore shelves. We might also note that these computers began to come in just about the

time America was passing The Voting Rights Act! And, of course, they are hackable.


The other part of this story is the LARGE computers used by MSM which came in during the mid-

1960's. Prior to that time MSM could only REPORT official vote tallies. Yes, they sometimes

had someone on who would discuss the likelihood of a county or state voting this way or that,

but that's all. The LARGE computers gave MSM new powers -- to PREDICT elections for candidates

and to PREDICT which way states would go. It also gave them the power to CALL elections for

candidates -- official make them "winners" and "losers." And in the case of Presidential

elections, it gave them the power to CALL states for candidates by PREDICTING electoral votes --

and to officialy CALL a presidential candidate "the next president."



As far as I can see, we should be questioning all of our elections back to Nixon/Humphrey!

And, I certainly question whether there was ever a "Southern Strategy" or whether there were

simply elections stolen over and again by computer?


These two journalists also made sure that their information went to the Democratic National

Comittee -- that was just before the Watergate breakin.


Was there ever a Southern Strategy -- ?

[DeeOwl]

196. Incident with Pauly Shore in Odessa, TX?

What about that incident with Pauly Shore in Odessa TX, where he got punched in the face on stage by some dumb a@x hillbilly from the audience? Yeah, sure, it's Pauly Shore and many see his comedic style as lame and consider him to be dangerously annoying, but we northerners generally don't face-punch comedians on the stage. Nuff said...

Sure, we generally drive small Asian imports, we tend not to fly stadium sized American flags on 50-foot poles in front of our homes and we generally keep our beer drinking in-doors... wait, what was the argument again?

[seabeyond]

204. didnt some homophobe say shit to lady gaga (or whatever) in canada....

shit happens everywhere

[DeeOwl]

234. Homophobic Canadian?

I'll take a homophobic Canadian over a hillbilly anytime. I've seen pictures of the south and that was enough for me. Plus, I can't understand what in heck they are talking about when they speak. I worked with a fellow from the south once and I couldn't understand half the stuff coming out his mouth. (Arrr got thaar two-by-fuuuur stik im thar, get thar job done!) They got schools and English books down there, right?

[Behind the Aegis]

238. What a wonderful display of bigotry.

[seabeyond]

245. wow. sounding like you dont even know what you are talking about. pure blind bigotry

big plus on the bigots in texas. sheeesh

[1gobluedem]

197. I know how you feel but it's not just the South

Many DUers have turned their backs on Michigan too; they've turned their backs on the unions, encouraged a gigantic trade imbalance by buying dumped Asian imports from countries that close their markets to US cars, and watch while we are dying. Democrats didn't used to do that.

[mntleo2]

198. WA State: My People Came From Arkansas

...they came here in the late 1800s. My great-granduncle was a Rebel soldier and fled here after the war to leave behind the separation and (I suspect) the nightmare of one of the bloodiest wars this country has ever known. He died when I was a small child of 5 but I will never forget his still-haunted vivid blue eyes at almost 100 years old. My roots are from there.

My grandfather, this man's brother, was one of the men who began with the WOBBLYS, the founders of unions. While I never knew him directly, I did hear family stories of his friendship and caring for others, including people of color when it was not a popular way to be for a southern white man. He knew that as a shingle weaver, he may have had it bad with 12 hour 6 day a week exhausting unreliable work, that people of color, the African American, Chinese, Japanese, and Native Americans, were even worse off working for literally pennies a day. He supported the inclusion of these people in unions way before anyone else even thought of it.

I want you to know that, even though my own roots are from the state of Washington, our nation might have been vastly different if men like my grandfather had never gone North. Futhermore we are blessed with many people of color from the South too, African Americans, most who came here after WWII and settled down raising wonderful families who've contributed to this country like my grandfather. My grandfather taught my German-Russian grandmother to cook "Southern" so I shared and enjoyed the soul food of my friends that most of my "Nothern" friends considered "icky," which is now considered nutritional high cuisine. I walked down the aisle with them at their weddings, cried with them at funerals, sang with them at church, and danced with them in the street At Mardigras. At the time as a young woman I knew my Northern friends were missing something wonderful!

Also one of Searttle's first settlers was an African American man of color and his wife from (I believe) Georgia where they raised a family and began the foundations of this city. I know some of his decendents who are respected and revered here as one of the first "old" families who still reside here today. Because of their roots that began the waking up of our racism,, in more modern times Seattle now have seen other waves of people such as the Vietnamese coming here after that war, Africans from Somalia and Ethiopia, Eastern Europeans, Russians, and Middle Easterners, all who contribute and make our area even richer with culture and their beautiful ways whose children can omly bless us with the future they will bring, following in these wonderful people's footsteps.

Please accept my apologies for anyone who is so short sighted and myopic that they think Southerners are all the same way. I suspect that many of us have our roots there. I have never been in the place where my own ancestors lived in Little Rock, maybe someday I will go back there to see where he grew up. I just know and I am proud that my grandfather began a journey for others that will only enhance our own future as it did for me.

I just want you to know that some of us recognize your area of the country is alive with many things our country would be half as good without, simply because of you all.

God bless you!

Love,

Cat In Seattle.

[webDude]

201. Thank You!

nt

[dysfunctional press]

203. it's not so much the WHOLE south...it's mostly about florida and texas...

and all the states in between.
and the states from florida to dc.
and a few others.

[Terra Alta]

207. k&r from this proud North Carolinian and proud Southerner.

I love my state and region and am proud of being from here. Yes we have our share of rednecks and racists but there are people like that everywhere. North Carolina turned blue in 2008 and I have hopes it will stay that way!

[Name removed]

210. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[laughingliberal]

214. People forget Texas gave us Ann Richards, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower

I lived in Houston from 1990 to 1996 and New Braunfels from 1996 to 1998. I found a very active community of liberal people in Houston. They also had one of the only (perhaps THE only) free clinics for AIDS patients in the country. I had many patients who had relocated from San Francisco to establish residency as there was little help in SF. I have no doubt Texas will turn blue at some point. The demographics, alone, are going to accomplish that over time. Keep up the good fight.

[alittlelark]

215. I'll admit to a southern predjudice - I lived in Mont., AL for 2 years.

But I grew up in NM and know not all Texans are assholes.

Good luck turning your state blue.

[pitchforksandtorches]

216. PLUS you've got Kinky Friedman and Willie

[Political Heretic]

218. It's directly connected to classism. South = poor and dumb

That's the stereotype perpetuated by upper middle class white liberals, a democratic that makes up the majority of DailyKOS's population, according to actual study, and likely makes up the majority population here as well (I believe its safe to assume a similarly between the proven demographics at KOS and the likely demographics here.

Having said that, to play devil's advocate - there is a southern block of states that are overwhelmingly conservative, where education is ranked bottom of the nation, where hard core racism still persists...

But we should be speaking institutionally, rather than personally. Institutionally, southern states more frequently have backward oppressive governments due to the dominance of backward, oppressive republican party politicians. Institutionally, more southern states have failing school systems than have succeeding school systems. Institutionally, more states have higher poverty and social inequality numbers compared to northeast or western states than have lower numbers.

Of course most Texans don't support secession. That's like saying most people don't believe the world is flat. 75% of Texans don't support secession according to the Huffington Post. It's the fact that a full quarter of people actually do support it that's ridiculous and alarming and yes - like it or not - makes Texas the butt of some jokes. That 1 in 4 Texans believe something as dumbfoundingly stupid, even though it is "only" 1 in 4, is still pretty pitiful.

[DonCoquixote]

219. Would you accept a 21 gun salute

From a Floridian who has listen when people still say they should saw this state off the map, even when we turned it blue?

Dude, I hear you, LOUD and clear. I have screamed for months that GOP country is rural, BLUE CITIES, that most cities down here are bright blue, but they get shouted down by the rural folks, and their friends in the Senate.

Yes, the Blue Dogs are disgusting, and we have been yelling at them long before it was cool, back when even Bill Clinton was one.

Look at it this way, there are a bunch of people in the North who like to feel self righteous, but they will not know what it is like to have cops have you the dirty looks, to know your resume is being shredded, to see the look in the eyes of good ol boys who can do what they want and never be called to task. We are the front line of the NEW Civil War, and we have actually gotten a LOT done, despite being spat on by people who are still looking for some Messiah from the North east.

To any self righteous Yankee, the ones that seem to moan about how nice it would be to break this country up, as if all that stood between you and progressive Utopia was those damn Southerners, take this from someone born within seeing distance of the Twin Towers, there is a LOT of Dixie in the Blue States, especially since the Catholic Church is more than willing to do the job of back door facilitators and war chest funders that the Southern baptists do here.The modern north elected Giuliani, and keeps Lieberman in power.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

223. K&R Way Past Time For It To Stop.

Can I get an amen ?!

[merci_me]

229. The rest of the country is damn lucky they have Texas................

to use as their ATM. All they do is come here BEGGING for money and yeah, we're dumb enough to pony up year after year and what do we get for it? Friggin' disrespect and a bill for every bumper sticker and yard sign that comes back.

I wish the rest of the Democrats here would learn to do as some of us do and give directly to candidates and not a dime to the DNC, et al. Let them go to Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan with hat in hand and see how much their ATMs can afford to spit out.

We'll be blue all around Texas, not just the urban areas, as soon as we stop shelling out to other states' candidates and keep our money home.

I have lived in other states, some VERY blue, some swing, but never until I came down Texas have I ever witnessed the shameless way the National Democratic Party uses one state to finance others and gives NOTHING in return, except contempt.

[WolverineDG]

249. I've been telling Texas Dems for years

do NOT send your money to the DNC, and damn little to the state party, which only sends money to the DNC & spends damn little on our own candidates. Send $ directly to the candidate of your choice & cut out the middle man.


dg

[goclark]

230. I feel the same way ~

I love the South.

Sometimes it's hard to Put Up with all the Put Downs.

[pundaint]

231. Well I hope you don't plug us with your six-shooter or spit tobacky juice on us.

[meowomon]

233. Southerner born and bred here but...

I'm afraid most of their comments are true.(imho) The majority of people down here are just plain ignorant and small minded. Please God, don't let the south rise again.

[MyNameGoesHere]

243. Who cares? your football team lost. MWHHAAAA n/t

[NuttyFluffers]

253. dunno. warranted criticism doesn't bother me about CA. bash us about prop H8 all you want.

see, i do love my state, but my love is not fragile. i love it when it does right, and when it does wrong, i must work to fix it. if it needs to be bashed and shamed when it does wrong, then it needs to be bashed and shamed.

my love for my state is complicated, like an adult's mature relationship; i applaud virtue and chastise vice, and all the while i still love my state. if someone needs to chime in on their disappointment and chastisement then i am fine with that. wrongs should be shamed and punished and i'm not going to isolate it to "in-house" criticism because i am an adult and can handle complicated feelings.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

254. Third generation democrat/socialist here, Native Texan.

No, we are not all stupid. I live in a little town where literally, NO ONE represents my views.

I have a Republican State Representative (who just got censured, and who just flipped from Dem to Republican); I have a Republican State Senator; I have a Republican Congresscritter, who is firmly against universal healthcare; Two Republican Senators who are a disgrace, and a Republican governor who wants to secede. Yeah, we all know how that worked out the last time.

I have lived in Texas my entire life, mostly in Houston, with some college time in San Antonio.

My parents were part of the founding of the Harris County Democrats, along with Billie Carr and Frankie Carter Randolph. My dad was a union organizer and voted for Norman Thomas in 1932. The platforms of Dewey and Roosevelt were virtualy identical. One of his union friends was personal friends with Norman Thomas, and this organizer's granddaughter is my close friend to this day.

Dad told me about the bad old days of the depression, before they had labor laws, and how the sheriff tailed them every time they had meetings to organize oil workers. You showed up on a picket line, you got your skull bashed in, you got dragged to jail, and the only labor lawyer in town, his wife, Sophie Mandell, posted $100 bail for everyone. It was not pretty. He saw thru Reagan's union busting.

I went to college. I knew I was going to college, because my folks valued books and education and music lessons. In spite of sexism, I was NOT told "boys go to college, you don't". I attended four different colleges and earned three different degrees. I went to a very fine liberal arts college in Texas. I earned a BA in Biology; they did not offer a B.S., that's how liberal arts this school is.

Was taught to value working with my hands and a college education. The parental units taught me how to jump a car battery, how to knit, how to cook, how to sew, how to change the oil in my car, how to check the tires.

We had season tickets to the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera when I was in school, and we went and listened avidly. I grew up listening to the classical radio station and the Top 40 Rock station equally.

I have never owned a pickup, or cowboy boots, and I can't stand whiny country music. Willie is OK though.

I don't chew or dip, I wouldn't go to a rodeo if you paid me. I don't own any guns, although I support the right to bear arms for self-defense. I have read the New Yorker for over thirty years.

Since I have moved to the country, the good parts are: I have room to do LOTS of gardening and I really enjoy my plants. I have a cellphone and don't get those landline pest calls all the time. People generally leave me alone, even though I live on the main street. They invite me to church and I decline.

Please don't paint all Texans as being stupid. We're still dragging the rest of the people into the 20th century, or maybe the latter part of the 19th century. My county went two to one for McCain.