I live in a somewhat rural area. We're close to Boston, but I get the bulk of my food from farms within a 15 to 20 minute drive from my house, and a good portion of the nation's cranberries are grown here. Some of the rural areas are quite liberal; I think it depends in part on proximity to good colleges though there are obviously tons of other factors that play into it. So you have places like Vermont and Maine, and then weird little pockets of liberalism in places like Austin, Texas and Athens, Georgia.
Also, I don't have the links right now, but overall, people in the so-called red states receive far more than they have to give to the federal government. The richest states sending the most to Washington are in the Northeast and along the west coast.
Thomas Frank goes into a really good and detailed explanation of why people in the flyover states tend to lean conservative; it's more a product of the culture wars that have been exacerbated by the far right than any inherent problem people might have with social programs. The Republicans get people angry about gay marriage, abortion and the phrase "Happy Holidays," and those same people turn around and vote to lower taxes on the wealthiest Americans and shoot down a socialized healthcare system that would generally benefit most of them.
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Date: 2009-12-26 03:05 am (UTC)I live in a somewhat rural area. We're close to Boston, but I get the bulk of my food from farms within a 15 to 20 minute drive from my house, and a good portion of the nation's cranberries are grown here. Some of the rural areas are quite liberal; I think it depends in part on proximity to good colleges though there are obviously tons of other factors that play into it. So you have places like Vermont and Maine, and then weird little pockets of liberalism in places like Austin, Texas and Athens, Georgia.
Also, I don't have the links right now, but overall, people in the so-called red states receive far more than they have to give to the federal government. The richest states sending the most to Washington are in the Northeast and along the west coast.
Thomas Frank goes into a really good and detailed explanation of why people in the flyover states tend to lean conservative; it's more a product of the culture wars that have been exacerbated by the far right than any inherent problem people might have with social programs. The Republicans get people angry about gay marriage, abortion and the phrase "Happy Holidays," and those same people turn around and vote to lower taxes on the wealthiest Americans and shoot down a socialized healthcare system that would generally benefit most of them.