Flamingboat
10-10-08, 01:52 PM
All this back and forth political stuff made me want to share my story. I grew up republican, born in 1977 and supported Bush in 2000, because well, you vote for the republican in the south and that's all there is to it. No debate, no back talk, Jesus is a republican got it? :lol: I am a liberal now but it didn't happen overnight by any means.
I grew up in Virginia and I now live in Rhode Island. Virginia is a very red, red state. We're talking Jesus, potatoe salad, Wal-Mart and more Jesus. Rhode Island is not exactly the crown jewel of New England, but it's blue alright.
Well jobs in the south are scarce and low paying. I mean 30K a year is considered really good pay. Shopping is simple, there is Wal-Mart and nothing else in a lot of the small areas. In bigger areas there is a Target and the obligatory Best Buy strip mall. You can drive thru the ghost town that used to house shops in the downtown areas. In the name of the "free market" Wal-Mart was given millions by local government to bring in **** jobs and crush the competition. When it comes time after 5 years for Wal-Mart to start paying some taxes, they board it up and move the same Wal-Mart accross the city, town or county lines. When people would call foul on this we were given the impression that those liberal democrats were somehow to blame. But, but... Wal-Mart is a southern company, SILENCE! No more blasphemy.
Living in the south is a lot like living in a communist country. We didn't have much money or prestige, just some faded history and a big helping of nationalism. We were taught more or less our suffering was helping the country, you know the whole "greater good arguement". That was used in leiu of the good old fashion "the lord works in mysterious ways" line. The Horatio Alger myth is alive and well in the south. You even hear it comming from republican politicians. Basically if you don't have a pot to piss in you aren't "working" hard enough. Nevermind the fact that every job in town pays minimum wage. If you question your low pay you get a response like "that would be communist" or some nonesense. The right accuses anyone who breathes the word, union, higher pay or more benefits of SOCIALISM! Gasp! No one wants that do they? The south uses the word socialism like Mr. Jones is used in Animal Farm. When we protest we are told "you don't want Mr. Jones to come back do you?!" Of course not....
Southern people are nice, no doubt. They will help you change a tire in a heartbeat, but they trusted the government and the republican party to a point where they just robbed them blind. They left them with closed factories and McDoanld's or Wal-Mart for a career. They believe Bush is president because God wants that. They think Iraq is about "freedom". It's frustrating to say the least. I tried to tell people Bush is a third generation war profiteer. Grandpappy Bush made his money of the Nazi's in world war 2, Bush Senior off Desert Storm in 1991, and little Bush in the Orwellian named "Operation Iraq Freedom" .
The republican view is not to blame their own party but to blame those evil democrats. Most notably the lazy blacks, Mexicans and last but not least homosexuals. More on the homosexuals later.
Ok, so after I get out of the army I try college. The army was my one way ticket out of redneck America. There I got to play with the other poor people from all over the country. Blacks, whites, mexicans etc. Just good old fashioned dirt poor people, not the Band of Brothers cast I was expecting. I hung around college awhile and actually took some classes. I dated a LOT of liberal girls and it wore off on me. I tried it on hesitantly like a coat, and damn I liked it.
So I take off to Rhode Island. My fiance at the time got a scholarship to grad school here. Both our families more or less disowned us for trying to be "better than them". My sister is married to an officer who keeps getting sent to Vietraq and I am hanging out at the posh restraunts with my lawyer wife.
The blue state is different. No Wal-Mart anywhere near me. Instead there is a downtown with almost 100% of the shops open. There is even a mom and pop pharmacy! This place looks a lot like the Normal Rockwell painting the southerns wish their place was. There are more out of the closet gay men here. Not one has ever looked at me twice. The have not tried to hit on me once. I only got hit on by gay men when I was in the ARMY! Imagine. Up here, gay, black, green, no one could care less what you are or what you do. It's live and let live. So no, they don't try to "convert" you.
The minimum wage is like 7.25 here. Governement here doesn't sell it's citizens off to the Wal-Marts of the country. You can make money here by working hard. No really, you can. They have unions! I drove past the submarine used in the film K-19 widowmaker this morning. The one with Harrison Ford.
In short, I know a lot of people call blue states communist havens, but it's nothing like the right wingers said it would be like. I'll never go back south. THIS is America.
I grew up in Virginia and I now live in Rhode Island. Virginia is a very red, red state. We're talking Jesus, potatoe salad, Wal-Mart and more Jesus. Rhode Island is not exactly the crown jewel of New England, but it's blue alright.
Well jobs in the south are scarce and low paying. I mean 30K a year is considered really good pay. Shopping is simple, there is Wal-Mart and nothing else in a lot of the small areas. In bigger areas there is a Target and the obligatory Best Buy strip mall. You can drive thru the ghost town that used to house shops in the downtown areas. In the name of the "free market" Wal-Mart was given millions by local government to bring in **** jobs and crush the competition. When it comes time after 5 years for Wal-Mart to start paying some taxes, they board it up and move the same Wal-Mart accross the city, town or county lines. When people would call foul on this we were given the impression that those liberal democrats were somehow to blame. But, but... Wal-Mart is a southern company, SILENCE! No more blasphemy.
Living in the south is a lot like living in a communist country. We didn't have much money or prestige, just some faded history and a big helping of nationalism. We were taught more or less our suffering was helping the country, you know the whole "greater good arguement". That was used in leiu of the good old fashion "the lord works in mysterious ways" line. The Horatio Alger myth is alive and well in the south. You even hear it comming from republican politicians. Basically if you don't have a pot to piss in you aren't "working" hard enough. Nevermind the fact that every job in town pays minimum wage. If you question your low pay you get a response like "that would be communist" or some nonesense. The right accuses anyone who breathes the word, union, higher pay or more benefits of SOCIALISM! Gasp! No one wants that do they? The south uses the word socialism like Mr. Jones is used in Animal Farm. When we protest we are told "you don't want Mr. Jones to come back do you?!" Of course not....
Southern people are nice, no doubt. They will help you change a tire in a heartbeat, but they trusted the government and the republican party to a point where they just robbed them blind. They left them with closed factories and McDoanld's or Wal-Mart for a career. They believe Bush is president because God wants that. They think Iraq is about "freedom". It's frustrating to say the least. I tried to tell people Bush is a third generation war profiteer. Grandpappy Bush made his money of the Nazi's in world war 2, Bush Senior off Desert Storm in 1991, and little Bush in the Orwellian named "Operation Iraq Freedom" .
The republican view is not to blame their own party but to blame those evil democrats. Most notably the lazy blacks, Mexicans and last but not least homosexuals. More on the homosexuals later.
Ok, so after I get out of the army I try college. The army was my one way ticket out of redneck America. There I got to play with the other poor people from all over the country. Blacks, whites, mexicans etc. Just good old fashioned dirt poor people, not the Band of Brothers cast I was expecting. I hung around college awhile and actually took some classes. I dated a LOT of liberal girls and it wore off on me. I tried it on hesitantly like a coat, and damn I liked it.
So I take off to Rhode Island. My fiance at the time got a scholarship to grad school here. Both our families more or less disowned us for trying to be "better than them". My sister is married to an officer who keeps getting sent to Vietraq and I am hanging out at the posh restraunts with my lawyer wife.
The blue state is different. No Wal-Mart anywhere near me. Instead there is a downtown with almost 100% of the shops open. There is even a mom and pop pharmacy! This place looks a lot like the Normal Rockwell painting the southerns wish their place was. There are more out of the closet gay men here. Not one has ever looked at me twice. The have not tried to hit on me once. I only got hit on by gay men when I was in the ARMY! Imagine. Up here, gay, black, green, no one could care less what you are or what you do. It's live and let live. So no, they don't try to "convert" you.
The minimum wage is like 7.25 here. Governement here doesn't sell it's citizens off to the Wal-Marts of the country. You can make money here by working hard. No really, you can. They have unions! I drove past the submarine used in the film K-19 widowmaker this morning. The one with Harrison Ford.
In short, I know a lot of people call blue states communist havens, but it's nothing like the right wingers said it would be like. I'll never go back south. THIS is America.