Not everyone in a union is a goon, of course. Especially in closed shop states.
I would have thought you had seen the occasional SEIU or AFSCME people down there.
We had an interesting neighbor when we lived in PA. He was an electrician but conservative and not at all supportive of unions. He lost his job and was out of work for a couple of months and eventually hired but had to join a union. Within months he became the biggest puke liberal - believing George Bush was going to draft his pampered idiot son and screeched at me that his son was not going to fight for GWBush! This from a guy who was a rabid Dallas Cowboy fan in Eagle territory...but since I was from Texas and a conservative, I represented GWB. Did I mention I never liked him, even before he turned into a union thug?
it’s far less noticeable here and it usually just a bumpersticker at best. i guess you just can’t envision the glaring difference bc it’s what you are accustomed to seeing and you don’t venture too far afield other than work trips and the occasional beach trip/7 Springs [which is not really all that different]. Xshub is from New Hartford, NY and he kept commenting on how Warren OH looked exactly like New Hartford in many ways. You see white suburban teenagers manning fastfood drive-thrus, big huge carwashes where you can wash the car yourself etc. Yes, i know, that is de rigueur where you live, it’s not like that in suburban VA.