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It's because they talk funny. |
That, and their proximity to Canada.
Posted on 09/12/2004 4:18:48 PM PDT by gregde
Why is New England so heavily democratic? Much of it is white middle class suburban/small town types who would would vote heavily republican in much of the rest of the country. In fact New England was relatively Republican in many states as recently as 15 or 20 years ago. I understand that it is a relatively liberal place, but liberals can't be such a large percentage of the population as to explain gore's 2 to 1 victory over bush in 2000.
Think UNION!
A combination of the large number of universities (which you would expect to be liberal) and an amazingly ignorant working class -- holds largely Conservative values but believes these are upheld by the likes of Kennedy and Kerry. A union worker here would typically be anti-abortion, support the troops, be passionately against affirmative action, and love Ted Kennedy. It doesn't make sense to me either, but I see it every day.
Its the Mass liberals who've taken over VT and moved into ME and elsewhere. They bring their views with them even as they escape the Bay State in search of less overcrowded pastures.
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It's because they talk funny. |
That, and their proximity to Canada.
The long time residents are not liberal. New England has a large population increase from New York and Massachusetts. They're Liberals, not the locals.
PS..UNIONS have nothing to do with it, walsh.
Thats an interesting point. But are unions all that powerful in Rhode Island, for example? I know unions dominate places like New Jersey, but I thought New England was rich enough now that few people would be in unions.
That's about it. Here in rural VT, in any case. It drives me crazy!
College towns.
Well, the New England urban areas tend to define the politics of the entire region. Go out to the small towns of Western Mass and you will wonder how you could be in the same State that has Ted Kennedy as a senator. But even the people living in the rural areas of Mass are dominated by what goes on in Boston.
And, think Teacher's Union and Liberal Media. All the media in Maine is Liberal!
< sigh> All of the above. < /sigh>
Also, wasn't New England incredibly onservative and Repubican back in the days of Coolidge etc...? It's amazing how so much can change in a generation or two.
Liberals are like locusts, they ruin the area they're at and then move on to destroy other areas.
Vermont's politcs changed significantly when out of state students were allowed to vote here.
I'm sure none of them would vote absentee in their hometown too.
It's the prep school and college educations. The elite used to be Republicans. Now they are leftists. Prep schools used to be conservative and Christian (Episcopalian). Now they are all politically correct.
Before the 70s, most of the rich people from "good" families whom I used to know were Republicans, at least of the country club sort. Now almost all of them are liberals.
When I saw all the Kerry bumper stickers at the yacht club this summer, all I could think was "Rich People For Kerry."
Cinnamon Girl has it right. Lots of socialist college professors and the like. Umass and Amherst College are just two examples.
NEW ENGLAND HAS BEEN LIBERAL SINCE THE DAYS OF JOHN ADAMS
This is where the greatest number of Puritan religious fanatics settled in the seventeenth century.
Once a religious community loses faith, they transfer their energy to secular ideals.
You can see that in the development of Transcendalist radicalism in the 19th century.
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