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You're likely (vastly) overstating the nuance due to some degree of homerism (seeing as your native metro is at least CePa-adjacent), but feel free to elaborate. Where might one locate the bastions of civilization in Central Pennsylvania? I've been to Gettysburg, Hershey, and Lancaster in addition to making several PA-bisecting drives to and from DC
Maybe I'm a homer, too, but I would say that Lancaster definitely falls into the "bastion of civilization" basket. I point out all the time that Lancaster City is as liberal as Lancaster County is conservative, and I even have a story to tell from some time ago now to back up my point.
In 1961, Lancaster City and Lancaster County formed a joint Human Relations Commission to investigate claims of discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin. Sex and age were added to the menu when those categories also became protected.
In 1985, two years after I moved to Philly from Boston, Lancaster City adopted an ordinance protecting LGB people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. (The city was an early adopter of such ordinances in this state; I believe but am not certain that at the time, only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had such ordinances.)
When Lancaster City did that, Lancaster County dissolved the joint commission.
The city is also home to one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the country, is home to the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and has a strong gallery scene for a city its size. Its dining scene has gotten stronger over the last couple of decades as well.
Yeah, I mean, I don't drive around like I used to (I kind of miss my days of taking completely pointless regional joyrides that could end up lasting entire days), but it's easy to buy into your last paragraph being true. I read the first 50 pages of the newly released book 'White Rural Rage' sometime last week, and I planned on continuing to read it in-store at my local Barnes & Noble, but the one copy on the shelves must've been purchased. During those first 50 pages, the authors (two academics) take a few field trips, one of them being to the Adirondacks in Upstate NY, but none were to PA. Trump's rise has definitely led to the proliferation of a rural decline narrative in the media, as pundits attempt to make sense of nearly all non-New England (should I have merely said 'non-Vermont' here?) rural areas being MAGA strongholds. One book I read in full that I very much enjoyed was 'Barnstorming Ohio', where an Akron English professor toured every corner of his state, seeking explanations for why small town/rural County X that was, say, 60% for Obama in 2012 went 70% for Trump in '16 (and presumably remained that way in 2020). Great read. A recurring theme was, 'well, the largest employer in the county seat closed up shop 6 years ago, and people have been scrambling ever since'. I should give it a re-read soon
I think that if you were to visit the depressed former steel towns in the counties surrounding Allegheny, you'd get similar stories from the locals, and those counties were also Obama-Trump country: voted for Obama twice, then Trump twice.
In that latter state, they've reversed the polarity of Pennsylvania politics: where it used to be that the Republican majority in its suburbs canceled out the Democratic margin in Philadelphia, Philly's collar counties now vote like the city while the counties surrounding Pittsburgh's now wipe out the Democratic margin in Allegheny.
Now, Pennsylvania's most fascinating (and now highest-profile thanks to his highly publicized stroke and recovery from it) politician, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, also comes from a depressed steel town, where he served as mayor. But Braddock is (a) in Allegheny County (b) heavily Black, which means Democrats continue to do well there.
Trump's rise has definitely led to the proliferation of a rural decline narrative in the media, as pundits attempt to make sense of nearly all non-New England (should I have merely said 'non-Vermont' here?) rural areas being MAGA strongholds. One book I read in full that I very much enjoyed was 'Barnstorming Ohio', where an Akron English professor toured every corner of his state, seeking explanations for why small town/rural County X that was, say, 60% for Obama in 2012 went 70% for Trump in '16 (and presumably remained that way in 2020). Great read. A recurring theme was, 'well, the largest employer in the county seat closed up shop 6 years ago, and people have been scrambling ever since'. I should give it a re-read soon
100% accurate, and thanks for the reading tip.
And as for MAGA in New England, as a current Boston area suburbanite, I've seen more than enough Trump flags and "FJB" stickers to reaffirm that MAGA is alive and well even in America's "most enlightened" region, too.
It's unfortunately a cult without boundaries, and rural American is, of course, the epicenter. Or maybe South Florida--I can't decide.
I think this has been the case for at least a couple of decades, but 2024 will unquestionably be a new "high water mark" for disenchanted and disgusted voters not even bothering. Turnout is very likely to be at a record low.
Moreover, the notion that voting propensity for a candidate like Donald Trump is proxy for "political conservatism" is also highly suspect, as the man is ideologically schizophrenic. He really is the furthest thing from being reliably conservative in either the social or fiscal sense of the word.
But alas, we live in intensely tribal times, and the "R" and "D" affiliations are as polarizing as they ever were. I only hope that after whatever sh*tshow of an election season we're gearing up for is over, our political environment finally receives the "reset" that has been desperately needed. A viable third party, in my view, is the only solution moving forward.
Well intentioned but your last paragraph is fantasy land. As far as Don not being a conservative, don’t matter. He ran over the conservative field. He is annointed.
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100% accurate, and thanks for the reading tip.
And as for MAGA in New England, as a current Boston area suburbanite, I've seen more than enough Trump flags and "FJB" stickers to reaffirm that MAGA is alive and well even in America's "most enlightened" region, too.
It's unfortunately a cult without boundaries, and rural American is, of course, the epicenter. Or maybe South Florida--I can't decide.
One of the places Ive seen the most Confederate Flags in my life was actually a fair in Connecticut. It was the eastern part of the state probably north of Norwich by about 20-30 miles-ish. Things are not as confined to geographic regions as we often like to make them out to be.
One of the places Ive seen the most Confederate Flags in my life was actually a fair in Connecticut. It was the eastern part of the state probably north of Norwich by about 20-30 miles-ish. Things are not as confined to geographic regions as we often like to make them out to be.
Confined? No. More prevalent? Yes. Sorry the northeast is more liberal than the woodlands.
One of the places Ive seen the most Confederate Flags in my life was actually a fair in Connecticut. It was the eastern part of the state probably north of Norwich by about 20-30 miles-ish. Things are not as confined to geographic regions as we often like to make them out to be.
Well, if the real salient divide in this country is urban/rural, every state in the country (including New Jersey and Rhode Island, the two most densely populated, in that order) has rural territory within its boundaries.
I spent the night of my 64th birthday a year and a half ago in Fortescue, N.J., a rather sleepy fishing village right on the Delaware Bay, the Jersey shore that gets few if any tourists. I spotted several "Let's Go Brandon" flags flying on its main street.
IIRC, northeastern Connecticut is the most rural part of the state.
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Originally Posted by MarketStEl
IIRC, northeastern Connecticut is the most rural part of the state.
It is. It was very rural where we were.
And I agree. The divide is not red/blue, its rural vs. city with the suburbs splitting the difference. What makes places in the South and Midwest more conservative has nothing to do with the rural areas. Other than places like Vermont and some parts of the West Coast and Mountain West, rural America is political about the same no matter where you go. Rather I think the biggest difference is that suburbs in the South area more conservative than in the NE or West Coast.
Well, if the real salient divide in this country is urban/rural, every state in the country (including New Jersey and Rhode Island, the two most densely populated, in that order) has rural territory within its boundaries.
I spent the night of my 64th birthday a year and a half ago in Fortescue, N.J., a rather sleepy fishing village right on the Delaware Bay, the Jersey shore that gets few if any tourists. I spotted several "Let's Go Brandon" flags flying on its main street.
IIRC, northeastern Connecticut is the most rural part of the state.
I see let’s go Brandon and Trump flags all over California.
Whites in Mississippi were huge catalysts in the fight for civil rights.
One of the most aggressive demonstrators in Charlottesville was a waiter from Berkeley.
Not addressing you, but none of this means that the south is as liberal as the northeast or pnw
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