Liberalism: Huntsville vs. Birmingham (Decatur, Homewood: home, live, professionals)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by DanInHSV

HSV is very conservative,... While conservative may be refreshing for some people, it's a bit annoying to come in to work and tolerate the water cooler talk about the latest volatile anger installment from Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck. If you are a political independent, they think you are some kind of communist.

I agree with this but in all fairness, the conservative people here are for the most part responsible, they are good neighbors, safe, and (unless they don't exercise) they are pretty healthy physically and emotionally and mentally (though some do look a little catatonic at work sometimes). I keep my big mouth shut as far as politics is concerned, pretty much because I don't know that much about politics. But it does seem that most people I work with are anti-Obama, pro-defense, ex-military, very patriotic, sort of rigid (they are engineers after all), fiscally conservative, and probably republican. I get along with almost all of them (we just don't talk about politics or religon - we're more focused on the office assistants.)

I think Obama would be a great next door neighbor too...he seems like a nice guy.

It could be a lot worse.

[mm42]

Before we decide that everyone in Huntsville is Republican, let's recall that apart from reconstruction there has never been a Republican representative from this district.

[Jay F]

Originally Posted by mm42

Before we decide that everyone in Huntsville is Republican, let's recall that apart from reconstruction there has never been a Republican representative from this district.

It's not uncommon for Southerners to vote Dem in local elections and Rep in Presidential elections. That's because Southern Democrats tend to be more middle of the road compared to their extremely liberal national counterparts.,

I am a big fan of the two Republican Senators from Alabama. They are two of the best in the country. I am also impressed that Alabama stayed red last November. I feel like the whole country has shifted far far to the left and it's nice to know that a conservative oasis like Alabama still exists.

[zenjenn]

Don't forget our current Democrat representative has voted "no" on the Stimulus bill (one of only 7 Democrats who did thus), "no" on cap and trade, and is unimpressed by the current health care reform proposals. I wouldn't count him as a rank and file Democrat in D.C.

The city was also about 50/50 in terms of votes for Obama vs. McCain in the last presidential election. I'd actually consider this area conservative-leaning moderate. Even most of the Dems I know are pretty moderate. Huntsville is certainly no Austin. No idea about Birmingham.

[deesonic]

Huntsville native here... I've lived in Denver, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Savannnah GA and my assessment of Huntsville based on my experiences living around the country is that Huntsville is.................ULTRA CONSERVATIVE. Not saying that's bad or good. Not passing judgment, just trying to call it as I see it. Not an Obama friendly town to say the least.

[mimpdaddy]

Originally Posted by mm42

Huntsville is more liberal than average for the state.

That's not true. Huntsville and North Alabama is the most conservative part of the state.Just look at the voting maps, this is the part of the state that has the most white christian conservatives and that's a fact.Nothing wrong with that I might add.

[mm42]

Originally Posted by mimpdaddy

That's not true. Huntsville and North Alabama is the most conservative part of the state.Just look at the voting maps ...

I have looked at the voting maps, and what you say is patently false.

Look here, choose "county bubbles" and zoom in on Alabama, then check out the results for the past 5 presidential elections. The most conservative parts of the state are centered around Mobile and the south side of Birmingham.

The most Democratic part of the state is a band through lower central Alabama between B'ham and Montgomery. The next most Demo-leaning area is North Alabama, with Huntsville granted being the most conservative part of that area.

As everyone is saying, Alabama is a very conservative state, but North Alabama is less so than average for the state.

[Reactionary]

Note that there exist conservative Democrats, especially in Northern Alabama. For example, look at Jackson County to the East (Scottsboro) - as far as I know, they don't have any GOP elected officials in the County. But the area is very conservative. Also, Congressman Parker Griffith (D-AL5) ran as a conservative, and so does State Rep. Randy Hinshaw (D-22).

So, mimpdaddy is fairly correct when he says that we in North Alabama elect white Christian conservatives (they just happen to be Dems), however mm42 is correct to state that South Alabama is MORE conservative (and Republican).

The 'Black Belt' counties (named for the soil, but also somewhat descriptive of the demographics of the area) and Montgomery and Birmingham elect black Democrats who are liberal on economic policies and law and order issues. There are very few elected 'social' liberals in Alabama regardless of color or party identification (i.e., the Sanctity of Marriage Amendment was proposed by a black Muslim Democrat from Selma and passed the legislature with broad bi-partisan support, then passed a general election vote by over 80%).

To the "politically and socially liberal" OP - hopefully you'll grow out of it soon...

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Jay F

It's not uncommon for Southerners to vote Dem in local elections and Rep in Presidential elections.

Many newer residents don't realize that until Reagan was elected, Alabama pretty much had only one functional political party. The Republican Party only ran a handful of candidates, and usually just for the statewide parties. Libertarian is the only other party with any presence, but it was (and remains) a tiny, tiny percentage.

If you didn't vote Democrat, you just did not vote in local elections, and often not even in statewide elections. And that's still true in some counties.

It's only been in the past 10 to 15 years or so that Alabama has had viable candidates running from more than 1 party.

So if you look back to the past, you will see that Alabamians used to elect mostly Democrats. Then after Reagan, everything pretty much switched, especially after we elected Republican Guy Hunt as governor (thanks to a huge squabble among the Democrat candidates).

[leavin_florida]

I didn't know how liberal I was until I moved to Huntsville. As a Boeing family, our circle includes a number of Seattle transplants (like us) who tend to have liberal leanings. At work I've discovered that I am in the 10% minority of left leaners - I feel like we are in a secret society keeping our political opinions to whispers...