Liberal towns in Idaho (Boise, Twin Falls: real estate, houses, taxes)

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by wildberries61

Are towns in north Idaho more liberial or is it a combination of liberals and conservatives.

It's a mixed bag.
Moscow, Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint are more liberal.
Kellogg/Wallace, Lewiston/Orofino, St. Maries are more conservative.
(These are cultural not political attributes; Democrats are still strongest in the most culturally conservative, blue-collar mine/mill towns in Idaho.)

[Brutal Attack]

Almost all of Idaho is majority conservative. I've been to many towns in Idaho and I don't know of a single one that I could term "liberal". Perhaps Sun Valley or Hailey. 90% of Idaho towns are at least semi-rural and tends toward a more conservative bent. Moscow has a rather vocal, unwashed liberal minority.

[huntman58]

Idaho liberal wow now that is an oxymoron if there ever was one. Yes some areas seam to be liberal compared to other Idaho areas, but very conservative compared to other states. I guess it all is how you look at it. My opinion and that’s all it is. It is also based on living in Idaho for over ten years and from living in calif before that. Idaho is any thing but liberal for all intents and proposes

[Pineboy]

Boise, Sandpoint, CD'A, Moscow, Sun Valley areas are liberal in kind of an edgy way since they are in conservative Idaho. Boise is losing its Republican stronghold and a lot of voters are becoming Democrat. Boise being the largest city is by far the most liberal. Sandpoint is pretty liberal too.
Eastern Idaho is the most conservative area of the state, but that is because of the religious influence and their proximity to Utah.
But regardless Idaho is a pretty laid back state with a live and let live attitude.

[huntman58]

Originally Posted by Pineboy

Boise being the largest city is by far the most liberal. .

Have to agree with that statement and add Idaho is still one of the most conservative states in the country

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by Pineboy

Eastern Idaho is the most conservative area of the state, but that is because of the religious influence and their proximity to Utah.
But regardless Idaho is a pretty laid back state with a live and let live attitude.

Your closing comment about "live and let live" is very important! That is a "liberal" attitude by the very definition of the word "liberal." It exists in the very conservative-voting regions of west Texas as well. The mere fact that they vote Republican doesn't mean that you are going to get beat up if you're gay or have a purple mohawk.

I've lived in Texas, California (including Berkeley), and Massachusetts (Amherst/Northampton, extremely "liberal" area) and I've come to realize that the left-to-right spectrum doesn't do justice to the variations on politics, culture, values, lifestyles, etc., that one experiences around the country.

On just about every scale imaginable Utah is conservative, and without knowing much about eastern Idaho it wouldn't surprise me if you need to CONFORM to the NORMS AND VALUES of the majority there if you want to get along well. Just a hunch.

However, some of this is present in extremely leftist areas as well. Try being a Republican in Berkeley (not that I've ever done that, I was merely a moderate leftist but still felt like I wasn't far left enough for many of the PC cops who live there) or in Northampton, MA. There's a different form of "conservative" that I experience in those places, based on pressure to conform and an intolerance for diversity of opinions.

Now, another form of "liberal vs. conservative" is the way people express themselves in society. In this sense, Berkeley is VERY liberal, you can wear what you want, be as weird as you want, be an introvert or extrovert, it's all good as long as you don't vote moderate or conservative. But in western MA my experience was that the culture is very conservative, kind of "old world" and there's not as much playfulness as you find on the west coast.

This last distinction can be summed up by restaurants --- if you go to a vegetarian organic restaurant in the Bay Area of CA, there's a good chance you're going to experience a lot of flavor and fun and variety. In other words, it's decadent. Whereas my experience of the same type of restaurant in New England has been that it's more austere, people are less flamboyant, and the flavors are more boring (like macrobiotic, that type of thing.)

On top of all this you could add a gazillion other factors that go into each person's unique definition of what they mean by "liberal" vs. "conservative." What type of music --- only a narrow range of pop, or is there a lot of creativity? How much crazy behavior is tolerated on the streets? How much pressure is there to conform to the way your neighbors live? In this sense, I find that parts of west/central Texas and coastal California share a lot in common. They may vote differently, but the lifestyle feels kinda familiar. It's friendly, extremely tolerant and welcoming of unique styles and ideas, and the pressure to conform is low. I call that liberal. I don't know Idaho from a can of paint so I can't comment on it but my guess is that the influx of people from many other regions into Boise would, indeed, make it a fairly liberal place simply because of the variety of people it's absorbing and the diversity they contribute to culture, political debate, style, cuisine, etc.

[huntman58]

Deeptrance
You’re so right on you’re above post and in that flavor yes Boise is Liberal in life style not politically if you compare it to Berkeley. But very much so when compared to other Idaho towns. As I said before it all really is based on how you see things and were your coming from. As you writing suggest also how many places you have lived in and experienced. I believe people who have lived in many varied places seam to be a bit more open minded based on there life experiences and the ones that have grown up and lived in one area tend to not be as open now there are always some this would not apply to but it is just a personal opinion of mine from living in a few deferent states of this country or visiting others. .Hint been to every state west of the Mississippi river but Alaska and Hawaii and a few east of the river also. lived in 6 of them including Idaho and Calif.

[izzy]

I don't know about Idaho but deeptrance is right on about CA. Born and raised in the bay area. Use to ride a bus to Berkeley as a teenager in the 60's. You know never considered the political issue Ca residents coming to ID. Because I don't consider myself political. Nice to hear from huntsman that Boise is Liberal in life style compared to other parts of Idaho. I guess a conservative state might from the liberal life style of CA as intrusive. But CA folks adapt. I have conservative family values, but liberal point of view on how others live. The "live and let live".

Great post deeptrance.

Izzy

[deeptrance]

Thanks for the compliments on that long post. I was afraid it might sound like I was being preachy! Glad to know it wasn't taken that way.

[huntman58]

nope not at all just very well put in to words .