Please tell me that Iowa is not ALL bad! (Des Moines: middle-class, crime)

[Dport7674]

Originally Posted by BillyMays

I think they are very conservative compared to larger states. From most of the posts I could tell most have never been outside of Iowa if you think it's a liberal state.

Newsflash; it's not.

And it's huge compliment to call Iowa a conservative state. Liberal states are in such financial turmoil from bad liberal decisions over the last 10 years. California is a perfect example of liberal whackos gone wild. Now they will be broke for the next 100 years.

I can say the same thing about this post. If you think Iowa is "very conservative", you must not have ever been outside of Iowa. Iowa can be seen as a bit liberal compared to Kansas or Nebraska. I don't know what "larger states" means..Texas, Montana, Alaska??

Newsflash..Any state that has had a Dem. Govenor for a decade can not be considered a "Very conservative" state.

Middle of the road, leans right, leans left can all be argued...."Very Conservative" can't be argued, because it's not true.

[griz134]

I'm from Iowa and have been living in Portland for 11 years now. I would have no problem moving back to Iowa. Portland is too crowded, and too expensive. My money would go a lot further in Iowa, and I could probably retire much sooner. If a job in my company opens up in Iowa, I'm there. I think Iowa is a beautiful state with very friendly people. Oregon is a beautiful state too, but the people here are lazy, and not so friendly. Portland is over rated, and over hyped.

[TootsieWootsie]

BillyMays: Are you kidding? I've lived years in Chicago, DC and Houston (plus, overseas). Yeah, I, for one, have been off the farm. And still, in my opinion, Eastern Iowa is pretty non-conservative.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by Dport7674

I can say the same thing about this post. If you think Iowa is "very conservative", you must not have ever been outside of Iowa. Iowa can be seen as a bit liberal compared to Kansas or Nebraska. I don't know what "larger states" means..Texas, Montana, Alaska??

Newsflash..Any state that has had a Dem. Govenor for a decade can not be considered a "Very conservative" state.

Middle of the road, leans right, leans left can all be argued...."Very Conservative" can't be argued, because it's not true.

I agree, I grew up in Eastern Iowa, moved away about 10 years ago, but still go back to visit 4-5 times a year. I've been to all 50 states, and I would easily say that at least the Eastern half of the state (the more populated side) would not be labeled as "conservative".

Most counties in the Eastern half of the state, most of which are fairly rural, voted for Obama in the last election. Iowa barely went Democratic in 2004, and had been democratic since the early 1980's before that.

It may not be fiscally liberal (thank god - look at the other states), but I woudl venture to say it's actually much more socially liberal than what you might think for a largely rural white state.

After gay marriage went through they talked to a lot of rural and older people around the state to see opinions, and I remember national news outlets were commenting how a large % of people were simply saying "well it's none of my business what they want or who they love". I think they were bright enough and open minded enough to realize that two gay people getting married is going to have no effect on their lives - so what's the point of stressing just because something is "different".

[zz4guy]

This is a liberal state. Teachers and labor unions rule the politics. For crying out loud we gave the country Barack Obama. We have the highest commercial property and corporate taxes in the country and it never even gets brought up for debate in the state senate. You'd have to be an idiot to relocate your business here to Iowa.

Iowa will always be a small, backwards state with little opportunities as long as we keep the same anti-business politicians in office.

[PDXby7]

Originally Posted by griz134

I'm from Iowa and have been living in Portland for 11 years now. I would have no problem moving back to Iowa. Portland is too crowded, and too expensive. My money would go a lot further in Iowa, and I could probably retire much sooner. If a job in my company opens up in Iowa, I'm there. I think Iowa is a beautiful state with very friendly people. Oregon is a beautiful state too, but the people here are lazy, and not so friendly. Portland is over rated, and over hyped.

I know exactly what you mean. Oregon is beautiful, but living in Portland is growing old, fast. We have debated other rural parts of Oregon, but there really isn't a job market there. Housing isn't much cheaper. And we would be completely isolated from family, also.

I couldn't believe the price difference between Portland/anywhere in Iowa housing. I just wanted to scream, who the BLEEP do Portlander's think they are, wanting over $200k for a two bed condo? I mean, really. The economy doesn't support those sort of housing prices here.

Have to concur with the over hyped statement, too. Most Portlander's (not all) seem to have this "I live in Portland so I am WAY better than you & I live green & take MAX & eat vegan & yadda yadda" attitude. Very unfriendly & cold. It's been really hard getting to know people here that aren't in someway connected to me through my kids school or fiance's job.

Glad that we're not the only ones running to the Midwest to escape the west coast rush.

[griz134]

Your quality of life will be much better in Iowa. I paid 269,900.00 for a 950 sq.ft 2 bd, 1 bath house in St. John's. More than half my paycheck pays for the mortgage. It's crazy here. The traffic is so bad 24/7 that I seldom bother leaving my house on weekends to enjoy the outdoors. I have never been to Oskaloosa, but I'm sure it will be nice. I here Pella is a real nice town too, and a little closer to Des Moines if you need a fix of the city life. You will have to adjust to hot, humid summers, and bitter cold winters, but at least you won't have rain 9 months out of the year.

[BillyMays]

I was referring to the people mostly. I do not see men walking around holding hands like in Chicago.
People keep to themselves and try not to draw attention to one another. That is being conservative. It's a farming community.
And New Jersey has always had a republican gov. and they are a blue state. The only thing that makes IL a blue state is Chicago/crook county. Most of the suburbs hate democrats.

[TootsieWootsie]

BillyMays: Is that what you want to do? Walk around holding another man's hand? If so, just do it if it makes you happy. Iowa will adjust.

[timeofseasons]

I haven't read anything bad ( crime, bad schools etc..) on Iowa yet, but I could possibly be attending University of Iowa next fall and I question what Iowa City is like.