Why is this forum so active? (allergies, to live, moving to)

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by warpedg

Ok I have to know now since its driving me insane....what is the Volvo line? Im assuming it has something to do with the 'two Maines'?

its the invisible line between the tree-hugging, bark-eating liberals in the portland area, and the hard-working folks in the rest of the state.

(this isnt my definition, i heard it on the radio)

[mainewannabe]

I'm kinda a liberal but I do not want to live anywhere NEAR portland. I hope that makes me acceptable. I really don't like to label people so ... I hope I'll fit in.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

its the invisible line between the tree-hugging, bark-eating liberals in the portland area, and the hard-working folks in the rest of the state.

(this isnt my definition, i heard it on the radio)

But just where is the line located? Okay, I'm sure that's a subjective thing, but approximately where is the dividing line?

[ogre]

Originally Posted by mainewannabe

I'm kinda a liberal but I do not want to live anywhere NEAR portland. I hope that makes me acceptable. I really don't like to label people so ... I hope I'll fit in.

You know, I live down in MA, near Boston, and I can tell you that this area has many people who are called "liberals" but are not liberal at all, in the true sense of the word, meaning open-minded, and flexible in one's thinking. Many are some of the most narrow, rigid people I've ever known, and are very intolerant of, sometimes even hostile toward, anyone who disagrees with them even slightly. From what I know of Maine, as an outsider looking in--and this includes what I've seen of people I've known from Maine--I think the key is to not be the kind of "liberal" who is all too commonplace in the Boston area, but to be truly liberal. I think that in Maine if you genuinely accept other people's right to their points of view, even those views you disagree with, you should fit in just fine.

[msina]

I agree with you Ogre, and THAT'S exactly why this forum is so active. The people here in the forum are helpful, open and warm.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by msina

I agree with you Ogre, and THAT'S exactly why this forum is so active. The people here in the forum are helpful, open and warm.

Maine sounds better and better all the time. Maybe I should chang MY name to Mainewannabe. Oh well, maybe one of these years.

[mollysmiles]

The last few post have been fantastic guys!! What a great thing to come home to after running around all day!!

[msina]

There's Molly,.. she's one of THOSE people,.. lol Nice to see ya Molly

[FLtoMaine]

Originally Posted by mainewannabe

I'm kinda a liberal but I do not want to live anywhere NEAR portland. I hope that makes me acceptable. I really don't like to label people so ... I hope I'll fit in.

Me too (kinda liberal) and me neither (about living in Portland). I mean what's a hard working tree hugger that loves Maine to do??

[happyappy]

Thomas Jefferson is the most famous of the original liberals—and member of the Democratic-Republican Party. He’s my personal hero. And it’s widely accepted that he was one of America’s greatest thinkers in our short history.

I don’t HOW it can be done, or even IF it can be done, but somehow those of us who are considered liberals by Jefferson’s standards have to separate ourselves from what is considered mainstream liberalism and the stigma with which it has been stuck. However, the definition seems to change, sometimes to a great degree, from conversation to conversation as to the terms conservative and liberal. It makes labeling somewhat useless in reality, and it certainly does skew conversations once those labels are used or assumed without saying.

If some new label could be attached such as paleo-liberal or pseudo-liberal or some such thing, then I could belong to that group even though I tree hug and bark eat.