Conservatives? (Winchester: schools, high income, tax)

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by ogre

...that the region as a whole is not known as an especially red part of the country.

Correct. The fact is that the pockets of conservatism in Mass. -- and New England in general -- are:
1) small in size and number;
2) Not monolithic. That is, even where Republicans/conservatives are in the majority there is likely to be a sizable Democrat/liberal presence in the same town or very close by.
3) not as conservative as most places. The conservatism in New England is usually not religious based and thus less about socio-cultural issues and more about taxing/spending.

Massachusetts isn't Mississippi. If you want the kind of hard-right conservatism found there, you will be disappointed in New England.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

There are plenty of conservatives here and although they tend to stay quiet about it ... [/url]

Gee, I wonder why that would be?

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by mustmove

MA isn't great for gun owners but it isn't as bad as its reputation.

Actually it is as bad as its reputation. How well do they comply with the McClure-Volkmer act, for instance?

[Baton Rouge]

Massachusetts - filled with Socialists? That's such an amazingly ignorant (as in "don't know" not to be confused with stupid - "doesn't want to know") observation. Because a majority of voters support Democratic candidates and support progressive ideals (progressive means "looking forward" not "wild-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth anarchists") doesn't mean that they all worship Karl Marx. In fact, they/we really like Groucho much better - he had a well developed sense of the absurd, which one pretty much needs to cope with what goes on these days. There are other parts of the country that are populated by people who would prefer to live in an irony-free zone, where everything is simpler for them because it's soooo literal. From my experience of having lived in the South and Midwest, I can say that more folks who live away from the Northeast don't understand irony or a satirical look at life the way that New Yorkers and New Englanders do. Since our country began in the Northeast, possibly those without a sense of humor just decided to head west and south. There's a lot of confusion between what is taken for granted in the Northeast and what outsiders (for want of a better term) think is rudeness. Been to Durgin Park? While it's not as outrageous as it used to be, it still is quite a slice of New England life. Massachusetts has given the country many of its finest who are still fighting for the dignity of the everyman, and yes, Barney and Teddy are two of them. There have also been a quite few honorable and decent Republicans who have represented Massachusetts - Gov. Frank Sargent and Sen. Ed Brooke come immediately to mind. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and Sen. Leverett Saltonstall were Republicans who earned the respect of nearly all Democrats, both in the State and in Washington. More recent Republican governors - the lazy slug Bill Weld and the cardboard Glove Romney were aberrations in this continuum of good Republican politicians in the State. But then again, the older Republicans actually stood for something other than either pedantic party politics or themselves.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by professorsenator

Correct. The fact is that the pockets of conservatism in Mass. -- and New England in general -- are:
1) small in size and number;
2) Not monolithic. That is, even where Republicans/conservatives are in the majority there is likely to be a sizable Democrat/liberal presence in the same town or very close by.
3) not as conservative as most places. The conservatism in New England is usually not religious based and thus less about socio-cultural issues and more about taxing/spending.

Massachusetts isn't Mississippi. If you want the kind of hard-right conservatism found there, you will be disappointed in New England.

Let me add a third group....people like me who grew up in the area but just couldn't take the corruption and left politics. It's not about finding "hard right" conservatism, but rather just not dealing with the hard left liberalism found in MA. Anyone who can't look at the one party rule and elected officials and realize that most of MA is left leaning, and that some areas like Cambridge are just wacky left, is just blind.

[DreamworksSKG]

Progressive Socialism is not the same as Russian Socialism.

We just want to make it so that the richest part of the country pays the most in taxes, and the middle class doesn't get screwed which we do now.
we believe that the government should have some control over things....not total control but some control and should regulate some aspects of government.

Its not the same as the socialism of russia.

It is Progressive Socialism

That said there are conservatives in Massachusetts

and while I'm not one of them if you do research online
you can find conservative groups

--jeff---

[dognh]

All you have to do is read the remarks by DreamworksSKG, Baton Rouge and others and you'll get the picture. For your own sake, sanity and wallet - stay far away!

[MonkeyButler7000]

Originally Posted by DreamworksSKG

Progressive Socialism is not the same as Russian Socialism.

We just want to make it so that the richest part of the country pays the most in taxes, and the middle class doesn't get screwed which we do now.
we believe that the government should have some control over things....not total control but some control and should regulate some aspects of government.

Its not the same as the socialism of russia.

It is Progressive Socialism

That said there are conservatives in Massachusetts

and while I'm not one of them if you do research online
you can find conservative groups

--jeff---

The rich already pay the lions share of taxes. How much is enough? Besides, rich people are rich (with the exception of trust-fund liberals like the Bay State's own Kennedy clan) because they start companies, innovate, and provide jobs for the rest of us. Basically, progressivism/liberalism boils down to one of the oldest lies in the book: the promise of something for nothing. They promise health care, welfare, unemployment, living wages, etc. for the masses and assure us that someone else (the rich, big business, big tobacco, big oil, Wal-Mart) is going to pay for it.

[DreamworksSKG]

Liberals are not socialists like the russian socialism, we just believe that taxes should be paid fairly, and that people who make millions of dollars of even hundreds of thousands a year should pay more in taxes than the lower income people. Conservatives say they are conservative budget wise, but that's primarily because they want to keep their wealthy $$$ they own and not have to pay anything and make everyone else suffer for it like the middle class.

Progressive socialism is not russian socialism it is reforming government to a more moderate view of things allowing for some government control over things. I believe we need some government control to avoid chaos in society

True Conservatism and Libertarianism just doesn't work in the long run.
the best way to run a country is some government involvement
but not too much

i think people have skewed the view of what today's liberalism really is

--jeff--

For example conservatives wasted trillions on iraq, yet blame democrats for the recession? How is that possible?
when you waste trillions on a false war
and we could have already had universal health care, and secure environmental policies, and education policies

[DreamworksSKG]

Also more often than not conservatives are less likely to pay their taxes
because they think they are immune to paying taxes or shouldn't have to because they are wealthy. This costs the state thousands of dollars a year.
and I dont think the richest people in our society are taxed enough.
I mean even 5% tax on people over 1 million a year or over $250,000 a year would save the state a lot of money

If they pay their taxes

I get infuriated by that tax masters commercial where that last couple goes
we owed the irs 3 million dollars and only paid 1 million.
Like I care!

They probably just didn't want to pay the taxes because they thought they didn't have to and then it hit them OH We do have to pay taxes?
RICH PEOPLE - PAY YOUR DA*N taxes.
You should be paying more than someone who makes $10 an hour like myself and still has to live at home at 31 because I can't afford a place in boston.

--jeff--
Winchester, MA