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It really depends on whether you mean "social liberal" or "fiscal liberal". It sounds like you mean "social".
Nowhere in the Southeast is going to compare with California or the West Coast on social liberalism, NONE. Even New England "conservatives" tend to be socially liberal but in the Southeast, "conservative" means social conservative above all.
That said, as others mentioned, cities are different than rural/outlying areas (which is the case everywhere--look at Oregon and Washington, generally thought of as "liberal" states because of their best-known cities, but the eastern part of each state is VERY conservative. Oregon used to put forth some of the most anti-gay laws in the country, thanks to the Oregon Citizens' Alliance.
NC is a "purple" state at the National level and has joined Florida and Ohio as one of the biggest swing states. However, our state Legislature swung far to the Right in 2010, which unfortunately was a redistricting year, resulting in gerrymandering which guarantees that the state legislature will remain FAR to the Right of the citizenry of this state for at least a decade.
You will find very tolerant attitudes in the college towns and the cities (once again, like in any state), but you might find that LAWS lag behind (or in some cases, are being newly-introduced to emulate social attitudes of 50+ years ago) what you see among the general population. Same-sex marriage was judicially allowed here as recently as last October, but that's on the heels of a very, very ugly Constitutional Amendment fight in 2012 banning not just SSM but any "domestic legal pairing" other than man + woman marriage, making it more stringent than even most states with such amendments. Right now, our Legislature is floating a bill similar to the one in Indiana that's drawing so much ire nationally. The governor says he doesn't support it, but has not come out saying he would actually VETO it (there is a veto-proof majority in both houses, anyway).
So the short answer is, NC is generally a tolerant state, especially in the cities and suburbs of cities, of all manner of people, but you would not know that by reading the rhetoric from NC Politicians, who often seem to be trying to one-up each other to see who can go on record for the most "Neanderthal" statement.
The working poor along with the middle class in NC voted for the Democrats for local & state offices for close to 100 years. This is why the government was under control of the Democrats.
You fail to mention that the Democratic party has changed enormously since those days. At the time, Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, and yes, Jesse Helms were prominent Democratic politicians.
Any discussion of politics in NC by party needs to be limited to the past 30 years or so for comparison to what it's like right now.
Nowhere in the Southeast is going to compare with California or the West Coast on social liberalism, NONE. Even New England "conservatives" tend to be socially liberal but in the Southeast, "conservative" means social conservative above all.
That said, as others mentioned, cities are different than rural/outlying areas (which is the case everywhere--look at Oregon and Washington, generally thought of as "liberal" states because of their best-known cities, but the eastern part of each state is VERY conservative. Oregon used to put forth some of the most anti-gay laws in the country, thanks to the Oregon Citizens' Alliance.
So the short answer is, NC is generally a tolerant state, especially in the cities and suburbs of cities, of all manner of people, but you would not know that by reading the rhetoric from NC Politicians, who often seem to be trying to one-up each other to see who can go on record for the most "Neanderthal" statement.
I'm getting a much clearer picture in general now, thank you. And yes, I definitely noticed the huge difference between western and eastern Washington! I stayed in the Post Falls area (border of ID/WA) for two months and was definitely in a hurry to leave.
My conclusion after spending a lot of hours reading these boards is that the triangle area (ish) would be the best fit for us. We're visiting for 4-5 days and we want to maximize our our time as best we can, so our schedule is:
2 days exploring Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh (staying in Chapel Hill)
1 day exploring Greensboro, then driving down to Charlotte
2 days exploring Charlotte (staying with friends there)
Hopefully we will get a good sense of all the wonderful things that NC has to offer :-)
As a separate note, I was curious why many of the threads on these boards seem to start on one topic and veer into heavy political discussions (sometimes heated ones!). It seems to be a bit of a theme in the NC boards?
...curious why many of the threads on these boards seem to start on one topic
and veer into heavy political discussions (sometimes heated ones!).
Because just about every issue/problem topic has the HOW to deal with at the root.
And HOW we want to or prefer to or aspire to dealing with or approaching
any given issue/problem is what politics is all about. The two main camps are VERY clear here.
As a separate note, I was curious why many of the threads on these boards seem to start on one topic and veer into heavy political discussions (sometimes heated ones!). It seems to be a bit of a theme in the NC boards?
I think its because NC is going through very tumultuous times right now, politically. State government is in the throes of a major upheaval as a more conservative (republican) state legislature is flexing its muscles after being the minority party for decades. They are instituting sweeping changes to the state's fiscal, educational and social landscape. That pleases some, makes others very nervous, and generates a lot of conversation.
I think its because NC is going through very tumultuous times right now, politically. State government is in the throes of a major upheaval as a more conservative (republican) state legislature is flexing its muscles after being the minority party for decades. They are instituting sweeping changes to the state's fiscal, educational and social landscape. That pleases some, makes others very nervous, and generates a lot of conversation.
Oh I see, got it. That was a nice and simple explanation for myself who is non political. I thought I'd stepped into the White House when I first arrived on the board :-)
You fail to mention that the Democratic party has changed enormously since those days......
I didn't fail to mention it. The next two bullets in that post has covered it.
i.e. The Democrats no longer reflect the interests of the majority of voters in NC. This is why they no longer vote for them. The people didn't change, the party did.
The Democrats no longer reflect the interests of the majority of voters in NC. This is why they no longer vote for them. The people didn't change, the party did.
If thats true then why was not until 2010 that the general assembly began instituting a more conservative agenda? In other words, if the people of NC have been reliably conservative for a century, then why didn't the policies of state government reflect that conservatism?
I think what you are saying could accurately be applied to South Carolina, but I don'r understand how it makes sense for NC.
As a separate note, I was curious why many of the threads on these boards seem to start on one topic and veer into heavy political discussions (sometimes heated ones!). It seems to be a bit of a theme in the NC boards?
I have a hard time believing that is only true of NC boards and not every state...! But if so, it's precisely that "Purple state" phenomenon--more likely to have people on both sides!
If thats true then why was not until 2010 that the general assembly began instituting a more conservative agenda? In other words, if the people of NC have been reliably conservative for a century, then why didn't the policies of state government reflect that conservatism? I think what you are saying could accurately be applied to South Carolina, but I don'r understand how it makes sense for NC.
You wish to redefine what I said in terms of the simple liberal vs conservative nonsense which I did not use in my post. "Conservative agenda" is in the eyes of the beholder because without a concrete definition that can be applied to specific action, it devolves down to DNC or GOP talking points and dogma. Something which I have no interest in.
I said that currently the DNC no longer reflects the interests of the majority of voters in NC and that is why they lost their historical control over state government. This despite the influx of 100s of thousands of transplants from states that generally vote for Democrats. People need and want the same things from government which they have always wanted and that hasn't changed.
The results of the last 3 election cycles speak for themselves. One may choose to believe this, or come up with some other reason, but it isn't because people in NC all of a sudden were hit by a spell from the "conservative" magic fairy.
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