[nmnita]

Jesseka,

This is the secret to being accepted period. Volunteer your services, take part in the community and keep an open mind. Being liberal or conservative doesn't make you a better person or make it easier to be accepted; same with what church you belong to does. If that were the case we would have no friends in NM cause we are not catholic. We are totally involved with our neighborhood, including our church. Rarely has anyone asked about our religion. Maybe if I mention being Pres of our women's group and chuch and say we are working on a particular project someone will casually ask what church we attend?

We happen to be politically conservative living in a liberal state; this hasn't made much of a difference in our lives. People who put themselves on the defensive will always find what they do not want...or maybe they do, it gives them something to complain about.

Nita

[Mattie Jo]

Liberals being more "open-minded" than conservatives? Hardly. I've found some very close minded individuals from a variety of political leanings. I've found that liberals will accept you as long as you are liberal thinking like them. I have a friend who is liberal and it's hard to talk with him without him trying to change my mind and forget about points of views on things. I respect your opinion, but it's just like mine, an opinion and not fact.

I hear you loud and clear. I was in a small group of people that talked politics, a subject that bores me unless it is one I am interested in, LOL, and they didn't want anyone in their group that wasn't a liberal democrat, and they chased someone out of the group that liked Bush and America. Not that liberals don't love America, but all they did was bash it. They also wanted only atheists in their group. I left. It was interesting to see how they worked things out in their group and how they viewed things, but I found myself remaining quiet for a few months before moving on to more open minded groups.

nmnita, everything you said is so true. I don't even know if you have to move to a liberal town since any town, no matter how conservative it is will have liberals in it. After my group experience conservatives are looking pretty good. I really don't know if I am liberal or conservative and don't care. I just have opinions. LOL.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jessaka

I hear you loud and clear. I was in a small group of people that talked politics, a subject that bores me unless it is one I am interested in, LOL, and they didn't want anyone in their group that wasn't a liberal democrat, and they chased someone out of the group that liked Bush and America. Not that liberals don't love America, but all they did was bash it. They also wanted only atheists in their group. I left. It was interesting to see how they worked things out in their group and how they viewed things, but I found myself remaining quiet for a few months before moving on to more open minded groups.

nmnita, everything you said is so true. I don't even know if you have to move to a liberal town since any town, no matter how conservative it is will have liberals in it. After my group experience conservatives are looking pretty good. I really don't know if I am liberal or conservative and don't care. I just have opinions. LOL.

Jessaka, I think most of us are a little of both. I am certainly not liberal in very many ways, but do hold some views that would shock my conservative friends; same with my liberal friends (and I do have some) they have a few views more conservative than mine. Just don't tell them that!!!

[Synopsis]

I think the problem with too many people these days is that they subscribe to one or the other (liberal or conservative) and then let the party line do their thinking for them. By their thinking, if you're liberal, you're supposed to dislike this and that, and if you are conservative, you are supposed to dislike this and that, regardless of how you truly feel inside. That's why most of this country is so divided these days; people don't seem to have their own thoughts; it's all about subscribing to a party line.

[Quincy]

I had to jump in here. First we are moderate conservatives and one of the reasons we are leaving Massachusetts is because the liberals have taxed us to death and are adding more "social programs" every day. That said, we have a lot of liberal friends (no choice our here) and I would never pick a place to live because of peoples political convictions. Taxes, freedoms, cost of living, weahter, things you like to do, etc. are legitimate reasons to choose a place to live. I have to say that some of the liberals I have had to work with are quite mean and don't understand conservative values at all,b ut some are very open minded.

I also wanted to mention that on the plane back from Tulsa we were sitting next to a lutheran minister and his wife from Tulsa who belonged to an ultra liberal anti-war group. They moved to Tulsa from California, loved it, and were so nice to us. So they were liberal religious people and in my family we are politically conservative but haven't gone to church in years. People come in all types, and I agree we need to drop the labels.

Just my 2 cents

[nmnita]

synopsis and Quincy,

you both make good sense.

Nita

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Quincy

I had to jump in here. First we are moderate conservatives and one of the reasons we are leaving Massachusetts is because the liberals have taxed us to death and are adding more "social programs" every day. That said, we have a lot of liberal friends (no choice our here) and I would never pick a place to live because of peoples political convictions. Taxes, freedoms, cost of living, weahter, things you like to do, etc. are legitimate reasons to choose a place to live. I have to say that some of the liberals I have had to work with are quite mean and don't understand conservative values at all,b ut some are very open minded.

I also wanted to mention that on the plane back from Tulsa we were sitting next to a lutheran minister and his wife from Tulsa who belonged to an ultra liberal anti-war group. They moved to Tulsa from California, loved it, and were so nice to us. So they were liberal religious people and in my family we are politically conservative but haven't gone to church in years. People come in all types, and I agree we need to drop the labels.

Just my 2 cents

But paying higher taxes is certainly worth it if they have been wisely spent for the betterment of society. For instance, the living conditions in Massachusettes are much better than they are in Oklahoma with people having higher income, less poverty, better health and better educated people.

[valpoguy]

To answer the original question, without having read the discussion: No, there are not really liberal places in Oklahoma, which is a big part of the reason I'm no longer there after living there for most of my childhood and early adulthood. It was one of only two or three states in the entire U.S. where every single COUNTY actually went majority Bush in '04.

In Stillwater, with it being a college town, I was able to find pockets of progressive / open-minded type people to hang out with, but even there it's pretty conservative. I would guess that Norman is similar. Tulsa definitely has pockets of liberals, Tahlequah is an artsy/hippie type place to an extent, and the Paseo district in OKC is very artsy/cool/progressive (the only real place like it in the state), but there aren't really any liberal cities or even major liberal college towns to speak of like you have just about anywhere else in the country. The state is a stonghold of the Fundamentalists of the "religious right". Not everyone there things this way, but it generally seems the majority do.

At one point in the past, Oklahoma had the most socialists per capita in the U.S. (Woody Guthrie was an Okie!) Those days are long gone, though.

Not looking to participate in any flame way here, just answering the initial question as I see it from my rather in-depth experience.

[peggydavis]

This is an interesting website:
2004 Presidential General Election Results - Oklahoma


The map is color coded by county, and of course all the counties are blue, but there are lighter and darker shades of blue. If you put your cursor on the map, you can learn the percentage voting for Bush and Kerry by county. In looking over the map for the most liberal county in Oklahoma, it is Cherokee County with 47.4% of the vote for Kerry. The county seat of Cherokee County is *drumroll* Tahlequah!

[Mattie Jo]

Valpoguy:

I thought that your post was fine.

Someone at a class in school took a vote about Bush, and most did not approve of him anymore. This was not taken at college.

It is interesting that you think of Tahlequah as artsy/hippie. I have not seen this, and I lived in Berkeley in the hippie days. Well, I have seen one or two hippie types here.

It is true that you will only find pockets of liberals, but if you are liberal you will find these people, and I would hope that many would find that enough instead of needing to live in a liberal State.