Why don't low population states like Montana & Idaho turn "Blue"? (drug, border)
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Oh yeah. I'm originally from Texas, am living in Calif currently, but don't like what the Californians have done to our beautiful, now extremely expensive Austin. Thanks Californians.
I'm a native Idahoan. Throughout most of my life, Idaho has been moderately conservative, and for many years was a bellwether state that predicted which party would gain the Presidency.
But more than anything, Idaho has always had a libertarian bent that is shared by both parties. We all tend to be self-reliant out here, often to our disadvantage. Most of this is due to the fact that 40 minutes in any direction from our cities is wilderness, where few people and fewer services are to be found. If you can't get yourself out of trouble, you can't count on someone helping you out.
Idaho boomed in the 90's in large part due to our cheap real estate and our huge agricultural industry, and our growth favored some new industries to come in and others to start up, but the entire state is not, and has never been, solidly conservative everywhere. Like Montana, there are long standing pockets that are Democratic, especially in Boise and some of our other large (for Idaho) cities. And like Montana, which is also mostly rural and lightly populated, the smaller communities have always been Republican.
The bust was as big as the boom once things fell in in 2008, and Idaho has always been slower to recover from a recession than most of the nation. Every recession turns the state more conservative, so the GOP has become very large here since the 2000 election.
The thing most folks don't understand is Idaho is actually two states. We are cut in half by impassible mountains, and the north is much different from the south. No one lives in the middle. The south contains most of the population, and is mostly agricultural with a lot of light industry. The north depended on logging and mining, and both dried up in the 80's. It's population is much smaller, and depends on retirement and tourism now.
In time, the Democrats will return. They always have. The Republicans will always remain strong, and both parties will always have mostly moderate centers. Even though we veer into extremism once in a while, it never lasts for long.
Most all of the intermountain west is just the same. Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, Idaho and parts of E. Washington and Oregon all have the same vast distances, harsh weather, low populations, and the same challenges. Until a person lives out here for a while, outsiders really don't have much understanding of what our lifestyles and politics are all about.
The same can be said of the northern prairie states of the west as well.
The same can be said of Colorado, though we have a larger urban population.
And yet the majority of newcomers to the state are not LDS at all. Ever stop to consider why they would just keep immigrating "to a place where they will be ostracized." I find it really interesting is that most of the people who are always talking about how ostracized non-Mormons are in Utah really have no first-hand experience living there. I'm not trying to imply that there aren't exceptions. I'm just saying that probably more than half of the people now posting on the Salt Lake City forum are non-Mormons who have made Utah their home, by choice, and who have not ever felt themselves or their children to be ostracized. If anyone doubts me, it's easy enough to go to that forum and take a look at their comments. I'd say that they are overwhelmingly (by roughly a 4 to 1 margin) pleased with how they've been treated in Salt Lake City and with their lives here in general.
And, incidentally, the vast majority of practicing Utah Mormons on the forum have expressed the hope that their state will become more diverse over time.
when Salt Lake City looks like LA or some border town with high crime, high taxes, no freedom...leasts see how they worship the death cult of diversity.
No, liberals believe that it is wrong to discriminate against someone on the basis of their skin color.
...yeah...racism is everywhere in America... Americans believe laws should be enforced blindly..and those here illegally should be deported...no debate nothing just flown out.
And yet the majority of newcomers to the state are not LDS at all. Ever stop to consider why they would just keep immigrating "to a place where they will be ostracized." I find it really interesting is that most of the people who are always talking about how ostracized non-Mormons are in Utah really have no first-hand experience living there. I'm not trying to imply that there aren't exceptions. I'm just saying that probably more than half of the people now posting on the Salt Lake City forum are non-Mormons who have made Utah their home, by choice, and who have not ever felt themselves or their children to be ostracized. If anyone doubts me, it's easy enough to go to that forum and take a look at their comments. I'd say that they are overwhelmingly (by roughly a 4 to 1 margin) pleased with how they've been treated in Salt Lake City and with their lives here in general.
And, incidentally, the vast majority of practicing Utah Mormons on the forum have expressed the hope that their state will become more diverse over time.
Well, I have personally applied for several jobs in Utah (Logan and Ogden), so I am open-minded about it. My liberal friends have been pretty suspicious though. I agree that they may well be clueless, but I think it is true that liberals are more likely to be discouraged than conservatives by the socially conservative culture of Utah.
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