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Old 02-26-2014, 03:45 PM
 
Location: The Woods
18,337 posts, read 26,384,290 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joe moving View Post
Vermont--just not the Appalachians.
The northern Appalachians are in Vermont.
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Old 03-11-2014, 06:45 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
3,298 posts, read 3,862,727 times
Reputation: 3141
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Wolf View Post
Isn't using the words "liberal" and " low cost of living" in the same sentence an oxymoron ?
Yes. I find the NC mountains and SC coast a sad place now. Ruined by wealthy liberals. That is the problem. People start hearing about the cool little towns with character and then the money and outsiders move in. They start complaining and changing the town into a duplicate of what they left behind. The town eventually becomes touristy and way too expensive for those that gave the place the original flare. The Californians and Yankees have changed the South for the worse.
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Old 03-19-2014, 04:53 AM
 
Location: On the Beach
4,139 posts, read 4,503,159 times
Reputation: 10317
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluecarebear View Post
Yes. I find the NC mountains and SC coast a sad place now. Ruined by wealthy liberals. That is the problem. People start hearing about the cool little towns with character and then the money and outsiders move in. They start complaining and changing the town into a duplicate of what they left behind. The town eventually becomes touristy and way too expensive for those that gave the place the original flare. The Californians and Yankees have changed the South for the worse.
Just curious because I hear this complaint a lot - how do they change the town into a duplicate of what they left behind? I'm a yankee (no apology here) and will be relocating to a rural area in South Carolina in a year or two. Although I am pretty liberal by most folks standards, I have no interest in changing the character of the place I live. I also don't believe that it's a good idea for folks to pick where they want to live based on whether the area is considered "conservative" or "liberal". I just prefer a quiet rural environment without seeing tons of retail, chain stores/restaurants, traffic and noise. Whether my neighbors like me or not doesn't matter to me. If we are friends - great, if not, live and let live. I just think folks in general have gotten too polarized over things that don't matter. We don't all have to agree politically/religously/whatever to be neighbors. I understand that there are some in the South who resent Yankees. Not my problem - I live where I want to live. I'm not interested in changing the culture, I'm just looking for a quiet place with natural beauty.
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Old 03-19-2014, 01:36 PM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
45,016 posts, read 60,002,869 times
Reputation: 60565
Quote:
Originally Posted by nurider2002 View Post
Just curious because I hear this complaint a lot - how do they change the town into a duplicate of what they left behind? I'm a yankee (no apology here) and will be relocating to a rural area in South Carolina in a year or two. Although I am pretty liberal by most folks standards, I have no interest in changing the character of the place I live. I also don't believe that it's a good idea for folks to pick where they want to live based on whether the area is considered "conservative" or "liberal". I just prefer a quiet rural environment without seeing tons of retail, chain stores/restaurants, traffic and noise. Whether my neighbors like me or not doesn't matter to me. If we are friends - great, if not, live and let live. I just think folks in general have gotten too polarized over things that don't matter. We don't all have to agree politically/religously/whatever to be neighbors. I understand that there are some in the South who resent Yankees. Not my problem - I live where I want to live. I'm not interested in changing the culture, I'm just looking for a quiet place with natural beauty.
What I bolded is part of the answer to your question.
Many miss the stores, the specialty restaurants, the "arts", diversity (whatever that is) of where they left.

They want dog parks in areas where every house has a large yard, multiple coffee shoppes where the population can barely support one. No hunting because people who might have guns in their vehicle, dressed in blaze orange or camouflage, scare them.

"Farming smells bad and the tractors go soooooooooo slow, why can't they drive at night? And look at the dust."

Here on the Chesapeake, the workboats look ugly and complaints are registered about the crab pots, which are all legal.

They complain when the older men gather at the gas station and drink coffee in the morning, brag about their degrees, insult the locals by calling them inbreds, complain about something by starting out with a variation of "Well, where we come from this wouldn't be allowed".

They want everyone to submit their paint colors to a design committee for approval so a neighborhood is "harmonious", demand everyone have identical trash cans for consistency, not park in front of the house, especially a nasty work truck with a company name.

Everyone has to have a lawn, with minimal flowers and trees, because that's what you do in the country.

I'm tired or I could go on. Every single example I listed has come up where I live in the last year.

This isn't everyone but the vast majority. One reason I derisively call them rural pioneers.
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Old 03-19-2014, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Jamestown, NY
7,840 posts, read 9,151,378 times
Reputation: 13779
Quote:
Originally Posted by juniperjennie View Post
Hi!
I would really appreciate any help/advice I can get! I'm looking for a liberal/progressive rural town to move to. Here are my criteria:
1. liberal/progressive community/politics
2. in/close to a mountainous region (preferably the Appalachian mountains)
3. low cost of living
4. available and relatively affordable farm land (we wish to be organic farmers)
5. university close by

Is there anyplace that fits this description?!? It doesn't have to meet all those criteria, just some.

Thanks so much for any advice you can give!!
Ithaca, NY.

#3 is the only drawback, and yet Ithaca is not nearly as pricey as many places.
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Old 03-20-2014, 01:13 AM
 
Location: Warren, OH
2,744 posts, read 4,212,880 times
Reputation: 6503
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81 View Post
Fail. Portsmouth is a conservative hillbilly town.

Portsmouth is the home of drug dealing doctors and a severe crystal meth problem. I think it's at the cross roads of three states and as such, a stop in the north south drug path.

Shawnee State University is in Portsmouth. That's the other thing that I know.

I've found Arkansas to be pretty open minded, at least the part around LR and Hot Springs.
Morgantown WV might be a good place. I'm pretty sure that's in the Appalachians.

Any town with a well regarded college town in Ohio would be a good choice as would the Pioneer Valley of Western MA - home to Amherst, Smith, Hampshire, U Mass Amhert, and Mount Holyoke College. It's not a conservative area.
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Old 03-20-2014, 04:44 AM
 
Location: On the Beach
4,139 posts, read 4,503,159 times
Reputation: 10317
thanks for clarifying and yeah, that would get old real fast.
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Old 03-20-2014, 10:19 AM
 
28,896 posts, read 53,979,333 times
Reputation: 46662
Quote:
Originally Posted by juniperjennie View Post
Thanks for the replies so far.
Unfortunately, I don't know any "diehard conservatives" who wholeheartedly support organic farming - I think this past election cycle made it clear that the Republican party is NOT in favor of environmentally friendly policies. They still believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that climate change is a giant hoax.

We farm organically right now on rented land, and let me tell you - among conventional farmers (the great majority conservative) we are not treated kindly. We chose this livelihood because we care about the future of our earth and we wish to be good stewards of the land... we didn't necessarily choose it for political reasons. It has just turned out that our values are not represented among conservatives.
I'm not a Republican or much of a conservative, but I really get tired of this pious and self-congratulatory hogwash. The poster inadvertently is Exhibit A of what's wrong with political dialog in this country, essentially the demonization of anybody who might actually dare to hold a different opinion.

I know a couple of organic farmers. They're Republican. And the owner of Whole Foods is about as much an economic conservative as one gets. Not sure how this fits in the OP's world view.
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Old 03-21-2014, 04:10 PM
 
92,223 posts, read 122,469,470 times
Reputation: 18172
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223 View Post
I'm not a Republican or much of a conservative, but I really get tired of this pious and self-congratulatory hogwash. The poster inadvertently is Exhibit A of what's wrong with political dialog in this country, essentially the demonization of anybody who might actually dare to hold a different opinion.

I know a couple of organic farmers. They're Republican. And the owner of Whole Foods is about as much an economic conservative as one gets. Not sure how this fits in the OP's world view.
I think it is a matter of social liberalism versus political affiliation.
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Old 03-22-2014, 05:00 PM
 
11,911 posts, read 6,490,370 times
Reputation: 13877
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223 View Post
I'm not a Republican or much of a conservative, but I really get tired of this pious and self-congratulatory hogwash. The poster inadvertently is Exhibit A of what's wrong with political dialog in this country, essentially the demonization of anybody who might actually dare to hold a different opinion.

I know a couple of organic farmers. They're Republican. And the owner of Whole Foods is about as much an economic conservative as one gets. Not sure how this fits in the OP's world view.
Thank you - I couldn't have said it better.
I have been an organic farmer and/or gardener for 45 years. I was involved with 'permaculture' before there was even a word for it, and probably before The OP was born. I have seen the good and bad in both parties. Some of the best land stewards, wildlife habitat protectors, and savvy farmers I have known are very conservative in nature. And i have seen hypocritical wealthy liberals with a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla while bragging they eat and live an organic lifestyle.
I am politically independent, and I hate it when people bring in partisan politics and self-righteous superiority to attack, divide, and alienate the rural and/or farming communities.

Last edited by mountainrose; 03-22-2014 at 05:09 PM..
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