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Was...Yea....Always...Yea right Virginia becomes less southern every year. Just look at that past political trend that the state has been following for almost a decade. The demographics in this state are changing rapidly. Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are dominating state politics and culture. As the older generation is dying off, a younger generation is or will eventually take their place. The younger generation is more liberal, progressive, as past election statistics have shown. So to say Virginia will always be southern is a load of ****.
As far as why people keep debating, obviously, not everyone agrees with your consensus. Therefore, when people have different opinions on certain issues, they are goin to try to change the opposing sides mind or at least try to prove their point. Besides, new posters join this forum everyday. Therefore, new ideas/perspectives to add. It's what makes this forum interesting and entertaining. But i'm not going to debate with you, anymore, on this particular thread on whether Virginia is southern or not. They already created one, "Do You think Virginia is part of the South?" under the Northern Virginia forum.
I never said Virginia was Southern like it was 40 or 50 years. THE WHOLE SOUTH is not Southern as it was 40 or 50 years ago.
So I guess , if we go by your logic (politics), North Carolina is no longer Southern either because they voted for Obama too. And parts of the Deep South were Blue- even if not officially.
Virginia was part of the 11 States of The Confederacy. Thats good enough for me.
That Thread Should Read: 'Do you think Northern Virginia is Southern or Not" Because the rest of Virginia is Southern and always will be !!
I never said Virginia was Southern like it was 40 or 50 years. THE WHOLE SOUTH is not Southern as it was 40 or 50 years ago.
So I guess , if we go by your logic (politics), North Carolina is no longer Southern either because they voted for Obama too. And parts of the Deep South were Blue- even if not officially.
Virginia was part of the 11 States of The Confederacy. Thats good enough for me.
That Thread Should Read: 'Do you think Northern Virginia is Southern or Not" Because the rest of Virginia is Southern and always will be !!
No, you're right. You didn't say Virginia was southern like it was 40 or 50 years ago. BUT you did say WAS SOUTHERN, so any logical person would take that to mean before the present, which means anytime before now which would include 40 or 50 years ago. Although, i don't know what that time span has to do with anything.
If you would re-read my post, I stated that the state was following a political trend for nearly a DECADE not just the recent election. So anything to do with the past election would be included in the last DECADE, but not just limited to November 2008 alone.
Also about your comment of parts of the Deep South being-blue: parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and any other state in the NE were red, so what does that got to do with Virginia. Apples and oranges?
Also why are you telling me what the forum should be named. I didn't start that thread. You should address the original poster, not me.
You know you sound very similar to another poster(s), namely VASinger, monumentfloyd. You wouldn't happen to know him, Meade?
No, you're right. You didn't say Virginia was southern like it was 40 or 50 years ago. BUT you did say WAS SOUTHERN, so any logical person would take that to mean before the present, which means anytime before now which would include 40 or 50 years ago. Although, i don't know what that time time span has to do with anything.
If you would re-read my post, I stated that the state was following a political trend for nearly a DECADE not just the recent election. So anything to do with the past election would be included in the last DECADE.
Also why are you telling me what the forum should be named. I didn't start that thread. You should address the original poster, not me.
You know you sound very similar to another poster(s), namely VASinger, monumentfloyd. You wouldn't happen to know him, Meade?
Virginia was SOLID for GW in the 2000 election.n There have always been a few liberal spots here and there like in NOVA and Richmond. Largely do to influx of people from other places. However, until this past election, Virginia was a SOLID Red State. Same for NC.
Before Tim Cane, we had Republican Governers- Gilmore, Allen, etc. All Republicans.
And while yes, the Northeast is largely liberal, I still dont think that makes a place un-Southern. Because you have to go with the sweet tea factor. And I can get sweet tea in most all restaurants here in Richmond. How 'bout you?
Virginia was SOLID for GW in the 2000 election.n There have always been a few liberal spots here and there like in NOVA and Richmond. Largely do to influx of people from other places. However, until this past election, Virginia was a SOLID Red State. Same for NC.
Before Tim Cane, we had Republican Governers- Gilmore, Allen, etc. All Republicans.
And while yes, the Northeast is largely liberal, I still dont think that makes a place un-Southern. Because you have to go with the sweet tea factor. And I can get sweet tea in most all restaurants here in Richmond. How 'bout you?
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You really crack me up......WHO IS Tim Cane? I know who Tim KAINE is, but anyway. What does getting sweet tea have to do with anything. I can get sweet tea at McDonald's in Pennsylvania. SO WHAT?
Before you comment and start goin all over the place with RANDOM stuff (obviously you have no solid evidence against what I'm sayin) please make sure you know what you're talkin about..... FIRST i said Virginia has been following a political trend for NEARLY a decade which would be the 2000s, Allen was governor in the 90s, so was Gilmore. Did you forget about Mark Warner?
I know you've state this before Liberal and Democrat or not synomous just like Conservative and Republican. So why did you bring up the fact that parts of the Deep South went blue.... that's like sayin parts of Virginia went blue in 2000 and 2004, do you get what i'm sayin??
Again, I said Virginia was getting less southern each year. Now this is 2009. You said Virginia WAS solid red in 2000 and 2004. Now to go along with my statement of less southern each year. Was Virginia solid red in 2008....I DON"T THINK SO!!
Look Meade, you're probably a really nice guy and some of your post intrigue me, crack me up, and puzzle me. You seem a little extreme in some of your posts. Please calm down. Maybe you shouldn't drink sweet tea because you get too excited.
You really crack me up......WHO IS Tim Cane? I know who Tim KAINE is, but anyway. What does getting sweet tea have to do with anything. I can get sweet tea at McDonald's in Pennsylvania. SO WHAT?
Before you comment and start goin all over the place with RANDOM stuff (obviously you have no solid evidence against what I'm sayin) please make sure you know what you're talkin about..... FIRST i said Virginia has been following a political trend for NEARLY a decade which would be the 2000s, Allen was governor in the 90s, so was Gilmore. Did you forget about Mark Warner?
I know you've state this before Liberal and Democrat or not synomous just like Conservative and Republican. So why did you bring up the fact that parts of the Deep South went blue.... that's like sayin parts of Virginia went blue in 2000 and 2004, do you get what i'm sayin??
Again, I said Virginia was getting less southern each year. Now this is 2009. You said Virginia WAS solid red in 2000 and 2004. Now to go along with my statement of less southern each year. Was Virginia solid red in 2008....I DON"T THINK SO!!
Look Meade, you're probably a really nice guy and some of your post intrigue me, crack me up, and puzzle me. You seem a little extreme in some of your posts. Please calm down. Maybe you shouldn't drink sweet tea because you get too excited.
Im not sure who Meade is. And sweet tea in PA is only at McDonalds so that doesnt really count. I ordered one at a restaurant in Harrisburg and got a blank stare.. But I digress
Yes since Mark Warner, the Democrats have been controlling VA a little more. How does that make it less Southern? Look how liberal John Edwards is and hes from NC- and there are many liberal Southerners now.
What makes Virginia less southern in my mind today, is how people are saying "You Guys" (even for women) when 20 years ago that just wasnt done here in Richmond. But then again, this is how I see it- Virginia will always be a Southern state because she was part of the great Confederacy, and her legacy and history will never die. How "Southern" she is over time, is all relative to the rest of the Country. The Deep South is not as "Southern" as it was before either.
I dont think Virgina is less and less Southern each year. That is kind of an extreme . More like each decade.
Im not sure who Meade is. And sweet tea in PA is only at McDonalds so that doesnt really count. I ordered one at a restaurant in Harrisburg and got a blank stare.. But I digress
Yes since Mark Warner, the Democrats have been controlling VA a little more. How does that make it less Southern? Look how liberal John Edwards is and hes from NC- and there are many liberal Southerners now.
What makes Virginia less southern in my mind today, is how people are saying "You Guys" (even for women) when 20 years ago that just wasnt done here in Richmond. But then again, this is how I see it- Virginia will always be a Southern state because she was part of the great Confederacy, and her legacy and history will never die. How "Southern" she is over time, is all relative to the rest of the Country. The Deep South is not as "Southern" as it was before either.
I dont think Virgina is less and less Southern each year. That is kind of an extreme . More like each decade.
Young people say "you guys" all over America. Why that is the one thing you thought of to make Virginia less southern intrigues me.
Second, our discussion is about Virginia NOT North Carolina. So stop bringing them up. Everytime you do, you state some random fact that doesn't even dispute any of my statements.
Third, who cares if you got a blank stare in Harrisburg, PA when ordering sweet tea. They probably thought you look funny.
Fourth, now I know you're VAsinger and Meade Skelton, so don't front on me. You just happen to live in Richmond, be 27, respond in the EXACT same manner as VAsinger, blueva, monumentfloyd, "sweet tea flows thru veins" (sound familiar). The way you respond with random stuff irrevelant to what others post and your pure dislike of how "bland and vanilla" Northern Virginia is. (see your comments about students at George Mason, and i know you didn't exactly refer to NoVA in that thread, but in others you have).
Fifth, how does Democrats controlling the state more make it less southern? Well let's see....The South is know as a Republican haven and the Northeast as a Democratic haven, so if Virginia is trending more Democratic wouldn't it be moving away from Southern political characteristics to more a moderate political stance similar to Pennsylvania (since you like to compare other states *cough* North Carolina)
Sixth, so if the state becomes less southern every decade, wouldn't that include the annual decrease of southerness each year within that decade. I mean it doesn't just magically become less southern every start of each decade, does it?
Finally, let me ask you a question? Are you the same person you were 10 or 20 years ago even 30? I'm guessin not. So, that would mean you changed, evolved, matured (hopefully). Therefore, just because Virginia WAS in the confederacy doesn't mean it still in the Confederacy. Does the Confederacy exist today? NO!
Look, i'm not sayin VA is a northern state by any means. I'm sayin it's no longer a southern state, but a Mid-Atlantic state.
But i've said enough for tonite and for this post....This thread was intended the discuss the Hamptons Roads area, specifcally. Not the whole state of VA. We have gotten way off topic. Therefore, i'm ending my part of this discussion now and goin to bed. I've enjoyed debating with you, though.
Young people say "you guys" all over America. Why that is the one thing you thought of to make Virginia less southern intrigues me.
Second, our discussion is about Virginia NOT North Carolina. So stop bringing them up. Everytime you do, you state some random fact that doesn't even dispute any of my statements.
Third, who cares if you got a blank stare in Harrisburg, PA when ordering sweet tea. They probably thought you look funny.
Fourth, now I know you're VAsinger and Meade Skelton, so don't front on me. You just happen to live in Richmond, be 27, respond in the EXACT same manner as VAsinger, blueva, monumentfloyd, "sweet tea flows thru veins" (sound familiar). The way you respond with random stuff irrevelant to what others post and your pure dislike of how "bland and vanilla" Northern Virginia is. (see your comments about students at George Mason, and i know you didn't exactly refer to NoVA in that thread, but in others you have).
Fifth, how does Democrats controlling the state more make it less southern? Well let's see....The South is know as a Republican haven and the Northeast as a Democratic haven, so if Virginia is trending more Democratic wouldn't it be moving away from Southern political characteristics to more a moderate political stance similar to Pennsylvania (since you like to compare other states *cough* North Carolina)
Sixth, so if the state becomes less southern every decade, wouldn't that include the annual decrease of southerness each year within that decade. I mean it doesn't just magically become less southern every start of each decade, does it?
Finally, let me ask you a question? Are you the same person you were 10 or 20 years ago even 30? I'm guessin not. So, that would mean you changed, evolved, matured (hopefully). Therefore, just because Virginia WAS in the confederacy doesn't mean it still in the Confederacy. Does the Confederacy exist today? NO!
Look, i'm not sayin VA is a northern state by any means. I'm sayin it's no longer a southern state, but a Mid-Atlantic state.
But i've said enough for tonite and for this post....This thread was intended the discuss the Hamptons Roads area, specifcally. Not the whole state of VA. We have gotten way off topic. Therefore, i'm ending my part of this discussion now and goin to bed. I've enjoyed debating with you, though.
Why NC? Because it borders Virginia. Its close by. And being our neighbor to the South- it also shares a similar culture and history . You know how many NC transplants there are in Richmond? We are all but 75 miles from the NC line.
By your logic, if you are saying Virginia is less Southern because it went blue in 2008, then we could say NC too- because they also went blue, and they are our southern neighbors.
Anyways, Mid-Atlantic, yes geographically. We can still be both a Southern and Mid-Atlantic state. Kentucky can claim both Mid-West and South. so by nature we can too.
Using the last presidential election isn't a good way to judge Virginia's southernness, or lack thereof. There was an election in the late 70s where every southern state except for Virginia voted blue. So does that mean at that time Virginia was the only southern state? Of course not. The more highly populated areas of the state do dominate politics because, well because they're more populated. That doesn't mean the way the urban areas vote control the culture of the whole state. The black belt of Alabama and the Mississippi delta regions are all blue, as a large swath of counties from eastern Va to Eastern Texas. Why? Because of a high black population. That doesn't mean those areas are less southern, actually, culturally they're MORE southern. That's where the old plantation system existed and farming and forestry still continue. Anyways, a growing metropolitan area such as NOVA, Hampton Roads, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston are going to have a transient population, which may make them seem "less" southern, but all of these areas are still in the south. The Southern Appalachians of Eastern Tennesse and the low country of South Carolina are totally different in climate, culture, accents, industry and even the origins of the people that live there, but guess what...they're both southern. Not everywhere in the south is the exact same...
Using the last presidential election isn't a good way to judge Virginia's southernness, or lack thereof. There was an election in the late 70s where every southern state except for Virginia voted blue. So does that mean at that time Virginia was the only southern state? Of course not. The more highly populated areas of the state do dominate politics because, well because they're more populated. That doesn't mean the way the urban areas vote control the culture of the whole state. The black belt of Alabama and the Mississippi delta regions are all blue, as a large swath of counties from eastern Va to Eastern Texas. Why? Because of a high black population. That doesn't mean those areas are less southern, actually, culturally they're MORE southern. That's where the old plantation system existed and farming and forestry still continue. Anyways, a growing metropolitan area such as NOVA, Hampton Roads, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston are going to have a transient population, which may make them seem "less" southern, but all of these areas are still in the south. The Southern Appalachians of Eastern Tennesse and the low country of South Carolina are totally different in climate, culture, accents, industry and even the origins of the people that live there, but guess what...they're both southern. Not everywhere in the south is the exact same...
Since you were referring to my posts, I'll take the time to respond back.
Yes, i did the reference the 2008 Election as part of a TREND that Virginia has been following for nearly a DECADE. So of course, just viewing the past election alone is not sufficient enough to justify my argument for being less southern BUT if you would go back and re-read everything i posted, then you would have saw that since the early 2000s, Virginia has elected 2 Democratic governors, Democrats have taken over the Virginia senate, we've elected nationally a Democratic president (yes i know we re-elected Bush in 2004), and 2 Democratic senators. Going along with that, as previously written, if the South is a Republican haven and the Northeast is a Democratic haven and Virginia is trending more Democratic for nearly the past decade, does it still hold Southern political characteristics?
Also, the Democrats in our state government, don't just come from the urban areas, but also the rural areas as well. So they represent coming from various areas across the state.
Next argument, of course politics alone don't represent a state's culture. If we were to analyze the state of Virginia on other areas such as:
Climate: Virginia is divided into 2 climates one being humind subtropical: majority of state of the state east of the Blue Ridge Mtns. (Note: The humid subtropical runs into NJ and NYC, as well) The other being humid continental (west of the Blue Ridge Mtns and charecteristic of majority of the Northern U.S)
Economy: Virginia is well diversed in its economy with contributions from government, manufacutring, military, tourism, and agricultural. (The Southern states dominant economy is based on agricultural NOT Virginia's with only 20% of its workers in that field)
Lifestyle: I will admit major urban areas in Virginia are not as fast-paced as cities such as NYC, Philly, Boston, but at the same time not as slow-paced (exception: Richmond) as places in the South such as Savannah, Charleston, Nashville, Montgomery). Rural Virginia can be compared to a rural area in any area of the country. It's basically the same.
Location: Look at a map, Virginia is very close to the NE, therefore, is influenced a lot more by the NE than the South. We are a lot closer to NYC than Atlanta (as cities with major influences)
Dialect: Most older Virginians have accents, most younger Virginians don't. As older Virginians die out, younger Virginians are becoming majority. Nuff said.
Now I'm not saying Virginia doesn't have its southern influences such as food and history, but it has more in common with the Mid-Atlantic states now: Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia (possibly PA) than FL, GA, SC, and NC.
But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and beliefs. So you do you and I'm gonna do me.
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Virginia becomes less southern every year. Just look at that past political trend that the state has been following for almost a decade. The demographics in this state are changing rapidly. Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are dominating state politics and culture. As the older generation is dying off, a younger generation is or will eventually take their place. The younger generation is more liberal, progressive, as past election statistics have shown. So to say Virginia will always be southern is a load of ****. 
Therefore, when people have different opinions on certain issues, they are goin to try to change the opposing sides mind or at least try to prove their point. Besides, new posters join this forum everyday. Therefore, new ideas/perspectives to add. It's what makes this forum interesting and entertaining. But i'm not going to debate with you, anymore, on this particular thread on whether Virginia is southern or not. They already created one, "Do You think Virginia is part of the South?" under the Northern Virginia forum.
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