[Johnhw2]

Op I heard Chicago is very progressive you might love it there.

[explorearkansas]

I have lived a few years, experienced a few states. As I research my retirement haven. Arkansas is #1 on the list. I hate diversity and progressiveness as today's culture defines it. I crave a natural lifestyle with all the real struggles of life. I seek real relationships based on ethical and moral reality, not the BS society spews thru media.

[SMSweeney]

Yeah, I lived in the Ozarks, land of my people.
Left because I couldn't find a decent job.
Plenty of nice folks there, of all political persuasions.
Had to "agree to disagree" with some.
Funny, way out in the backwoods, were some extremely liberal and even radical families.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"Hmmm, and what is your definition of "progressive"?".....everyone probably has their own interpretation of "progressive", and mine would be the opposite of conservative.....which by any definition, Arkansas is.

LGBT in AR and expecting respect/rights.... you should probably seek it elsewhere.

Most conservative states in Congress, AR up near the top.

One of the three poorest states. A state will not improve their ranking in this category without spending money. Spending means change and is not something conservatives (by definition) willingly embrace. As shown below, there looks to be multiple major spending opportunities.

AR is ranked 50th (last) out of the 50 states in Healthcare, 39th in education, 48th in crime, 45th in infrastructure, 47th in opportunity, 39th in economy, 48th in gender equality, 41st in employment.

Any one of the above categories could be enough to cause an individual to seek greener pastures elsewhere, but taken in it's entirety, it would cause me to wonder just how progressive the residents (state wide) really are....after all, it is they who vote conservatives into office.

As stated above, AR is a state of great natural beauty, loaded with nice people, a moderate climate....however progressive is not something that would pop into my mind when touting the many attributes of AR.

As a side note, after migrating to AR from liberal CA in the mid 70's, I somewhat reluctantly migrated out in the early 80's for several reasons, employment opportunities, education for my kids, and the search for a more liberal location that better suited our lifestyle. You see, for those not around the Ozarks in the 70's, it was a very clannish environment, extremely religious (Baptist), extremely racially bigoted, of which we were none....in a nutshell, we just didn't fit in.

Regards
Gemstone1

and things have changed or at least here in NWA> yes, it is more conservative than many regions of the country, but not so influenced by the Bible right as years ago. Also not clannish at all. I don't know about some other areas. We are not at all racially bigoted and the education in public schools is improving as the years go by. It is interesting, the more conservative it becomes when related to our elected officials the more accepting of others we have become. I know it doesn't make sense but it is the case. When you lived here all the representatives, state and otherwise were Dem, now they are all Republicans.

to the OP, sorry you felt the need to leave our state, but no place is right for everyone. I am thinking, many who dwell o things like sexual orientation have a chip on their shoulder or are expecting too much We have to reach a happy middle ground. BTW, no woman who is actually raped needs permission from the rapist if she presses charges to have an abortion.

[SWIBC]

Originally Posted by Sarahsez

It appears you didn't do your homework before you moved to Arkansas. It also appears that you didn't try real hard to make friends while you were there. Fayetteville is one of the more progressive parts of the states. My observation has been that people there are relatively accepting of others even if their beliefs are different.

Some of us did move from Arkansas, but not for any of the reasons you listed. Arkansas has a brain drain problem because there are relatively few jobs available. Arkansas didn't attract enough jobs when they were more readily available. There are much better opportunities available elsewhere. Those of us who left still love the state.

She probably should have moved to Eureka Springs, if Fayetteville was not progressive enough.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by SWIBC

She probably should have moved to Eureka Springs, if Fayetteville was not progressive enough.

my thoughts as well. I think she just wanted something totally different or someone or something ticked her off and she decided all of AR was a bad place to live. Maybe she just needed a bigger metro area.

[Luvvarkansas]

LOL, my mom's "cabin neighbors" were from Michigan. They're still in Arkansas.

[1Desertrose]

Originally Posted by AnimeKing5

I was wondering has anyone else moved out of Arkansas.

I would LOVE to move out of Arkansas. I'm not sure what state I would like. Probably Montana or Idaho for the northern part.
Maybe Tennessee or Kentucky for the southern part.
I live in the N.C part of Arkansas. It's fairly quiet, love the scenery but not a lot of the people. Many are thieves and crooked. But then I guess they have that everywhere. Meth too.
If you are on S.S.I., or low income I would not move here.
My daughter has diabetes and several other health problems and they will most likely kick her off it because the doctors do not want to document anything here.
We need to find a state with good doctors that actually are good. And do their jobs right.
Doctors suck here.
The N.W. part of AR. is okay as far as doctors and things to do. But it is also changing....fast.
There is a lot of prejudice here too. So if you are not white, I would not recommend it either.
Mountain Home is a pretty good place if you like it quiet without all the big city rush. A lot of Floridians seem to be relocating there. I like Mountain Home okay.
But I still rather move out of this state.
Any ideas people have of good reasonable states would be helpful.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by 1Desertrose

I would LOVE to move out of Arkansas. I'm not sure what state I would like. Probably Montana or Idaho for the northern part.
Maybe Tennessee or Kentucky for the southern part.
I live in the N.C part of Arkansas. It's fairly quiet, love the scenery but not a lot of the people. Many are thieves and crooked. But then I guess they have that everywhere. Meth too.
If you are on S.S.I., or low income I would not move here.
My daughter has diabetes and several other health problems and they will most likely kick her off it because the doctors do not want to document anything here.
We need to find a state with good doctors that actually are good. And do their jobs right.
Doctors suck here.
The N.W. part of AR. is okay as far as doctors and things to do. But it is also changing....fast.
There is a lot of prejudice here too. So if you are not white, I would not recommend it either.
Mountain Home is a pretty good place if you like it quiet without all the big city rush. A lot of Floridians seem to be relocating there. I like Mountain Home okay.
But I still rather move out of this state.
Any ideas people have of good reasonable states would be helpful.

I doubt very seriously Montana or Idaho would be for you. They do not have a really low cost of living which you seem to be needing and they are very conservative states. What do you mean about doctors that do their jobs right? Do you know more about medicine than they do?
You say, NWA is changing, in what way? They are growing, that is for sure but I don't know what you mean by changing?

Who is going to kick your daughter off of what? Doctors don't want to document what?

I do not know about Mountain Home but we have a very low crime rate in NWA.

KY and Tn are going to be similar to AR as far as I know. You will have some people who are prejudice no matter where you live.

As for asking others where to live, you need to first decide what you really want and if you can find employment in a state you might think is better or at least if you are employed you need to consider jobs.

Nita

[Hollynla]

Originally Posted by 1Desertrose

I would LOVE to move out of Arkansas. I'm not sure what state I would like. Probably Montana or Idaho for the northern part.
Maybe Tennessee or Kentucky for the southern part.
I live in the N.C part of Arkansas. It's fairly quiet, love the scenery but not a lot of the people. Many are thieves and crooked. But then I guess they have that everywhere. Meth too.
If you are on S.S.I., or low income I would not move here.
My daughter has diabetes and several other health problems and they will most likely kick her off it because the doctors do not want to document anything here.
We need to find a state with good doctors that actually are good. And do their jobs right.
Doctors suck here.
The N.W. part of AR. is okay as far as doctors and things to do. But it is also changing....fast.
There is a lot of prejudice here too. So if you are not white, I would not recommend it either.
Mountain Home is a pretty good place if you like it quiet without all the big city rush. A lot of Floridians seem to be relocating there. I like Mountain Home okay.
But I still rather move out of this state.
Any ideas people have of good reasonable states would be helpful.

I bolded that part that really makes no sense. Do you think Arkansas has a high cost of living? I'm going to guess that you have never lived elsewhere.