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Yes, it reflects why it's dry in my town and county every Sunday. And also why bars that sell mainly alcoholic drinks aren't allowed to open on Sunday. What a highly strange and backward experience it must be to out of state visitors when they try to order a drink in a restaurant on a Sunday while visiting my town.
Another example of how this is not limited to "Middle America" is Massachusetts, the state where the OP has just moved from. Though state law allows bars to stay open until 2AM, many towns require them to close at 1:00. There are dry towns here in MA--I grew up in a town that was dry until a year or two ago--and, aside from some special circumstances, Sunday sales at liquor stores were illegal until 2004. Even now, liquor stores in MA close earlier than they do in some states, with sales at liquor stores not allowed after 11:00PM. And that's every night of the week, not just Sunday.
It has also been only in the past few years that you've begun to see wine sold in grocery stores in MA. I'm pretty sure they still don't sell beer in grocery stores. Even in the case of wine, if I've got this right, when they first started selling wine in grocery stores it was due to a loophole, where a store could have a separate wine section with its own cash register, so it was sort of like its own little liquor store within, but distinct from, the main grocery store. Not sure whether this is still the case, but I believe that's the only way they started selling even wine in grocery stores here. It came as a bit of a surprise to me, after growing up in the Boston area, to go to college in Ohio, which I'll have to admit that I assumed going in would be more "conservative" in every possible way than MA, and find that they sold beer and wine in grocery stores and convenience stores, that you could buy beer and wine in these stores as late as 1AM, and that they even had drive-through beer and wine package stores. So much for the universally more "conservative" Midwest.
At least I learned from that experience and others. Now I realize that every state and sub-region has its own personality. You can find a mix of restrictive and more lenient laws in every state. It just varies from state to state which laws are more restrictive and which more lenient, depending on the personality peculiar to each state or region.
Well one state that is Middle America that has few liquor restrictions relative to other states is Missouri. From what I can remember there is no laws that are based on percentage of alcohol so any place that can sell alcohol can sell any type of it. Though not too suprsing considering the larger impact makers of alcoholic beverages have in the state's economy. This seems to override the fact that there are large percentages of Evangelicals in Missouri that would normally lead you to think stronger restrictions.
The USA is probably one of the only countries in the world where I see alot of arguements about sectionalism. I'm sure most people in both the "blue" places and "red" places are not what they're stereotyped to be. I know there's people in the places that do fit the stereotypes but there's plenty that fit the complete opposite of the stereotypes too. We're all part of the USA, and the only thing that I know that's completley true about both the "blue" places and "red" is that it's American.
"United we stand, Divided we fall"
The real problem with America is that there's only 2 political parties, that's only one more than Communist China. Many other countries have at least 4, some have 6, and there's a few that even have at least 8! So they don't blame everything on their "opposite political party" like Americans do because they have enough partys so none of them really have an opposite.
The USA is probably one of the only countries in the world where I see alot of arguements about sectionalism. I'm sure most people in both the "blue" places and "red" places are not what they're stereotyped to be. I know there's people in the places that do fit the stereotypes but there's plenty that fit the complete opposite of the stereotypes too. We're all part of the USA, and the only thing that I know that's completley true about both the "blue" places and "red" is that it's American.
"United we stand, Divided we fall"
The real problem with America is that there's only 2 political parties, that's only one more than Communist China. Many other countries have at least 4, some have 6, and there's a few that even have at least 8! So they don't blame everything on their "opposite political party" like Americans do because they have enough partys so none of them really have an opposite.
I agree with you regarding the political parties problem. Here in Europe most countries have 3-4 major parties.
Dallas Texas Liberal here, dismayed an lmkcin's terrible post of hateful stereotypes and lies about Middle America, and also dismayed that many people have, as Katiana has pointed out, taken the ramblings of one jerk (and is lmkcin ever a jerk!) and attributed it to the whole of liberals in America.
Sigh.
I'm not going to carry this over to ALL liberals, but from the basis of the ways they act, some assumptions might be made.
If you start stereotyping people and talking like this guy here, sure I'm going to assume you're about as bright as Imkcin, but I'm not going to attach it to intelligent people.
SURE-our Liberal Congressmen seem like their personalities would fit Imkcins (and Imkcin, please don't run for a political office you'll be our next Sarah Palin...) but I don't let it carry over unless I have reason to, which, if they talked to me about how Middle American is evil because they saw a billboard against ""ObamaCare" (sick of ppl calling it this), I might...
but feel safe, that 1 person in the world won't stereotype you, Dallas Texas Liberal
Last edited by Kings Ranger; 09-10-2010 at 07:54 AM..
I am so happy to know I am not the only one who feels this way. I recently vacationed in both Texas and Oklahoma and they were nice and friendly UNTIL they found out I was from California. They immediately acted as if I was below them and was going to hell for being liberal. I myself will never live anywhere in those states or anywhere else in middle America. That is unexcusable.
Sorry, was reading through the whole forum thread, looking for mine, figured I'd comment, rep etc...
What I dislike the most about the Midwest and "Middle America" is the odd social culture that makes it quite difficult for outsiders to fit in. The reality of early marriage and divorce in the Midwest leads to a lot of baggage issues and inherent social problems for those that are single. I just don't understand why people can't just wait until they are a bit older if they want to go the marriage route. This topic was discussed on a Seattle forum as well...
What I dislike the most about the Midwest and "Middle America" is the odd social culture that makes it quite difficult for outsiders to fit in. The reality of early marriage and divorce in the Midwest leads to a lot of baggage issues and inherent social problems for those that are single. I just don't understand why people can't just wait until they are a bit older if they want to go the marriage route. This topic was discussed on a Seattle forum as well...
Absolutely true. The women in my age bracket in the KC area are mostly head cases, at least those that are single or divorced. I won't touch them with a ten foot pole. Some of the single 20 somethings or at least those that have not already been married and divorced seem to possess better mental health than women in their mid to late 30's and older that are divorced or single.
Another example of how this is not limited to "Middle America" is Massachusetts, the state where the OP has just moved from.
Hey! Isn't MA virtually all white outside of Boston city?
Vermont, Maine, Washington, Oregon: What do all these states have in common?
1) People who hate "middle America" love them.
2) They're as white as a lily.
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