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The recent thread on federal vs state vs local citizenship prompted me to post something that I have felt for a long time.
I currently live in the Toledo, Ohio area and have lived in Michigan or Ohio my entire life. I identify, first and foremost, with the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Region. This includes parts of eight U.S. states and parts of two Canadian provinces.
I feel strongly connected, culturally and economically, within this region, regardless of national boundary, and less so with other parts of the U.S. For example, I am more likely to purchase a product made in Ontario than one made in Texas. I am more concerned about a disaster, or major news event, in Ontario or Quebec than one in California or Florida.
Does anyone else feel stronger ties to their region than to nation? I am especially curious to hear what others that live near a national border think.
HIGHER. Absolutely higher. I love and identify with the West Coast states. I have more in common with Canada than I do the South. The South absolutely detest my part of the country. The South spends endless hours on Facebook creating hate posts about "Leftists". Why should I ever ever ever care about people like that? I pay more taxes than probably 90% of them. I would be extremely happy if this country regionalized I could just be done with them. They hate me and the feeling is mutual.
I'm more nationalistic than regionalistic as I mentioned in that other thread I enjoy moving around to different areas a lot due to having been raised in a military family. Life's too short to live it in one place. I eventually will likely take that attitude to ex-pat status and live overseas again as well.
I used to live in Ohio as well...would not go back there though heh.
HIGHER. Absolutely higher. I love and identify with the West Coast states. I have more in common with Canada than I do the South. The South absolutely detest my part of the country. The South spends endless hours on Facebook creating hate posts about "Leftists". Why should I ever ever ever care about people like that? I pay more taxes than probably 90% of them. I would be extremely happy if this country regionalized I could just be done with them. They hate me and the feeling is mutual.
No region is monolithic. There are hardcore liberals in the South too, albeit on blue urban islands in red seas, just like you can find rednecks in rural California or Washington State.
HIGHER. Absolutely higher. I love and identify with the West Coast states. I have more in common with Canada than I do the South. The South absolutely detest my part of the country. The South spends endless hours on Facebook creating hate posts about "Leftists". Why should I ever ever ever care about people like that? I pay more taxes than probably 90% of them. I would be extremely happy if this country regionalized I could just be done with them. They hate me and the feeling is mutual.
Oh, come on. There are liberals in the south, just like there are conservatives on the west coast. The proportions may not be the same, but they do exist. I was not raised in the south, but I am originally from the Midwest - Missouri - and I suspect you have equal disdain for everyone there.
Your generalizations are ugly and uncalled for, and I say that as a fellow liberal. I don't hate you - I suspect we agree on many matters of policy - but I do hate what you are saying right now.
The country won't be splitting up anytime soon, so the only hope we have is to bring more people on board with the things we want to accomplish. For me, that would be UHC, higher minimum wage, and similar things, as well as a serious toning down of angry, anti-"other" rhetoric. The thing is, when you speak so disparagingly of so many people, based solely on where they live, you alienate potential allies: blue-collar workers in what you probably consider useless flyover country. It doesn't help, and if I was one of those people sitting on the fence about how to vote, your attitude would probably turn me red as a fire truck.
HIGHER. Absolutely higher. I love and identify with the West Coast states. I have more in common with Canada than I do the South. The South absolutely detest my part of the country. The South spends endless hours on Facebook creating hate posts about "Leftists". Why should I ever ever ever care about people like that? I pay more taxes than probably 90% of them. I would be extremely happy if this country regionalized I could just be done with them. They hate me and the feeling is mutual.
Stupidest post I have seen on here. There are more hard core liberals in places like Austin,Miami,Atlanta, Chapel hill,Alexandria,charlottesville , Raleigh ,Asheville etc than there are in most of rural northern California,Washington and Oregon. People in Washington dont like the politics of seattle and same with Oregon and portland. Its a sea of red surrounding a few blue counties
Ever heard of the proposed state of jefferson?
People just dont ever travel unless its to some place like vegas or the Caribbean on vacation, so yes I would say alot of people are regionalists just from lack of education,travel and life experience
The recent thread on federal vs state vs local citizenship prompted me to post something that I have felt for a long time.
I currently live in the Toledo, Ohio area and have lived in Michigan or Ohio my entire life. I identify, first and foremost, with the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Region. This includes parts of eight U.S. states and parts of two Canadian provinces.
I feel strongly connected, culturally and economically, within this region, regardless of national boundary, and less so with other parts of the U.S. For example, I am more likely to purchase a product made in Ontario than one made in Texas. I am more concerned about a disaster, or major news event, in Ontario or Quebec than one in California or Florida.
Does anyone else feel stronger ties to their region than to nation? I am especially curious to hear what others that live near a national border think.
What products do you buy made in Ontario and you are more interested in news events in Quebec than California or Florida? That sounds bizarre to me, even most Anglo Canadians arent all that chummy with French speaking Canadians in Quebec
What products do you buy made in Ontario and you are more interested in news events in Quebec than California or Florida? That sounds bizarre to me, even most Anglo Canadians arent all that chummy with French speaking Canadians in Quebec
Oh, come on. There are liberals in the south, just like there are conservatives on the west coast. The proportions may not be the same, but they do exist. I was not raised in the south, but I am originally from the Midwest - Missouri - and I suspect you have equal disdain for everyone there.
Your generalizations are ugly and uncalled for, and I say that as a fellow liberal. I don't hate you - I suspect we agree on many matters of policy - but I do hate what you are saying right now.
The country won't be splitting up anytime soon, so the only hope we have is to bring more people on board with the things we want to accomplish. For me, that would be UHC, higher minimum wage, and similar things, as well as a serious toning down of angry, anti-"other" rhetoric. The thing is, when you speak so disparagingly of so many people, based solely on where they live, you alienate potential allies: blue-collar workers in what you probably consider useless flyover country. It doesn't help, and if I was one of those people sitting on the fence about how to vote, your attitude would probably turn me red as a fire truck.
Take a look at all the hateful Facebook posts coming from the South. They hate hate hate liberals with fire. Truly. I answered the OP's question honestly. I identify with my region far more than the nation as a whole because their are large sections of the nation that detest me and my part of the country.
While the country may not "split" in a literal sense, I do see the country splitting in a less clear way. I could see fewer Southerners hired by West Coast companies, I could see less support for rural areas where tax money is spent, etc. Philosophically, conservatives declared a sort of war on liberals and liberals just need to pull away from them in all the ways that is possible. There is no unity and to pretend otherwise is a waste of time and energy.
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