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whole other topic of discussion but abortion is currently legal.
So was slavery
Quote:
Originally Posted by newbie22
sorry to use the word marriage, call it whatever you want if people have 100% equal rights and protection under the law. according to your stance I would assume you support no legal marriage? married people get no tax breaks, insurance from a spouse, etc etc?? People can marry as many people as they want? non-religious people can't marry ??
No... Marriage would be a church thing.
Gov't has NO business in the religious institution.
By doing some paperwork you can do everything (Legal issue wise) a 'married couple' can.
I know, I helped some lesbian friends of mine square it away.
My generalized suggestions of which I think fit your three basic criteria:
Assorted towns in upstate New York
Vermont
Washington or Oregon
If you went in one of those general directions, you'd probably be served well enough by what you find. Might also check into ecovillages, if that is your kind of thing. There are many of these intentional communities all over the country.
Upstate NY has much cheap land, as does Vermont, provided you know how to do good land searches online. I've found much cheap stuff there.
Washington and Oregon, on the other hand, not familiar at all with that market, but it should fit your other two criteria (Politics, and also, the permaculture and homesteading movement is pretty big there. I see tons of permaculture stuff written about [and YouTube videos, also, from the guys that went there to do it] from various parts of Washington).
I'd tell ya about Floyd but Mother Earth already wrote about us a couple of issues back.
ha yes very sorry for you folks. I have actually read alot about floyd.......are there alot of kids there??? it seems like a great place that won't blow up due to location?
Gov't has NO business in the religious institution.
By doing some paperwork you can do everything (Legal issue wise) a 'married couple' can.
I know, I helped some lesbian friends of mine square it away.
not sure what state you live in but that is 100% false.......sam sex couples do not have the same rights as hetro couples.......if they did do you think their would be such a movement?????
My generalized suggestions of which I think fit your three basic criteria:
Assorted towns in upstate New York
Vermont
Washington or Oregon
If you went in one of those general directions, you'd probably be served well enough by what you find. Might also check into ecovillages, if that is your kind of thing. There are many of these intentional communities all over the country.
Upstate NY has much cheap land, as does Vermont, provided you know how to do good land searches online. I've found much cheap stuff there.
Washington and Oregon, on the other hand, not familiar at all with that market, but it should fit your other two criteria (Politics, and also, the permaculture and homesteading movement is pretty big there. I see tons of permaculture stuff written about [and YouTube videos, also, from the guys that went there to do it] from various parts of Washington).
the weird thing about ecovillages to me (other than it amazes me how say 100 humans coexist without major conflict....it seems to to go against human psychology) is the high expense to get into an ecovillage....the ones i looked at are like 20k buy ins for a home site and full membership and membership is per adult person not a family.
the weird thing about ecovillages to me (other than it amazes me how say 100 humans coexist without major conflict....it seems to to go against human psychology) is the high expense to get into an ecovillage....the ones i looked at are like 20k buy ins for a home site and full membership and membership is per adult person not a family.
Yes, that's true, many of them are expensive (though obviously that relative to how much money one has. A lot of them are a little too rich for my blood). Also, the observation about co-habitation and conflict is pretty much right on. A lot of these kinds of places could have stories written about them regarding the drama and little internal politicking power struggles that go on.... and that's beside the little interpersonal dramas that sometimes arise where people sometimes just don't get along with certain others for the usual reasons.
Generally, the bigger (and richer) ecovillages (I kind of label them disparagingly, "yuppie villages") tend to be spared a fair amount of that personal rivalry issues, because the communities are a bit bigger in size, and the social interaction is not quite as tight and regimented. Some of the bigger ecovillages are more like a fancy condominium complex for permaculture enthusiasts, rather than an old fashioned style 60's back-to-the-land commune. However the smaller and cheaper ecovillages (I've ran across a few) tend to more resemble "communes" (a term more popular in the 60's and 70's than today), tends to get a lot of that stuff... because it's like the same 10 or 15 people, all working together regularly... and naturally, though they get very close in some respects... they also tend to get on each others nerves. And of course again, the internal politicking issues.... people are not always happy with the Chieftan and nitpick everything they do.... or sometimes the Chieftan just gets a little too power hungry and starts aggravating everyone, dictating more and more stuff.
The smaller communes and ecovillages ("intentional community" seems to be the preferred term nowadays, even though some of them still accept the commune label) tend to be much less expensive (sometimes costing no money... you just have to cooperate with the farming and other tasks, in exchange for housing, food, and sometimes even group medical care).
But anyway, that option is likely outside the scope of what you were looking for. Still worth mentioning, though, just in case anyone of like mind every comes along in the future in reads the thread... maybe they will be interested in such an arrangement.
Last edited by FreedomThroughAnarchism; 09-13-2011 at 02:47 PM..
ha yes very sorry for you folks. I have actually read alot about floyd.......are there alot of kids there??? it seems like a great place that won't blow up due to location?
Well, the whole county has about 15,000 people (and 40,000 cows, 100,000 commercial x-mas trees) and ONE traffic light. There are 4 elementary schools and one high school (9th - 12th). I think the HS has about 400 or so students. There is one alternative school with around 50 kids from age three through 8th grade and a substantial number of kids who are home schooled, mostly in very conservative religious families.
We have a weekly newspaper that is 20 pages, strictly local news items, school lunch menu is generally on page 2. The second section is local school sports, religious stuff and classified for the most part.
It is a great place - although I must admit I recently saw a bumper sticker that said:
Floyd, it was great while it lasted.
I've been here since Jan of 06 when I retired. Quite a few families have been here for 5, 6, even 7 generations and many roads are named based on who lived there when things went from just Route numbers to named roads. I've been told that only about half the roads are paved, the rest are dirt/gravel and reasonably well maintained but it doesn't hurt to have 4 wheel drive in snow and mud weather or if you have to drive through a small creek to get to someone's home.
It sure is growing as a tourist destination and on Friday evenings - especially in the warmer months there may be 12 to 15 cars waiting at the traffic light (NO turns on red in any direction). The music scene continues to grow and this year FloydFest was a sell out crowd of 14,000 on Friday and Saturday. The Blue Ridge Parkway forms the southern boundary of the county and so is a popular area for general tourism and especially motorcycle and bicycle riders who often come up to town for a meal and a break.
There have been several meth labs busted in recent months so I suppose the place could "blow up" in a manner of speaking, but constant major crime is not a big issue here. According to the police report in the paper there are a lot of instances of public intoxication, public swearing, petty theft and bad check writing.
All the big box stores are available in Christiansburg, about 25 miles north and Blacksburg, home to Virginia Tech, is just north of that. Nearest commercial airport is Roanoke Regional, about an hour or so from the center of Floyd.
How about a mechanic who makes a house call the day after Thanksgiving since his shop was officially closed but he didn't want me to be stranded for the next three days? I think it was about two weeks later that I remembered to stop by the shop and pay my bill because he hadn't left an invoice, had even made it up until I went in to pay.
It is a poor, rural place and most working farms have at least one member of the family who works a job somewhere else and then comes home to all the farm work too.
There is a lot of locally grown, organic food, including meats and dairy available here and a growing number of people involved in sustainability issues and concerns.
I've been involved in a couple of livestock round -ups on the main east/west road - once it was cattle who had escaped and everyone who came along simply got out of their vehicles and helped the farmer and his dog until all the critters were safely back inside their pasture. Same thing one cold December night when it was several horses who had escaped. It's just considered the neighborly thing to do in these parts.
The only change I'd love to see is a local Chinese restaurant, even just a tiny one that was take out orders only (I came here from Oakland, CA and had half a dozen to choose from with a couple of miles of home).
not sure what state you live in but that is 100% false.......sam sex couples do not have the same rights as hetro couples.......if they did do you think their would be such a movement?????
Guess again.
Power of Attorney, Living will, etc.
It takes a small stack of papers to cover what a marriage licenses will, but it can be done.
You can even do adoptions, and dependant paperwork to cover the unusual stuff if you really want to.
As to 'why there is the movement'
Same reason such a small % of the populace has such a loud voice...
You should try Silver City, NM. 10-15,000 people, close to 3 million acres of Gila National Forest, close to mountains etc. The town has a co-op and is a mix of retirees, ranchers, "progressives" (whatever that is).
Unfortunately, the town has been "californialized". You can expect to pay in the $100+K just for land (land you can grow food on, that is).
I've explored the possiblities of what the OP is looking for and completely understand the yearning for that. But in reality, what it comes down to, to me is this:
Do you still need a job? Or are you retired or in some other way having a stream of income provided that will "come to you" wherever you are located? Do you have a viable work-at-home business established? What about health insurance? Or, are you already secure financially? Do you have cash saved to purchase a property such as you are seeking outright, or will you need to quality for a mortgage loan and make payments? Working for a bank, I know that mortgage and loan qualifications are tighter than ever.
The reason I'm asking is that there are a number of "catch-22's" I have run into in my own quest for similar rural peace and tranquility. The first is that many of the areas where rural homes and properties are affordable, such as SC, NC, TN, are NOT progressive areas overall. The so-called progressive areas tend to be the "transplant" or "retiree" areas, and therefore, not the most affordable. Also, in large part the affordability factor is due to the prevelance of low incomes and low job opportunities in those rural areas. These are also some of the hardest hit areas in this recession economically due to the loss of manufacturing jobs over the past decade or two. The old, "Mayberry" type towns are dying, unfortunately.
.
That being said, there are rural areas that are more progressive, in places such as Montana, where I lived for awhile, and Idaho. But you will not find rural properties very affordable there - that lifestyle is reserved for, again, those with already established income streams that are not dependant on close proximity to gainful employment.
The best solution may be, as someone else here mentioned, to try to purchase a "back to the land" property as a second home, while continuing to live modestly where you can realistically make a living until you don't need to work anymore. This is what I have decided to work towards. I also have children who are becoming young adults, and realistically, they are never going to make it in a rural and remote area, so that is another factor to think about if you have children.
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