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I am an organic farmer in Southern Maine, I live about 20 miles North of Bangor, so clearly in the Southern half of the state. This is an area where you can work a large garden, sell your produce at a roadside farmers market and earn just enough to support a family.
This is an area where farming is not very regulated. This state has 'Food Sovereignty' laws, if you grow carrots you have the right to sell your carrots on your property. It was not always like this, there was a time when some towns had raised their taxes far too high such that they hired these self-important 'health inspectors'. The health inspectors tried to fine farmers for selling farm produce on their farms. It all stemmed from towns having raised their taxes too high.
I would never want to live in any town that was so flush with tax funding that they hire inspectors to ruin your lifestyle.
Maine has a long history of liberal minded farmers. In 1970 a group of hippy communes formed a network who originated 'Certified Organic', called MOFGA [Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assoc] https://www.mofga.org/. I am an active member of MOFGA.
Simple...leave politics out of any discussions and no one will ever know you are "left of center". Try to keep your "left of center" opinions private, and for God's sake, don't be a Woke Scold or act like a SJW if/when they voice opinions you disagree with. You'll find there are good people in all rural areas (yes, even conservatives). We like others to "stay out of our business", as do you.
Agreed. I am left of center, cradle Democrat, adult Progressive. I moved to Alabama from the West Coast. NO WAY do I discuss politics with people here (except my housemate who is on the same page).
I like people. I make friendly acquaintances easily. I know that 98% of the people I come in contact with in general, in the neighborhood, and at church are violently opposed to who I am which kinda makes me laugh. I like these people - a lot. I see their good points. They see mine. I know that a few of them suspect I'm an "evil Democrat" but they wouldn't dare bring it up!
I prefer to let them see me as a person, who is nice, who doesn't gossip, who is live and let live, doesn't preach, doesn't proselytize, doesn't try to get someone to come to my point of view. I do this with politics AND religion. It's none of my business. I wasn't trained in debate, and even that is futile. Viewpoints are emotional, not rational. Especially nowadays.
I support candidates I believe in, in various ways, and that's nobody's business but my own. I have neighbors with Confederate flags. Do I like that? No. Do I scowl at them or let them know my displeasure/sadness? No. I feel sorry that they feel the way they do, but there's nothing to be done about it.
There will always be problems with people in your sphere. I lived in rural New Mexico for 18 months. That was a whole other ball of wax. It was Democratic but it was racist against whites. The women especially did not like me. I got to understand how it feels to be the odd one out who is despised. I highly recommend it. I made friends with those women in the store, the laundromat. I kinda forced them to like me because I related to them on their level. I left because it was just too rural for my needs but I really miss it, even though I was and would always be an outsider.
TL/DR: Don't let people know your politics if you know you're in the minority. It really isn't as big a compromise as you think. And always take the diplomatic high road in any case.
One other thing: It's a well-known fact that metropolis areas are more liberal. Rural areas are more conservative. I believe it's best to make good relationships with people who believe differently than us. That would certainly be necessary in a rural area. I just think it's futile to believe that one can find predominant left leaning or liberalism in a rural area. Somebody clue me if it exists. Maybe in the NE? I wouldn't live there; too cold and snowy.
Maybe Truth or Consequences, New Mexico? I've heard that it's really counter culture there but it's probably not good for farming. It would be great as a ranch, but probably not a good water source or trees.
Last edited by pathrunner; 05-09-2021 at 05:02 PM..
Women in her state had the right to vote already!
THEY voted for her
Duh
Federal law was not needed
You may not understand this, but there were not a lot of females in frontier states. In order for females to get the right to vote, men that did have that right had to vote to extend those rights to females, which they did, 53 to 47% in November, 2014.
In 1920, ( the census I found online, but still relevent for the period of 1910 - 1920 the period when women's suffrage and Jeanette Rankin were both voted in), there were roughly 190,000 men and 113,000 women.
Even if every female voted for Rankin, without male support, she would never have been elected.
Westerners tend to judge a person on their character, not just their gender. Their ability to benefit the state outweighs their sex or color.
That's probably why western states for the most part are conservative, with a couple notable exceptions, the plains states value the person over the insignificance of race and gender. Probably why modern liberals have trouble fitting in here as sex, color and lack of religion seem to be the basis for most of their values of people.
If the OP wants to move to the west, Colorado would probably fit the liberal mindset best.
You may not understand this, but there were not a lot of females in frontier states. In order for females to get the right to vote, men that did have that right had to vote to extend those rights to females, which they did, 53 to 47% in November, 2014.
In 1920, ( the census I found online, but still relevent for the period of 1910 - 1920 the period when women's suffrage and Jeanette Rankin were both voted in), there were roughly 190,000 men and 113,000 women.
Even if every female voted for Rankin, without male support, she would never have been elected.
Westerners tend to judge a person on their character, not just their gender. Their ability to benefit the state outweighs their sex or color.
That's probably why western states for the most part are conservative, with a couple notable exceptions, the plains states value the person over the insignificance of race and gender. Probably why modern liberals have trouble fitting in here as sex, color and lack of religion seem to be the basis for most of their values of people.
If the OP wants to move to the west, Colorado would probably fit the liberal mindset best.
The OP made one post and hasn’t returned. I wonder what that says about his motives?
According to several other posters the OP hasn't been back because some of us were meanies.
First, it was a woman who posted, and second, it would take a very staunch-hearted person to endure what amounted to abusive insults when she posted in good faith, and for the first time on this board. I would have left myself. And to those who think Good Riddance! -- you are the problem, not her.
I know a lot of country people who are live and let live, and Democratic/Liberal/Progressive. Obviously though they are not in your sphere -- or are they??!!
Go to California, there are lot of liberals there.
This is a misconception that so many people outside of California have.
It always makes me shake my head when I see comments like this. I'm from California. It is a VERY RED STATE. It has pockets of Blue voting blocks, like Los Angeles and San Francisco. The rest of California is extremely Conservative. Southern California is extremely conservative except for L.A. proper. Northern California is extremely Conservative except for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Remember that a huge part of California is (1) rural and (2) almost unlivable (extreme desert, high mountains). Those areas are RED.
Liberals are just as FED UP with California as conservatives are. It's ruined and that's a damn. crying. shame.
Thank BIG BIZ for that -- their lobbyists have got the politicians in their hip pockets. Politicians on both sides.
ANYBODY can be bought. And they are - all the time.
Now I'm pissed off. Yet Again. My home state is ruined and I can't even afford to live there - not that I'd want to live in the teeming polluted anthill it's become.
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It would be great as a ranch, but probably not a good water source or trees.
