Your red vs blue America experiences

[Chew Toy McCoy]

A 32-Year-Old Woman Is Calling Out The "Scary" Differences Between Life In A Blue State Vs. Red State

"You would be driving in rural areas, and you would see signs that are far worse than Trump signs..."

www.buzzfeed.com

Inspired by this article and the comments. Might be the source, but nobody really had anything nice to say about red America. It sounds like you just get to drive around in crumbling infrastructure while waving around your gun and being a loud mouthed bigot and racist.

 

[Herdfan]

You were in an majority Red county (66-32) when you were here. Did you notice any of that?

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

You were in an majority Red county (66-32) when you were here. Did you notice any of that?

I did not, but I don't think you can get a completely accurate read on an area just from a visit, and I think it also depends on how close an area is to tourism or the center of the economy. The woman the article is about and a lot of the commenters were talking about long term living experiences.

Like I said, I believe buzzfeed is fairly left leaning. I'm sure there are probably more right leaning sources that would be more about what a horrific experience it was living in blue America.

 

[Cmaier]

I did not, but I don't think you can get a completely accurate read on an area just from a visit, and I think it also depends on how close an area is to tourism or the center of the economy. The woman the article is about and a lot of the commenters were talking about long term living experiences.

Like I said, I believe buzzfeed is fairly left leaning. I'm sure there are probably more right leaning sources that would be more about what a horrific experience it was living in blue America.

True. We have to cope with delightful ethnic restaurants and high education levels, and we don’t even have to worry about everyone walking around with guns. It’s a nightmare.

 

[Huntn]

Visited my Dad in central Florida this last week and two of his neighbors had Trump signs and flags prominently displayed in their front yards, so walked over to one house, knocked on the door and advised the owner the US flag should not be displayed in conjunction with The Head Treasonous Criminal and wished him a Merry Christmas!

No wait, I just imagined doing that, did not want to be threatened with a gun and I was unarmed at the time.

 

[Yoused]

My area is uncomfortably purple. We have lots of level-headed people who probably did not vote for the idiot, and it seems pretty laid back. But then, large pickups periodically prance by with enormous American Flags whipping in their wind. I heard a faint smattering of fireworks on election night, off in the distance. And now and then we see a marquee on the roadside with two or three enthusiastic MAGAts selling MAGAty crap.

No area is solid red or solid blue – the reddest counties in upper Texas still had some people voting D, and the hippest part of San Francisco still has some people voting R. So far, we have mostly just been getting along with each other, except for a handful of loud troublemakers. And TBF, not all the troublemakers are RWers – most, but not all.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

True. We have to cope with delightful ethnic restaurants and high education levels, and we don’t even have to worry about everyone walking around with guns. It’s a nightmare.

The consensus in that article and in the comments is you pay more to live in a blue state but you also get what you pay for. Somewhat surprising is a greater sense of freedom in blue states considering how much red states claim they have a monopoly on that. Abortion is an obvious one, but also that you can leave the house without concern that you or somebody else is going to get accosted over their race or gender from people waiving their guns around. Of course for somebody else freedom might mean the ability to accost people while waiving your gun around.

 

[Cmaier]

The consensus in that article and in the comments is you pay more to live in a blue state but you also get what you pay for. Somewhat surprising is a greater sense of freedom in blue states considering how much red states claim they have a monopoly on that. Abortion is an obvious one, but also that you can leave the house without concern that you or somebody else is going to get accosted over their race or gender from people waiving their guns around. Of course for somebody else freedom might mean the ability to accost people while waiving your gun around.

As for “pay more,” you also earn more (on average). This is most noticeable for people with higher education levels (of which there are generally more in blue regions), but even minimum wages tend to be higher. Of course, if you have a high school education or less, on balance you may be better off economically in a red area, as the difference in wages is not likely to make up for the difference in costs.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

As for “pay more,” you also earn more (on average). This is most noticeable for people with higher education levels (of which there are generally more in blue regions), but even minimum wages tend to be higher. Of course, if you have a high school education or less, on balance you may be better off economically in a red area, as the difference in wages is not likely to make up for the difference in costs.

Keeping a roof over your head may be cheaper but a 30k car is still going to cost you 30k no matter where you live.

For some fucked up reason right-wing media gets to go into blue states and cites and take a national shit all over their problems but the center to left media won't do the same in Republican run areas. This leads to the perception that they just pay less taxes but receive the same level of services. Not only does that not make any fiscal sense but they also wouldn't be so unhinged and pissed off at the government if things were going great.

 

[Eric]

True. We have to cope with delightful ethnic restaurants and high education levels, and we don’t even have to worry about everyone walking around with guns. It’s a nightmare.

I'll take a restaurant with mixed ethnicities in downtown (insert big city name here) than I ever would a diner full of armed white people in backwater rural bumfuck anytime. I'm sure it has a lot to do with culture, where and how one has grown up, I have just never felt comfortable around a bunch of ignorant paranoid rednecks.

 

[Huntn]

My area is uncomfortably purple. We have lots of level-headed people who probably did not vote for the idiot, and it seems pretty laid back. But then, large pickups periodically prance by with enormous American Flags whipping in their wind. I heard a faint smattering of fireworks on election night, off in the distance. And now and then we see a marquee on the roadside with two or three enthusiastic MAGAts selling MAGAty crap.

No area is solid red or solid blue – the reddest counties in upper Texas still had some people voting D, and the hippest part of San Francisco still has some people voting R. So far, we have mostly just been getting along with each other, except for a handful of loud troublemakers. And TBF, not all the troublemakers are RWers – most, but not all.

In Texas I want to say it’s a 12% difference, enough to win elections, but that still equates to a lot of people who did not want The Head Liar.

 

[Huntn]

I'll take a restaurant with mixed ethnicities in downtown (insert big city name here) than I ever would a diner full of armed white people in backwater rural bumfuck anytime. I'm sure it has a lot to do with culture, where and how one has grown up, I have just never felt comfortable around a bunch of ignorant paranoid rednecks.

When I was younger I knew some nice red necks in West Virginia, friendly, polite, but I never talked to them about their politics or their racial views. Always assumed they’d be “New Deal” types ( they were old), back when “populace movements” actually stood for something that made sense, not hiring a criminal who pretends to be for you, but has shears in his back pocket ready to use on ya.

 

[rdrr]

I am glad I live a heavily blue state now. However, I am experiencing some anxiety about what life will be like in a year or so. I know full well that Shithead will certainly start punishing blue states. Hell he showed examples of that by holding back FEMA money, and you know full well that he will go beyond that. Infrastructure money and education funds are two quick things I am sure he will be taking from blue states and giving to red states.

All I heard from the right when some of the deep red states were pushing against the constitution and norms was "States rights". Watch how quickly the hypocrisy will expose itself, when blue states claim the same rights.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I am glad I live a heavily blue state now. However, I am experiencing some anxiety about what life will be like in a year or so. I know full well that Shithead will certainly start punishing blue states. Hell he showed examples of that by holding back FEMA money, and you know full well that he will go beyond that. Infrastructure money and education funds are two quick things I am sure he will be taking from blue states and giving to red states.

All I heard from the right when some of the deep red states were pushing against the constitution and norms was "States rights". Watch how quickly the hypocrisy will expose itself, when blue states claim the same rights.

Probably depends on which blue state you live in. CA is probably going to be Trump's (and his associates that were made insanely rich by CA and are now mad at it for some reason) biggest target but Newsom is probably the biggest fighter in the party and I'm sure him and other Democrat politicians in the state haven't just been sitting around going "maybe it won't be that bad."

 

[Herdfan]

When I was younger I knew some nice red necks in West Virginia,

You’re older and still do.

Back then they were definitely “yellow dog” Democrats. But at that time it was all about the unions. As the Dems started losing union members in the early 2000’s, they not only lost individuals, but they lost a whole state because of it.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

You’re older and still do.

Back then they were definitely “yellow dog” Democrats. But at that time it was all about the unions. As the Dems started losing union members in the early 2000’s, they not only lost individuals, but they lost a whole state because of it.

Not saying Democrats didn't lose unions, although one report said union members overwhelmingly voted for Harris, but a more obvious related problem is when you send jobs overseas, close factories, or union industries are in decline that's a lot less people with union jobs. You also have jobs lost to automation. Toss in the establishment's rather successful decades long campaign demonizing unions in general. The union vote is no longer what it used to be in numbers.

 

[Eric]

Not saying Democrats didn't lose unions, although one report said union members overwhelmingly voted for Harris, but a more obvious related problem is when you send jobs overseas, close factories, or union industries are in decline that's a lot less people with union jobs. You also have jobs lost to automation. Toss in the establishment's rather successful decades long campaign demonizing unions in general. The union vote is no longer what it used to be in numbers.

But there is a definite shift towards Trump/populism for many in unions at the moment, in the same way Obama had them back in 2008-2012. I mean, he'll shut them down at the drop of a dime but they don't seem to mind. We'll have to see how that plays out for him in the end.

 

[Huntn]

You’re older and still do.

Back then they were definitely “yellow dog” Democrats. But at that time it was all about the unions. As the Dems started losing union members in the early 2000’s, they not only lost individuals, but they lost a whole state because of it.

Dems did not lose union members, they lost unions because of the Capitalists Machine who conspired against and who don’t like employes with some power over their lives.