dear cali compares Vermont, New Hampshire

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021446712

Oh my.

cali (74,791 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 02:48 PM

Finally! Why Vermont and New Hampshire are so different politically

Why didn't I figure this out?

<snip>

Vermont’s political landscape began to change in the 1960s and 1970s. City dwellers from nearby states like Massachusetts and New York began fleeing struggling metropolises like Boston and New York City. Heading north, these migrants had a choice of where to settle, and some self-sorting took place.

More conservatives tended to choose New Hampshire, attracted to it’s low taxes and “Live Free or Die” ethos. Vermont, where cows outnumbered people before 1963, tended to attract young, left-leaning and outdoors-loving professionals, both Mr. Nelson and Mr. Johnson said.

<snip>

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/new-vermont-is-liberal-but-old-vermont-is-still-there/

Mopar151 (5,385 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:18 PM

1. "The Primary" and the Union Leader

Have drawn Birchers and their followers and successors to NH since the '50's. Many of the icons of NH conservatisim are/were recently arrived from somewhere else (like Mel Thompson and the Loebs), others exist on connections/money from "away" (like the Sunnus and the Bossies).

Schema Thing (8,229 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:25 PM

2. Conservatives like that the mountains of NH are white, and just the right height.

MelissaB (9,956 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:35 PM

3. We visited Middlebury College this summer for my daughter and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Vermont is where I want to be.

You know you're in the right place when the lady doing the information session makes it clear that this is a liberal college. She also pointed out that because the state has such a small population they were able to have a huge influence.

Please, oh please, oh please, let my daughter get into and go to Middlebury.

cali (74,791 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 05:27 PM

9. lol. Good luck to your daughter.

nichomachus (9,728 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:36 PM

4. NH is also attractive to retired military

That way they can collect their government pensions and even double-dip without having to pay state income tax. They're usually older and don't have school-age kids, so they don't care that the schools -- apart from a few towns -- pretty much suck.

slampoet (4,872 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:10 PM

6. I admit i was a little shocked how intense the military recruiting was in NH

Seemed they had one of every vehicle at the mall in Nashua back in 2000.

Jennicut (23,295 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 03:49 PM

5. I kind of like both Vermont and NH.

I hate the crazies in NH but love the natural beauty of the state and the White Mountains. And Vermont is quite beautiful as well. I would retire to either state someday if I could. Connecticut is pretty cool but do we have tons of traffic.

aikoaiko (14,227 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:20 PM

7. The homegrown marijuana is much much better due to happy cow manure in VT.

Seriously.

starroute (9,879 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 04:37 PM

8. I think it goes back a lot further

Doing genealogical research on my husband's ancestors, I've found that a lot of people from Rhode Island moved to southern Vermont or the northwest corner of Massachusetts in the late 1700s. They were the radicals and freethinkers of their day, and I think they established the climate of intellectual openness.

cali (74,791 posts)   Mon Oct 1, 2012, 05:28 PM

10. You're absolutely right. The Vermont Constitution is testament to that

and Vermont was the 1st state to outlaw slavery.

In case one's forgotten, dear cali commented some years ago that she didn't want black people from inner-city Los Angeles moving to Vermont.  Dear cali's an 0bamaite, but she doesn't want any--ick!--black people living next to her.

Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles are fine, but not up there at the top of Vermont.

[NHSparky]

I hate the crazies in NH

I see you've yet to travel to Brattleboro, Island Pond, or Burlington.  You want crazy?  They're chock full of the shit there.

And dear DUmmies, nice stereotyping you've done there.  But tell me, why are the schools here shitty?  Oh wait, they aren't...

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_scr.pdf?bcsi_scan_0036c367a19a7667=0&bcsi_scan_filename=coe_scr.pdf

7th in HS graduation rate.

http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/policyblog/detail/sat-scores-by-state-2011

SAT/ACT scores?  Similar.

[Splashdown]

New Hampshire, where "Live Free or Die" isn't just the motto, it's a mission statement.

My family and I go up to visit my wife's father every year. I'd move there in a SECOND if I could. Drive-through liquor stores. Cheap lobster. The Portsmouth Brewery. Smutty Nose beer. Mountains, lakes, and oceans all in 2-hours' driving distance.

We spent my first Father's Day up there, 2002. June 20th, it was 52 degrees on Lake Winnaoupuols;ner;lsiki.

[98ZJUSMC]

New Hampshire, where "Live Free or Die" isn't just the motto, it's a mission statement.

Drive-through liquor stores.

Always, a bonus.  We still have a couple here in S. Illinois.  The Obamaconomy killed one last year.

 

[Vagabond]

I visited New Hampshire on a work trip a few years back and was very pleasantly surprised by what I found.  The climate was really nice.  The people arent' as friendly as where I grew up down south, but they were friendly for a bunch of yankees.  My wife would never go for it moving there.  Anything below 70 is cold to her.