Frustration Building

[phantom power]

Because I live less than twenty miles north of the Maxon-Dixon line, I can quickly wind up in Dixie simply by making a wrong turn. While I was in Maine, things felt much different. Almost every town up there has a little square with a statue honoring veterans of the Civil War. And it's so far away from where the fighting occurred that it made me wonder about Mainers' motivation for preserving the Union. What's clear, however, is that there is a ton of civic pride about Maine's role in defeating the traitorous Confederate insurgency.

When I hear Detroit-born rocker Ted Nugent suggest that things might have been better if the South had won the war, it grates on my ears. But I think it is the logical conclusion for anyone who follows the modern GOP and their states' rights rhetoric. The GOP's appeal isn't limited to the South, but that's their power base and that's where their ideology gathers strength.

It's increasingly clear that liberals and conservatives don't want to live together. Not only do we not want to live on each other's terms, we don't even want to live with the compromises that are made necessary by our mutual existence.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/7/8/11502/28194

[joycejnr]

1. Today's conservatives are the logical absurdities...

...of a philosophy yearning for feudal times. It gets worse as the conservatives get more powerful and more sure of themselves.

What do they have to fear in telling us what they really feel when they control the ballot boxes?

[dawg]

2. Every state is a shade of purple.

If it weren't for New Hampshire, the Supreme Court couldn't have stolen the election from President Gore. And if we had Ohio and all the other Northern states in the bag this November, the election would not be in doubt.

[HopeHoops]

3. I grew up south of the M-D. I live north of it now.

[Arugula Latte]

4. People are self-selecting geographic location based on political affinity now.

Liberals cluster in big cities, coasts, and cool towns like Boulder or Madison, and conservatives stay in the rural landlocked areas, small towns and 'burbs.

Yes, sweeping generalization, but there's something to it.