Posted on 01/22/2017 2:25:10 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Politico magazine has an interesting piece up today titled “What Do You Do if a Red State Moves to You?” That title is actually close to being the opposite of what the piece describes. It’s not about red staters moving into the cities. It’s about blue staters deciding, for one reason or another, to colonize a small county in rural Wisconsin and then being horrified to find not everyone who lives there shares their political outlook. The author suggests the cultural smugness of these progressive transplants is one reason some people in this rural county voted for Donald Trump.
The piece opens with the dismay of Andrea Myklebust, a left-leaning sculptor who moved to Pepin county from the twin cities because she liked the look of it:
She described the history-twisting election of 2016 in stark, before-and-after terms, unable to fathom how anybody could have voted for Trump, much less three-fifths of the people with whom she shares her adopted home in Pepin County. “There is sort of a baseline assumption of common sense and decency that’s been thrown into question in a way I never expected it to be,” she said. “And it’s a struggle. You have to continue to interact with people, and you have to wonder: Do you really have hate in your heart in this way? Really? At the core, I didn’t believe this about us.”
The assumption that anyone who doesn’t share your beliefs is indecent and a hater turns out to be one of the main motivators driving a lot of Myklebust’s neighbors to vote for Trump. The locals know when they’re being looked down upon and they don’t appreciate it.
Here, the urban elite isn’t a faceless, distant other: It’s the enclave of liberal, mostly Twin Cities newcomers who have moved here over the past few decades—not just an abstract political imposition, but an actual physical presence. It has spawned anger and bitterness, a simmering undercurrent of alienation among many people locally born and raised. It has made “Democrat” mean something it didn’t mean a generation ago. And it was made manifest on November 8…
“We have found a whole community here,” said Pat Carlson, Wally Zick’s wife, “of very like-minded—it’s going to sound elite—but bookish, artsy, I’d say compassionate … organic foodies, the whole nine yards. It’s all transplants. It’s mostly liberals.” As for this election, and the locals, she continued, “I think they thought the liberal elite was looking down on them, and I guess, in some ways, we were. Because we couldn’t believe anybody would vote for Trump.”
The piece offers as an example John Andrews, a former sheriff who was also the head of the Democratic Party in Pepin county. Now he’s a Republican:
“When the people came in—and the things that they were trying to push on the rest of us—that’s why I left,” Andrews added. “I didn’t want to deal with these people. I didn’t want to be a part of what they were a part of. You’re talking about people from the Cities who are very progressive. I call them tree-huggers, a bunch of tree-huggers. They referred to us, meaning the people who’ve lived here and worked here all our lives, as a bunch of hicks. They just think they’re a little bit better than everybody else, and that we’re not as smart.”
Carolyn Tyra, a 50ish Wal-Mart cashier, puts it more bluntly. She tells Politico, “they all think we’re stupid and the common blue-collar worker doesn’t want to be treated like we’re stupid.”
No doubt there are other factors involved, but author Michael Kruse makes a convincing case that the smug cultural superiority of progressives has a lot to do with Trump’s unexpected win in rural Wisconsin.
They look in a mirror and think it's a window.
“New York City! Get a rope” It’s the reason Pace’s commercial hit the spot.
In our sparsely populated county the Easterners have long tried to change our culture.
They all think they are so intelligent and everyone else is an idiot lost in ignorance until they appeared to enlighten the unwashed masses.
"But the only thing that surprised John Andrews, the disgusted Democrat-turned-Republican, was that other people were surprised.
“It’s so simple,” he told me. “The people here are good, honest, down-to-earth people, good citizens. The elitists, they don’t understand. … If they would get out and talk to the working class, they would understand.”
These people don't vote 'D' or 'R' because of genetics, they vote their conscience and they didn't like what the Democrats have done.
I worked in Pepin County over the last 30 years and can vouch for some of the stories of the “smug and superior progressives” that moved in from the Minneapolis area. The Sheriff is a good man and has them pegged accurately.
My best gotcha on one of them happened when he wondered how his personal data had been hacked. He almost cried when I asked him if he had signed up for obamacare because all that personal data was mishandled. Maybe hillary was using the same server.
As someone who lives in a rural area that is slowly being infiltrated by Liberals ("Can't you keep the cows quiet in the morning?") you summed it up perfectly.
The book is called Rules for Revolutionaries or some such nonsense- I'm sure you'll all be rushing out to get a copy; however, they were very excited about how close a self-proclaimed socialist came to getting the nomination and that at the rally's and demonstrations since occupy L.A there are more young people than gray haired old lefties. I think that roughly corresponds to when Soros started expanding his operation.
These folks were fairly honest about what a crappy candidate HRC was I don't know if they discussed the whole primary being fixed.
The "normal" democratic lefties are still in denial and are despondent truly not understanding any of the many reasons Trump won.
The radical lefties are excited and seem to think they are poised to take over - its simply a demographic matter of time. The apparatus they created, they were promoting as effective - who knows they might just be looking for work.
I think on Saturday the womens march, those men and women who marched, are Hillary voters and I think they are so clueless we can just enjoy messing with them.
The radicals seem jazzed and very focused on targeting the young and consolidating some power based on the enroads they believe they have made due to the strong performance of Bernie.
I'm hearing some common verbage assisting the narrative that young people are almost categorically rejecting capitalism and free enterprise. What they have to say is really quite insightful, I wasn't that wise at their age or some such garbage one uses when flattering.
I bet we start seeing some young hip celebrities writing some very elegant adult socialist claptrap the pipeline is about to start providing them.
The radicals seem to under estimate President Trump and view him as a potential vehicle to advance the struggle of socialism. It is self evident to them that President Trump will be a disaster and their radical alliance of BS marxist groups will be there to pick up the pieces and implement radical change - this seems to imply a new constitution and an acknowledgement that the American experiment was inherently evil.
I don't think the Democrats get center left focused I think they go further to the left.
If we stay focused and organized ourselves Trump runs the plan what we see today is nothing compared to the meltdowns if they have further losses in 2 years and in if President Trump runs and wins again it could really destroy all the demographic infrastructure the progressive left has been breeding since the early 1900s.
Pigs? You’re a total jackass and a pig yourself.
I didn’t call anybody a pig, I used an analogy. I’ve been to plenty of cities myself, you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to live there. Maybe “living like prisoners” would’ve been a better way to put it. Just one schmoe’s opinion, people who live in 600 square feet and pay $3000/month for the privilege make no sense to me.
Scary, I have 2 very solid conservative grandchildren and 2 who are more impressionable.
Ok, poor analogy. You’re not a pig. Just a jackass.
That’s fine. If I lived like you I’d be screeching at people, too.
That’s Mr. Ass to you.
Liberals leaving the Liberal Cities and States are like Cancer Cells breaking off from the main Tumor.
They infect the rest of the Body and form more Tumors.
As an example, look at the Californacation of once sane Colorado.
It’s just like the Muslims in Europe, but they don’t just move to those Countries, they simply out breed the locals and the idiotic Governments pay them to do so. Suicide.
That’s Mr. Ass to you.
LOL, I love it! If you’re gonna criticize me.....do it properly!
Chris Plante is right - he does look like a gibbon.
I think it's why President Trump won anywhere! We're ALL sick and tired of the liberals looking down on 'Jesus people', and anyone who didn't attend an Ivy League school.
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