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Us vs. American

By Jake Halpern

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey claims that Boston has nothing in common with the rest of the nation. He's right.

ast fall -- not long after Boston was chosen as the site of the 2004 Democratic National Convention -- Dick Armey had breakfast with a roomful of reporters from the Christian Science Monitor. "If I were a Democrat," mused the then-House majority leader, "I would feel a heck of a lot more comfortable in Boston than, say, in America."

Of course, this is something of an old joke. For almost 15 years now, ever since Michael Dukakis went down in a blaze of liberal glory, Massachusetts has been an easy target for right-wingers and swaggering Texans who like to tell us about the "real America." Most Bostonians appear to dismiss such rhetoric as nonsense. And yet every time I get into my car and drive seven hours west to upstate New York, where my parents still live, I can't help but feel conspicuously out of place. I can't help but notice the Chevy El Camino parked next to me at the gas station with the rifle rack in back and the bumper sticker that reads, Ted Kenned's car has killed more people than my gun. At moments like this, I must confess, I secretly wonder whether Boston is farther adrift from the mainstream than we'd all like to admit. As much as we in Boston may hail our city as the cradle of the American Revolution -- as the home of the Boston Pops and good old Sam Adams -- it seems reasonable to wonder whether we're deluding ourselves a bi Isn't it quite possible, if not likely, that Bostonians are fundamentally different from Americans elsewhere?

Maybe Dick Armey is on to something . . .

More info--

They ask"Are Bostonians actually better than other Americans?Here's the breakdown".

1. We're smarter.

2. They own guns and shop at Walmart.

3. We're younger and single or living together.

4. We're healthier;They're fatter and smoke more.

5. We make more money.

6. They're more Republican.

Of course there is an article to go along with these "facts",but you get the picture.