What county are you in? I lived in Anne Arundel county for all my life save these last three years in Delaware.
Make no mistake, I think your analysis is on the money, spot on in fact. I left MErryland because property taxes were killing me. That state slams it to the few who actually pay taxes and what happens is that, well, they LEAVE.
Electing O'Malley was one HUGE mistake and I agree, the few remaining taxpayers in Merryland will leave just like we did.
However, my main point was that if Conservative principles win uber alles, how come a real creep like O'Malley won when Bob Ehrlich did a wonderful job, even with that corrupt Merryland legislature skewering the guy at every opportunity?
So you explain the current Merryland demographic and you are correct.
Which brings me to my summation...conservative principles DO NOT win in those places where people just plain want to misbehave, who have no self-control, who don't want to work, who expect the government to do their bidding.
Thus,:::tada::::, conservative principles do NOT win simply because there are not enough people left to vote them in.
It's what this country has become, we may as well face it, folks. Way I see it, a sudden dip in this great economy and a terrorist attack or two might bring us back to reality. Sad we always have to learn the hard way but it is, as those of us who are parents completely understand, the absolute BEST way to learn.
Nevermind that we haven't had a terrorist attack since 9/11 and never mind the economy is booming like it never did under even Clinton. I am old enough to remember Jimmy Carter, his "general malaise", astronomical home interest rates and long gas lines. So much of this population does NOT remember this.
It's like children, you tell them not to go there but they never believe it until it happens to them.
It's my story and I'm sticking to it.