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NORTHERN NASTY AND NICE (United Way ranks quality of life: Southern states are the worst)
Providence Journal ^ | 11/22/01 | Robert Whitcomb

Posted on 11/23/2001 5:25:09 AM PST by LarryLied

Despite the "friendly" Sunbelt's purported ease and opportunity, the "unfriendly" North continues by far to have the best quality of life.

The United Way now reports that Minnesota (of which I am genetically half a native, which may undermine the good data here) is the best state, in economic well-being, education, health, civic engagement, safety and the environment. Having visited this Midwest Finland, I am not surprised. And I find New Hampshire's Number 2 rating apt, too, having inhabited that rocky realm of rectitude, responsibility and (usually) reasonableness for four years.

Ditto the others in the top 10: Connecticut (even with Hartford!); Massachusetts; Vermont; Maine; Wisconsin; Iowa; New Jersey, and, yes, even Rhode Island, hardly a state at all!

Meanwhile, the bottom 10 are all in the Sunbelt, the worst New Mexico, and then Louisiana.

Maybe it's mostly the weather. The North's bracing and wildly variable climate energizes people and encourages planning and careful citizenship. And it's probably better for you, because cold is bad for bugs. Even the post-war wave of air-conditioning hasn't let previously soporific Southern schools, offices and factories overcome the North's paradoxical climatic advantage.

And Northerners tend to be less mobile, and so less likely to slide into that appalling anomie in which the American Dream is pursued by folks wandering the roads in search of pots of gold that turn out to be tin, and leaving no forwarding address. But then, it is easier to wander about where the weather is warm. Thus the pervasive trailer parks in the Sunbelt, and enough social problems to make you ask if the Sunbelt's growing national power is a good thing. (Don't show this to my Tennessee relatives.)



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: JD86
We can joke among ourselves and at your expense all we want. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. Native southerners love yankee jokes and tell them with glee. But when someone tells a joke about the south its like you insulted his mother and hes running for his shotgun to teach you a lesson. Lighten up a little.

And if I want to make fun of NC for having more operational outhouses than any other state I will do so. If i want to make fun of the guy who rents a single wide trailor for his home and spends $45,000 on a pick up truck I will do so. And I know a guy that does just that! If I want to make fun of those that fit the "Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel" stereotype I will. And trust me, there are almost as many back in NY that fit that stereotype. And if I want to make fun of the guy with a couch, recliners, a refrigirator and a washer/dryer on his front porch, 3 cars on blocks, an engine block hanging from a tree, and 3 dogs living under his porch I WILL!

81 posted on 11/23/2001 7:08:49 AM PST by Phantom Lord
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To: cynicom
mostly hick potato farmers

Not to mention duck farms. If memory serves me right, Long Island NY is still the largest producers of duck in the country.

82 posted on 11/23/2001 7:10:20 AM PST by Phantom Lord
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To: #3Fan
A similar thing occurred in the North. The main difference is that Northern Wage slaves were treated worse and lived in poorer conditions.

There is some truth that slavery was partly responsible for the wealth of the South. It is also true that horrible working conditions in the North contributed to much wealth but by a much smaller group.

83 posted on 11/23/2001 7:11:40 AM PST by yarddog
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To: patent
The United Way now reports that Minnesota ...is the best state, in economic well-being, education, health, civic engagement, safety and the environment.

Gosh, what swell folks. Why don't you send them a check? ;-)

(I had a great Thanksgiving, and hope you did too.)

84 posted on 11/23/2001 7:12:06 AM PST by Romulus
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To: Phantom Lord
I WILL!

Yep....once a yankee, always a yankee.

85 posted on 11/23/2001 7:13:21 AM PST by JD86
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To: #3Fan
It's sad that the nation cannot do that anymore, isn't it?
86 posted on 11/23/2001 7:13:37 AM PST by Paul Atreides
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To: JD86
I let them know that there is far more to NY than the city and let them know I grew up 4 hours from the city and went to college 8 hours from the city and was still in NY. But Im only one man and can not educate all the NC natives on the geography of NY on my own. And i readily admit to you here and now that i know JACK SQUAT about the geography of NC. But if I were still living up north and met someone from NC I wouldnt ask them "What part of Charlotte?" or "What part of Raleigh?".
87 posted on 11/23/2001 7:14:05 AM PST by Phantom Lord
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To: LarryLied
These little "quality of life studies" are hilarious. The researcher gives 100 points for 'education,' 80 points for 'affordable healthcare,' 75 points for 'The Arts', etc. Voila! The researcher designates Duluth as paradise, Daytona Beach as Hell On Earth.

Funny, if the North is such a utopia why are I-95, I-75, I-55 and I-35 clogged with southbound U-Hauls?

88 posted on 11/23/2001 7:15:02 AM PST by IowaHawk
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To: viligantcitizen
Bigoted?!? All we're doing is refuting the statement of this article and you call it bigoted??What did I specifically say that was bigoted?Why don't you ask my black(his term) neighbor if he thinks I'm bigoted.

Bigoted against Northerners. How many times to you see Freepers post posts on how terrible modern Southerners are? Not very often. You so called "Southern Hospitalitists" are constantly whining about Northerners with your bigoted comments. I've traveled a lot in the last ten years and can tell you there's not much difference in the quality of people in the North versus the South. The only thing that makes the North more liberal is that our cities are larger. Rural Northerners have about the same philosophy as rural Southerners, only we're not bigoted against Southerners like you are against Northerners. It'e all a bunch of self-righteous whining you guys are doing.

89 posted on 11/23/2001 7:15:31 AM PST by #3Fan
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To: razorback-bert; LadyX
This guy should try to drive down Highway 281 South going to McAllen, TX, and points south at this time of year.
It's a constant stream of camper trailers with northern license plates.
If we didn't have so many snow birds coming south, we wouldn't need all the trailer parks.
But then deep South Texas is the only part of Texas that Gore carried, so the snow birds feel right at home with their fellow liberals.
90 posted on 11/23/2001 7:16:09 AM PST by COB1
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To: JD86
You think "sorry couldn't help it" excuses rudeness?

Oh, please. Read this thread again. These "Southern hospitalitist" know that Northerners will be reading this thread and they've been as rude as they can be. Self-righteous hypocrisy.

91 posted on 11/23/2001 7:18:06 AM PST by #3Fan
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To: #3Fan
You have one hell of a nerve.

You post one snide comment about the South after another then have the gall to protest about Southerners not being nice to you.

92 posted on 11/23/2001 7:19:04 AM PST by yarddog
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To: Phantom Lord
If you will allow a sincere question.....how much of the state of NY have you ever seen portrayed on tv or in a movie that was outside the city of NY? And if someone has never traveled to NY...how would you expect them to know otherwise?

I traveled to CT and RI last spring and was surprised to see how much of the countryside is still countryside and small towns. That is not the perception one would get unless they had been there....so why do you expect people in NC to know?

93 posted on 11/23/2001 7:19:09 AM PST by JD86
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To: Phantom Lord
If i want to make fun of the guy who rents a single wide trailor for his home and spends $45,000 on a pick up truck I will do so.

Worst cases of this mentality I've seen were in Carmel Valley, California (Leon Panetta's home). The horsey crowd would not even have a home but sleep in the truck they used to tow their horse trailer to dressage events. We used to charge these homeless people big bucks to spray paint their trailer to match their truck.

94 posted on 11/23/2001 7:19:24 AM PST by LarryLied
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To: #3Fan
that our cities are larger

It's probably really southerners writing these rankings just to keep the northerners where they are. Who wants all those big cities?

95 posted on 11/23/2001 7:20:40 AM PST by FITZ
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To: FITZ
But it was very close and a lot of cheating went on. Lots of illegals voted.

Ewww. Illegal aliens? At least up here everyone is AMERICAN!

96 posted on 11/23/2001 7:20:49 AM PST by #3Fan
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To: Phantom Lord
I love it here and have no plans of ever moving. But after 5+ years of always being asked "What part of the city" you begin to wonder what they are taught (not taught) in school around here.

My wife and I ran into a similar problem when we were travelling out west back in the eighties. We were greeted by blank stares when we told people that we were "from Maine". Only when we mentioned that Maine was " up by Boston" did they smile and nod in recognition.



97 posted on 11/23/2001 7:21:04 AM PST by who knows what evil?
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To: JD86
Yep....once a yankee, always a yankee.

I guess then it is fair to say Once a redneck hick, always a redneck hick.

98 posted on 11/23/2001 7:21:16 AM PST by Phantom Lord
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To: #3Fan
only we're not bigoted against Southerners like you are against Northerners. It'e all a bunch of self-righteous whining you guys are doing.

Right, so that is why you bring up slavery in every conversation, like we all personally owned slaves?

99 posted on 11/23/2001 7:22:42 AM PST by JD86
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To: #3Fan
I guess you haven't looked at Chicago or Detroit lately.
100 posted on 11/23/2001 7:22:52 AM PST by FITZ
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