To be fair, they do say they're painting broad strokes and obviously not everyone in rural areas are racist homophobic right-wing Christians. The problem is that the racist homophobic right-wing Christians are driving the debate for the Republican party and they're the ones that have to be taken on. As for the tone... well, the editorial was more or less written by Dan "Savage Love" Savage, who isn't in charge of anything except the Stranger.
Washington State is like a microcosm of the national debate. You've got liberal, urban Seattle and the further away from Seattle you get(with a few exceptions), the more rural and conservative it gets, with Eastern Washington being a mirror universe version of the west side of the mountains: conservative, rural, twice as large and half as populated. Maria Cantwell got elected to the Senate in 2000 by winning just 4 out of 39 counties.
So we get a lot of shit from just within our state and plenty of demonization of those evil Seattle liberals on just about every issue, especially when it comes to money. Even though our tax dollars are pretty much driving spending in this state, eastern washington feels compelled to balk at any badly needed transportation dollars being spent in Seattle. We ended up voting (four times!) to build a monorail built and funded in Seattle because the state and region has been unable and/or unwilling to do anything to solve the 2nd worst traffic in the nation.
Yeah - this country has serious problems with intolerance. Nice that the cities feel that they fucking have it conquered. I guess if you had any sense at all - you'd already be there.
I am just disgusted by this outlook and if it is adopted by my party - well - I don't think the Democratic Party will survive.
I think the point is Democrats need to stop compromising and apologizing for holding the correct positions on a variety of social and economic issues and start expanding their natural urban base which is atrophying from neglect. We don't have every problem solved, but by focusing on issues important to urban areas, we can solidify our support, expand them because cities will be more attractive places to live, and lead by example. There's nothing wrong with taking pride in where we live, especially when the "Real America" is constantly presented as some idylic, rural farmhouse in Kansas and the city is where the young and innocent go to become corrupted by liberal elites.
In any case, I suspect you and Dan Savage have helluva lot more common ground than differences. Maybe you can start with love for guy on guy action?
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Eeek
Date: 2004-11-21 06:21 am (UTC)Washington State is like a microcosm of the national debate. You've got liberal, urban Seattle and the further away from Seattle you get(with a few exceptions), the more rural and conservative it gets, with Eastern Washington being a mirror universe version of the west side of the mountains: conservative, rural, twice as large and half as populated. Maria Cantwell got elected to the Senate in 2000 by winning just 4 out of 39 counties.
So we get a lot of shit from just within our state and plenty of demonization of those evil Seattle liberals on just about every issue, especially when it comes to money. Even though our tax dollars are pretty much driving spending in this state, eastern washington feels compelled to balk at any badly needed transportation dollars being spent in Seattle. We ended up voting (four times!) to build a monorail built and funded in Seattle because the state and region has been unable and/or unwilling to do anything to solve the 2nd worst traffic in the nation.
Yeah - this country has serious problems with intolerance. Nice that the cities feel that they fucking have it conquered. I guess if you had any sense at all - you'd already be there.
I am just disgusted by this outlook and if it is adopted by my party - well - I don't think the Democratic Party will survive.
I think the point is Democrats need to stop compromising and apologizing for holding the correct positions on a variety of social and economic issues and start expanding their natural urban base which is atrophying from neglect. We don't have every problem solved, but by focusing on issues important to urban areas, we can solidify our support, expand them because cities will be more attractive places to live, and lead by example. There's nothing wrong with taking pride in where we live, especially when the "Real America" is constantly presented as some idylic, rural farmhouse in Kansas and the city is where the young and innocent go to become corrupted by liberal elites.
In any case, I suspect you and Dan Savage have helluva lot more common ground than differences. Maybe you can start with love for guy on guy action?