Sunday, December 2, 2012

Southern Liberals

This article "A New Southern Strategy" by Karen Cox for the NYTimes, echoes my sentiments exactly.  We Southerners are lumped into the same ignorant redneck group together.  During the election I got so tired of hearing about this and the other demographics who don't represent me.  I'm white, over 65, female, and live in a small town in the South.  This means I should have voted for Romney, except that many of my friends, relatives, and acquaintances didn't.  Guess since I'm single, I fell into that group who voted for Obama.  I'm not saying we don't have an abundance of ignorance, racism, bigotry, and fundamentalists here.  We do.  Unfortunately, they are in other regions, too. 

Here's an excerpt from Cox's article:
That we are still using the term “Confederacy” to describe the South and pointing to slave maps says a lot about how hard it is for the region to move beyond its historical reputation, however richly deserved, for one that reflects more current realities.

Voters in Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans, Birmingham, Ala., and even Jackson, Miss., gave Mr. Obama substantial majorities, not because they are out of step with the rest of the country but because they are part of the same urban-rural divide that drives voting everywhere.

So if we’re going to apply the term “Confederacy,” then perhaps we can all agree that while a majority of Southern white voters seem intransigent to change, the region is nevertheless being transformed by its changing demographics.
This is a good article and worth reading.  We Southern liberals are capable of critical thinking and making informed decisions. 

Molly Ivins said, " I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point -- race. Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything."

3 comments:

Bob said...

Luckily for us, we live in a rather Democratic/Blue town in a Repblican/Red county and a Republican/Red state.

Miss Ginger Grant said...

It has been predicted that within 10 years Texas will switch from red to blue; as of Obama's election, we are fondly being referred to a a "purple" state, and pundits predict that it will become a swing state in the next election. Of course, the white, redneck, naive "ex-majority" are saying, with cocky smiles on their faces, that the data is flawed, the pundits are crazy liberals, etc, etc, etc. I just want to scream at them "open your eyes and look around, you naive idiots!" The hispanic population is growing by leaps and bounds in Texas, and the vast majority are legal, voting citizens!!

The South is coming around, and I'm not surprised that the most populated cities turned blue first. Here in Texas, the counties that contain Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin all voted blue.

Hillary 2016!!!

the dogs' mother said...

Those maps which show percentages and make most everyone shades of purple are interesting. Our portion of WA is also always depicted as red, everything east of the Cascades, but in reality it really isn't, just like the South isn't. Glad someone is speaking up for the Joys of the South. :-)