[GCFL-discuss] Jackson on Parks

[Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List]

Didn't the press make up the RED states and Blue states just for
something to write about ??
 
Dave

Exactly Dave. There is no real substance to this division. Every
presidential election in our history, the electoral votes of each state
have gone for one candidate or another. In 1860, four candidates each got
some electoral votes. In some elections, three, in most recent elections,
two. Every election since television coverage began, networks have color
coded their maps. Somehow, after the 2000 election, "red" and "blue"
became not only convenient color codes on election night, but the
definition of the thought process of every person in each state. Pure
garbage.

Looking at the numbers, Kerry received more votes from the southeastern
states than from all of New England combined. There are some 3.5 million
people in New York who voted for Bush. But the southern states are "red
states" and New York is a "blue state." (One of those New York voters is
a greenBubble). I live in a "blue" state. Why? Because 10,000 more voters
voted one way than voted the other. Some 6% of those voters saw fit to
re-elect George Bush AND to re-elect the only senator who voted against
the USA Patriot Act. Massachusetts somehow managed to elect both Mitt
Romney and John Kerry. Pennsylvania consistently votes for Democrats for
president, a majority of its congressional delegation are Democrats, and
it has persistently elected two Republican senators, one militantly
pro-life and the other militantly pro-choice, who each get out to support
the other at election time.

We each have lots of reasons for voting the way we do, and we as a people
mix and match all over the place in the final vote counts. The same could
be said of most of the cultural "trends" and fads that the media likes to
highlight. Religion, taxes, economic development, environment, you get
all types in all states. You can't even stereotype states by their
allegiance at the time of the civil war. There were copperheads (southern
sympathizers) in New York, Indiana, Ohio. There were parts of Alabama
where nobody in a confederate uniform dared to go for the entire war
(Jones County being the best known).

So, I get an immediate reflex whenever someone talks about "red states"
and "blue states." There is no such thing. When are they going to shut up
and talk about something real, something of substance?

Siarlys
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