I am Liberally Disappointed

[Flint]

I just haven't been listening to Mark Levin in a while (still love the guy, love what he does and how he does it) but I'll be damned if these...independent thoughts...haven't been forming. Irrespective of the news (I have no TV, don't listen to the radio) my critical thinking drifts back to, I guess you'd say, 'home base?'

Read the record of my beliefs, where I am on the political spectrum. It's changed over the years, and not in a polar fashion. Having the ability to listen to the ideas of others and accept new information as it presents as valid, and passes my logic filters, that's a big part of it. And that's what's great about the Internet. There are really smart people that disagree with you.

[chrisinhouston]

funny but my 3 sons are all hard lined Republicans (and go to church) and my 2 daughters are Democrats (and don't go to church) so I have interesting conversations with each of them. My son's think Obama is horrible and a socialist liberal. My daughters generally think he doesn't fight hard enough for Democrat principles and gives in to easily to the opposition. I've come to the conclusion that no matter what a person says when they run for office everything will be different once they are elected as their perspective changes but also they are handled by their advisers and counselors who build their policy statements and hone the direction they will take on issues.

[Lamplighter]

The Washington Post is running an article about the movement
of West Virginia from deep blue state to red... maybe deep red.
It's a long article, dealing with several issues.

I found it interesting reading... don't assume

I've cherry-picked and re-arranged several snipits to get the flavor,
and there is more substance in the article.

Washington Post
Karen Tumulty
10/25/13

A blue state’s road to red

Ordinary West Virginians used to look to Washington with something close to reverence.
It was a partner in good times, a lifeline in bad ones, a powerful ally against
the big corporations that came for its coal and timber.
...
By some measures, West Virginia relies more on federal money than any other state.
Almost one in five West Virginians receives food stamps today.
...
But increasingly, it also has become an extreme example of the hostility that shows up
in every national poll when people are asked how they feel about the federal government.
...
Many here now speak of Washington as an enemy that threatens
their economy and their way of life, that traps them into dependency.
...
Animosity toward President Obama runs high here.
He lost Wyoming County by nearly 56 percentage points last year,
despite the fact that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 3 to 1.

In this state, voter disillusionment does not stem from the
big-vs.-small government debate that rages in Washington.
Nor has the tea party movement taken root here to the degree it has elsewhere.
...
Racism also may play a role in the changing political dynamic
of a state where 94 percent of the population is white.
Here as elsewhere, people traffic in false rumors that the nation’s
first black president is a Muslim and that he was born in Africa.

But even assuming prejudice roils beneath the surface,
it cannot explain the tectonic shift in West Virginia’s political allegiances.
Race was not a reason voters rejected Democratic presidential candidates
in 2000 and 2004, or why Obama’s Election Day total slid seven percentage points
from 2008 to 2012.
...
Leaders in both parties say that what has happened to politics
in West Virginia begins with what has happened to coal
— an industry that employs about 32,000 in the state,
fewer than half the number of jobs it provided in 1976.