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Living Free Isn’t Worth Dying For: NH
Posted by Raven on October 30th, 2007
I’m catching up with news and found this at the WSJ, about New Hampshire:
MANCHESTER, N.H.–If the southern tip of New Hampshire, that part of the state closest to Boston, were to be split off and made into a separate state, which of the two New Hampshires would Republicans dominate?
Surprisingly, it would be the section full of Massachusetts transplants and which is sometimes derisively called “Massahampshire.”
New Hampshire as a whole is turning blue. Last year voters replaced both of the state’s Republican congressmen, Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley, with Democrats. The GOP also lost control of both houses of the legislature for the first time since 1911.
And yet Massachusetts transplants, while they may have turned the southern portion of the state into a suburban stretch of chain stores and clogged highways, are the primary reason the GOP remains competitive in the state. They are also Republican Sen. John Sununu’s largest base of support as he seeks to defend his seat against Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, a popular former governor, next year.
The most solidly Republican towns and cities in New Hampshire run along the border with Massachusetts. Cities like Salem and towns like New Ipswich are filled with registered Republicans who fled Taxachusetts and who actually want to keep New Hampshire a low-tax, low-regulation state.
It’s true…most of the towns near mine are full of people who call themselves Republicans…and many are from MA. I know more than two handfuls of people who fled MA- and it’s insane regulatory and nanny statist rules- for NH’s live free or die mindset. Still NH is turning blue. Ice cold blue.
So why is the rest of the Granite State going blue? Transplants into the state are changing the political landscape, but they’re not from Massachusetts. They’re highly educated professionals and come mostly from mid-Atlantic states. These newcomers have college degrees, many advanced, and work in high-tech, academia and other specialized fields throughout the state. They are affluent and very liberal.
The Massachusetts émigrés shop at Wal-Mart, eat at 99, a local family restaurant chain, and watch the Patriots. The mid-Atlantic émigrés shop at boutiques, eat at small cafes and watch Roger Altman films. They’re the ones tipping the state Democratic.
One can SMELL a liberal from a mile away. The expensive perfumes and cars and houses speak for who they are…and the snots that run out of their snubbed up noses tell a lot too. Starbucks over Duncan Donuts. A Lexus over a more practical Jeep. A game of EuropeOn soccer over football. A $500 bottle of crappy wine over a bottle of Bud…paying an illegal immigrant to tend to their garden vs. getting their own hands dirty. Yep…they are everywhere, these liberal pests who fled their own states to a better life. But now they’re turning NH into something not too many of us real Granite Staters like.
I could go on and on with examples of these people who have invaded my state and who are putting new meaning into LIVING FREE but DON’T DIE FOR IT BECAUSE IT’S NOT WORTH THAT, mantra. They’re ruining my state. And taking away the values that once made NH a great place to live. The MA transplants are horrified at the things they are seeing: The MASS-U-LIZATION of NH is happening.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Didn’t Vermont undergo a similar transformation? Once upon a time, so the story goes, Vermonters were the kings and queens of self-reliance and independence. Now, they’re practically socialist.
October 30th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
VT IS Socialist. Totally and completely.
But New Hampshire, at least, has a chance — hopefully the Free Staters will continue to move there and balance out the liberals.
October 30th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Long ago BigFoot- in days before I can remember…
In my parents times Vermont was as you say…now it’s just a pool of socialism.
Beautiful state. But I hate their politics and could never live there and very rarely shop or otherwise do any business there.