Northeastern Liberal: Isn't this term insulting to Northeasterners?

[mot78]

I hate hearing the term "Northeastern Liberal" because it regionally divisive. I mean, why do we have to divide ourselves by region? The Civil War ended 140 years ago, and yet we chose our candidates based on what region they came from. It's outrageous!

[windansea]

1. no more outrageous than having a southern strategy

[Bush loves Jiang]

2. It's not insulting...

I like them, but I know there's a lot of prejudice against them in some parts of the U.S., and I know now there may not be enough to overcome them.

[THUNDER HANDS]

3. it's just jealousy

I take it as a sign of pride. Things I associate with Northeast liberals are intelligence, fairness, compassion and success.

Anyone who wouldn't vote for someone just because they come from the Northeast is a very closed-minded and jealous person who knows that the Northeast is the real heartland of America.

[mot78]

4. I hate hearing Conservative classify one region as the "heartland"

Is New York City any less American than a small town in Nebraska? Is Boston any less American than a small town in Georgia? America as a whole is the heartland, because we all contribute to it equally.

[THUNDER HANDS]

well, technically, all the BLUE states are the real heartland

The one's that went to Al Gore. Those states gave more money back to the Fed. govt than they received in taxes.

Bush's states, the so-called "heartland" states, are practically welfare states. They need much more money because stupid Republicans keep cutting taxes, which forces the Fed. govt to step in and help them with their budgets.

Freakin' Bush states - shape up and start pulling your weight around here. Especially YOU Texas, for the love of god, please institute some state taxes so you don't have to leech off the rest of us hard working Democrats in the Northeast.

[TheDonkey]

5. We need to stop creating divisions in this country!

If someone asks a northeasterner how they expect to be elected, as the interviewer why not be? He's just as American as a Hawaiian, Alaskan, Nebraskan, New Yorker, Georgian, etc...

I hate that term, its hateful and stereotypical. As well as the "southern" strategy and Edwards proclamation like "talking like this I can get elected in the south" WTF is this middle school.

[Syn_Dem]

6. hear hear! n/t

[RobinA]

7. I'm A Liberal

and I'm from the northeast, and you can call me a northeastern liberal any time you want.

[JohnKleeb]

8. you damn northeast liberal

;) I am kidding, NE libs rock. BTW I am a southern lib.

[DoNotRefill]

9. There are different kinds of liberals...

a Northeastern Liberal is very different from a Southern or Midwestern Liberal.

Examples: Kerry and Kennedy: Northeastern Liberals. Zell Miller and Robert Byrd: Southern Liberals.

Often, a Southern Liberal would pass as a Northeastern Conservative, and a Northeastern Liberal might be viewed as a "Commie" in the South.

[Anaxamander]

12. No one in the south considers Zell a liberal

No freakin' way. I've lived in the south all my life and I'd be willing to bet that that Georgia liberals I've known are just as liberal as whatever New England liberals on which your basing your comparison. You seem to be insinuating that true liberals don't exist in the south. If that's what you're saying, you're wrong.

[QC]

13. I was wondering about that one myself.

Not even Zell thinks Zell is a liberal.

[DoNotRefill]

16. Zell IS a liberal...

compared to some of the far-right loonies that have run against him.

"Liberal" and "Conservative" are relative terms.

[IowaBiker]

10. It's insulting to all true Americans

Of course, the south is still fighting the civil war and loves these regionally devisive and derisive terms.

--Brian

[QC]

11. Your protest against stereotyping

would be a lot more convincing if it was not in itself a stereotype.

[Bonobo]

14. No we're proud of it! (n/t)

[John_H]

15. Maybe. But that's what the charge is going to be if JK wins

Just a humble suggestion from a Clark supporter: Perhaps the Kerry supporters' time would be better spent thinking of ways to counter the charge than complaining about it.

[robbedvoter]

17. This Northeasterner is fine with it. Now just take the bad connotation

from the "l" word and everyone will be happy - I promise. (well, everybody who is decent)

[Lexingtonian]

18. Hey, we didn't invent the label

It was bestowed upon us by, I imagine, mostly people a good distance to the south. It was their attempt to see and define the world through a provincialist lens that is embodied in the phrase. Here in the so called region, we see significant distinctions between the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore varieties.

The phrase itself is a lot like the term "well educated". It raises expectations of certain kinds that the average Northeastern Liberal sees, on the whole, as missing the essence of the thing.

The white folk of the country divided itself during its earliest settlement days. There were three major linguistic/cultural groups of settlers from Great Britain. The North begins at Plymouth, New Amsterdam, and Philadelphia. The Midlands (Border States) begin on the Chesapeake shoreline and Baltimore. The South begins at Jamestown. The Appalachians were, a bit surprisingly, settled by Midland folk. The West Coast was initially made/taken by Northern folk, though Midlanders split Oregon's settlement and (as the semi-Southern Okies) came into central California as a group a time later.

During the Civil War the Midlands (from Delaware to northern Missouri and Colorado) meant mostly the Border States and they went over to the Union after brief flirtations with the Confederacy. In the present conflict they have generally aligned with the Republicans. They have been the swing group in both conflicts.

So regionalism remains. Part of it is historical- the three groups differed between each other in ethnic/English regional makeup, professed forms of Christianity, and political ideology retained from the moment in English history in which their ancestors departed Britain. Much of it is also created from the American climate and biogeography encountered, which dictates psychological adaptations made necessary by the vast spaces and climates and work ethic demands that differed so much in form. The U.S. simply has so many relatively large regions requiring different adaptations to live there that there will be group differences developed between the regions all the time (while others vanish again, too).