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I appreciate your perspective on this and offer a counterweight, if you will.
There was a joke going around on X, that I’ll paraphrase;
Red state republican: “Democrats have some crazy, stupid ideas and I’m sure glad they aren’t in charge here but I know a few and they’re not all bad.” Blue state republican: “I, personally, am willing to volunteer to pilot the helicopters throwing democrats overboard over the ocean if it means there’s a 1% chance to escape this never ending hell.”
While this is very funny, I also think the opposite is largely true; the hicklib, the blue tribe striver living in red states, is by far the most extreme example of what I’m talking about.
If you’re in a comfortably blue city in an area in a blue state, it’s hard to communicate how rabidly partisan these types can be.
I travel a lot for work, and not just from urban center to urban center, I spend a lot of time in little mountain towns and beach towns, places really just for locals.
The stereotype of the urban blue tribe applies triply to blue tribe people in smaller towns & rural areas as their identity is so tied up with bitter struggles with their own background and family.
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