I think it was David Brooks who said "Only a blue state liberal would respond by wanting to learn more about the other guys so they can understand and value their perspective! Don't you get it?
That's the difference..."
Dead on the money. Why below the cut.
Only the Blue states care what the Red states think, and that is why we lose, but also why we are right. Most conservatives, by definition, are conservative towards change. They don't want to learn the new way as much as they want to go back to "the good old days". They don't care how we feel, they think we whine. And some of us do. I hate the lazy hippies myself, and as anyone who reads my posts knows, I'm not a big fan of our welfare state.
But, we Blue staters want to try something else. We are open to change. We are even willing to listen to the ideas of Red States, because we just want ideas. Red staters don't, because they think if we just get back to God, let people self police with there guns, and stop letting gays and black culture corrupt our children, things will go back to how they used to be in "the good old days".
One problem. The "good olds days" actually sucked. You want a war on drugs and ungodly behavior, look at the roaring 20's and prohibition. You want to ban abortion, you want the sanctity of marriage? how about those 1950's! You know the era of alcoholism and housewives on valium? And that isn't even getting into lynching...
See here is the deal. You want to know why no one is watching our children? Because until the last 50 years few could afford to not live with their parents and extended family. Single family homes came about in the 50's, and with them came lonely housewives and a removal of societal checks that existed when you had about 10 people to a house. But with it came freedom.
I don't care about understanding Red state culture beyond learning how to get through their heads that the good old days sucked, and that we are better off now than we have ever been. Crime is down, but now we have TV news and the internet so we can see more of it. War is down. Consider the about 3000 soldiers dead in combat in the last 25 years and go back. the 25 years before that (1965-1980) had vietnam, the 25 years before that (1940-1965 (Both WWII and Korea) the 25 before that weren't so bad for wars, but there was that whole Great Depression...
See, it's about finding solutions. On abortion are Blue Staters for abortion? No, we are just practical that it isn't our decision. Personally I think if you are a person who wants to have an abortion, I certainly don't want you raising a child. I would want to have the child, but I'm not the one giving birth. It's not my body. And I don't defer to God, particularly one who also says no masturbation and to stone your children to death if they misbehave (look it up)
Look at history and you will see the Red States were always behind, always afraid of change. Blue states have a harsher climate, less resources but have a stronger economy. Think about that for a second.
Blue states are about the future, it is time we stopped looking for guidance from the Reds by asking them what they think, and got down to the kind of missionary work that worked in the 60's. They need to be educated, not emulated.