Those who live in a Red State

[citronaut]

I have never posted a thread before and I am ridiculously #new, so I apologize for any mistakes.

To the blue dots in the red states, do you ever consider moving to a blue state? We live in a red state and county and I am always thinking about moving somewhere more liberal. DH's job is flexible enough that we could, but our entire family lives here. DH also thinks we should stay and fight the good fight, so to speak. I get what he is saying, but sometimes it is challenging to feel so "surrounded."

[Deleted]

Depends on the red state. From AL, yes we moved. From TX, no I won't move. I have lived in swing states (FL,PA) and I would live there again. I have lived in blue Maryland and would never go back. But that is mainly COL and job opportunities not politics. I have neighbors who built a massive Trump sign for his front yard. I have neighbors who have pink pussy hats bumper stickers. I worry we as a society are focusing to much on becoming red vs blue.

PS. I wouldn't leave family if relationships were good. It's freaking hard without family.

[citronaut]

I have never lived anywhere else, so I think that also may cause some wanderlust/grass is always greener. We do live close to blue counties, so that always helps.

[shellsncheese]

I'm not moving. My entire family lives here. Besides, Oklahoma needs more blue in the sea of red.

[mowkey]

I'm in PA so not a red state, more a swing state. But, my H is in tech and has started a job search and we are considering MA, NY, CA, OR, WA as potential places to relocate. I understand the need for people to stay and vote, but not if it means health and conditions will suffer. Our schools are good here, but more and more is cut every year and then local republicans don't raise the taxes because old people without kids in the system anymore voted them in. Rinse and repeat. I don't mind paying higher taxes and being surrounded by more like minded people.

Really I want to move to Scotland, but that's still a dream.

[dreadpirateroberts]

I live in a generally red state, purple county. My whole family, both sides, are here so we won't move unless H gets a job that is too far away for him to reasonably commute. If I'm being honest I'd rather live in a blue state, or Canada, but that is not an option.

[crazycornball]

Luckily New Orleans is a sea of blue in a very red state, or I might move. I don't know how republican reps keep getting elected here, though....probably because we have a lot of corruption. I've lived in IA and CO. The culture is so different here.

[honeylemon]

I live in a very red state and we're moving to an even more red state next year. We don't get a whole lot of say though since MH is military.

I'd like to move to a swing state. I'd feel like my vote meant more there.

[bullybutt]

May 25, 2017 8:39:48 GMT -6 shellsncheese said:

I'm not moving. My entire family lives here. Besides, Oklahoma needs more blue in the sea of red.

I'm a fellow Okie as well. I would love to get the hell out of here but custody issues prevent me from doing so. I am doing my part to participate in things on the grassroots level.  

[blurnette989]

I live in a state that used to be super red and has been purpley blue these last few cycles. I live in a bright blue speck surrounded by red though. It's hard to even just be surrounded by red. Last year the KKK was passing out flyers in a subdivision nearby. There are guys who protest everyday outside the art museum with confederate flags. It can be hard. MH and I get ragey a lot.

But now we are jumping ship for Portugal, so I think my uber liberalness here will just be middle of the road politics there.

[jkjacq]

Hi there
Can I play? I lurked TCF forever but never made the jump to an account.

I live in Idaho which is red as red can get so I'm a tiny blue dot in a county that is sort of becoming more blue.

[wesleycrusher]

I'm in PA, which went red last election. We live in a navy dot in a sea of red. I think he election showed us how important it is for us, with the way our system is currently set up, to stay in the red or swing states. Here is a good article I read shortly after the election.


www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/09/don_t_move_to_canada_liberals_move_to_a_swing_state.html

[Bluebird]

My situation is similar to @heartbot. Since we live in a blue city, I feel a little more insulated, but it's certainly eye-opening when I visit my sister in the small town she lives in. My whole family are moderate Republicans though, so moving wouldn't change anything for me.

[athn64]

I live in a very red area of a blue state. It's my home. I think if all of us blue dots move, we lose the chance of influencing local elections and isolate the deeply red parts even more.

[Risscaboobs]

No. I wouldn't really consider moving for that reason. There seem to be more and more blue dots with the younger generations, so I guess i'm just hoping, maybe *ONE DAY*, I'll at least be in a blue county. Maybe. Probably not.

[shellsncheese]

May 25, 2017 9:02:02 GMT -6 bullybutt said:

May 25, 2017 8:39:48 GMT -6 shellsncheese said:

I'm not moving. My entire family lives here. Besides, Oklahoma needs more blue in the sea of red.

I'm a fellow Okie as well. I would love to get the hell out of here but custody issues prevent me from doing so. I am doing my part to participate in things on the grassroots level.  

I'm a teacher here and so I've considered leaving and teaching in Texas, but I just can't leave my family. We are very close (despite the fact that they bleed red). I just can't wait til 2018. Hopefully we'll vote in some better legislators and Fallin will be gone!!!

[anastasia]

I live in the reddest (I think) part of a pretty blue State. It's maddening at times, but I try to be a good influence wherever possible.

[wesleycrusher]

I'm just gonna speak on PA for a sec, which is my swing state.

PA's state house and senate are heavily republican, but the governor is a dem and the state supreme court swings liberal. So truly divided. Gov Wolf is up for reelection next year and his Repub challenger Scott Wagner is so so awful and really bullied and bought his way into his seat. Did I mention he's awful? We need to reelect Gov Wolf because he is THE stop gap. Also PA is the third most gerrymandered state in the US and there been a big push to challenge this lately. Blue voters leaving the state really bums me out because we are so closely divided and truly every vote is needed or it's all going to go to shit.

[amylou]

I've lived in Georgia my whole life. Most of our family is here and in general I like where we are now. It can be frustrating at times (this last election cycle has been particularly painful) but I have been able find like-minded friends and now know enough people who have similar ideals that I don't feel completely alone. There are more areas outside of Atlanta that are slowly turning more blue and that gives me hope as well.

[bullybutt]

May 25, 2017 9:58:15 GMT -6 shellsncheese said:

May 25, 2017 9:02:02 GMT -6 bullybutt said:

I'm a fellow Okie as well. I would love to get the hell out of here but custody issues prevent me from doing so. I am doing my part to participate in things on the grassroots level.  

I'm a teacher here and so I've considered leaving and teaching in Texas, but I just can't leave my family. We are very close (despite the fact that they bleed red). I just can't wait til 2018. Hopefully we'll vote in some better legislators and Fallin will be gone!!!

You're not a ginger are you?

[shellsncheese]

May 25, 2017 10:45:42 GMT -6 bullybutt said:

May 25, 2017 9:58:15 GMT -6 shellsncheese said:

I'm a teacher here and so I've considered leaving and teaching in Texas, but I just can't leave my family. We are very close (despite the fact that they bleed red). I just can't wait til 2018. Hopefully we'll vote in some better legislators and Fallin will be gone!!!

You're not a ginger are you?

No I'm not

[daffodilsandcoffee]

Hi! I live in Indiana. It's not likely that we will move. Besides family reasons, my husband is a mechanical engineer, with a lot of experience in the automotive industry. So most of the jobs are in equally as red states (or purple, like Michigan).

I just try to do the best we can to cause as much change as we can here. I also kind of like that I'm not insulated; I don't have to listen to Fox News or read newspaper articles to know why the other side feels like they do. They are my neighbors and friends and family.

[charlotte]

I grew up in a swing state, but have lived in dark red states ever since. I would give anything to move back to a swing state or experience living in a blue area.

BUT I just try to remind myself that it really wouldn't help our cause if all of us blue dots moved to the same areas. We sort of have that problem already with how the majority vote does not always align with the electoral college. The long-term impact is only going to happen if we all work as hard as we can for change in our red areas, not just shouting at republicans from across state lines in our blue safe havens.

[criss]

I'd love to get my kids somewhere bluer. At least somewhere purple. But DH and I haven't had great luck with jobs so we don't really have many options.
It's hard to make friends when I'm surrounded by confederate flags and am afraid to mention politics/ healthcare/ current events/ anything important.

[robot]

We used to live in NC and as much as I did like it (and we were in a very blue county), I wouldn't go back, specifically because of the politics. I can truly see the appeal of being there, fighting for change, but at the end of the day it's not what I want my DD being exposed to in school. And we have a large number of friends who would not visit us in places with discriminatory bathroom laws and such.

ETA I'm a fan of doing what I can from the outside, phone banking and such.

[enchanted]

I completely understand not liking it, but staying because of families and jobs. We have no family here and my husband will not be at his current job forever. We will probably end up in a blue city like Seattle or Boston before it's all said and done.

[nenarene]

I'm in Ohio but in a VERY red county. I have thought about moving to a certain city and part of that reason is because the overall political climate would more line up to my beliefs. It would not be my sole reason for moving though.

[Bookshelves]

I've thought about it, of course, but there are pros and cons to living anywhere. To me, the pros of living where we do still outweigh the cons, so here we stay. To me it is most important that I raise my children with certain values and set a good example, which I feel is what my parents did. My kids can form their own consciences from that, and that may or may not mean they'll consider themselves "blue." I hope we'll have moved on from red or blue by then.

[mrspipp]

I am in a very red state, in a very red county. DH is from the PNW, and a part of us longs for moving to be near like-minded people. But we are near my family here, and he is not close to his, so for now we are here. My concern is as more power gets given to the states, we may need to make a change.

[lilafowler]

I am from the magical land of Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, so extremely red. My husband and I often dream of moving to a state where our vote "matters," but ultimately, we aren't going anywhere due to family. Our area is a little more purple than most, but living here during the last year has been tough.