A little progress.

1
In 2020, we had a young energetic local candidate running for legislature on the Democratic ticket. I was a big supporter of her. We're very rural and very red here, but she damn near won. I was chatting with her after the election, and she was miffed at the Democratic Party. She felt they were nothing but a negative influence on her campaign. They got after her after she was photographed at a trap shoot event with a shotgun. She also felt they damn near sabotaged her campaign. All of their advice was appropriate to the large liberal college town / state capitol 2 hours away, but completely inappropriate to our rural agricultural county of 17k residents. And they withheld support when she didn't go their way. That is, of course, their prerogative. But they are fools.

Fast forward to last month's meeting of our county Democratic Party. My wife attends (I cannot go anymore), and she told them to back off the anti-gun rhetoric. My wife is very much in line with most of the Democratic platform on guns, but she was furious that they don't recognize the losing strategy it is in the rural Midwest.

She has been more vocal about my shooting hobby with her Democratic friends. And guess what? A significant number keep saying, oh yeah, my husband loves to shoot. One said she found her husband's spreadsheet of firearms, and it went on for pages!

Anyway. Small progress. I'm not certain my wife has embraced the 2A to the extent that I have in recent years. I don't mind. Disagreement is good. I'm just glad she's not so rigid in her beliefs that she can't see the damage anti-2A is doing to us.

Meanwhile, 40% of the population has controls greater than 60% of the legislature in my state. I wonder if rural voters will ever be taken seriously by the Democrats.

Re: A little progress.

3
I'm not hopeful cooper. I don't think the Democrats have any interest in rural voters, they just wrote them all off as red voters. I posted an article a while back that argued that Democrats in Congress were out of step, because their advisers are college interns or recent graduates who have no real world experience. They are generally free labor so they abound. That's one of the reasons that I switched to Independent, the Democratic Party didn't represent my interests so why keep affiliating with them. They represent wealthy urban voters, suburban voters are still in play and rural voters are not important them. Sorry your local candidate didn't get the support she needed.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A little progress.

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My wife has come a long way. She doesn’t mind my shooting or owning guns, she rather encourages it time to time. She doesn’t care to have me talk about it as much and tends to slightly lean toward a Finnish perspective on gun ownership. She’s not closed in her perspective, but I suspect she would benefit more from a woman’s comments than mine at this point. She seems to have conflicting ideas, but is not opposed to the idea and need for self defense. She’s even brought it up a few times. And she has her eye on my S&W Model 41, she keeps telling everyone it’s her favorite of my guns to shoot.

Agree with highdesert, not optimistic on the dems reforming their stance.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: A little progress.

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This exactly mirrors my experience with the Local Democratic Party apparatchiks. They refuse to budge and never truly offer up a balanced candidate that could ever win in a semi-rural Ohio county. The local Democratic Party chair was over (my wife is a woman’s reproduction rights activist/advocate) and was disgusted that my 3 y/o was playing with my duck hunting decoys. “Your husband hunts?” She said with condescension. My wife is not a gun person, but she was in the army and doesn’t take kindly to our family being spoken down to or does she fear guns from an irrational unknowing perspective like many of those in the Democratic Party leadership do. She has a healthy respect for them as a dangerous weapons that must be secured and used properly.

Connor lamb shows us that this model can work in a rural/suburban Midwest district - at least when the wind is in the sails for Democratic candidates and the district or office is somewhat competitive. Connor understands the issues affecting his district, but could never survive the Democratic Party hierarchy here in ohio. They demand rote compliance with their discordant views on individual rights and liberties.


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Re: A little progress.

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Speaking as someone that has a number of conservatives in my friend circle. RINO's are seen much like the Democrat party hardliners, only they pay lip service to the 2A when in public but are completely fine with sitting on their hands when it comes to voting on anything outside of fudd approval. Rural people are looked down upon by the elites of both sides of the political aisle. It's just that the Republicans In Name Only realize that their voting base are "Those subhumans located in fly-over country,so we need to treat them like they have some value" . My friends hate voting for the RINO's and have made it clear that they know both sides hate them for being who they are, they see it as leaving them with little choice. At least the RINO's try to lie about liking them. Most of the time they vote Republican as a protest toward the Democrat party. I mean that was the #1 reason the majority of my friends voted for Trump in 2016 when I asked them. One even said and I quote "I was going to write-in for another candidate when I walked up to the booth, but then I decided Fuck Hillary and pressed the button for Trump" . And with the way things have continued to go, I can see that happening again in 2024.

Re: A little progress.

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My city is a democratic stronghold in a red state. Which is good at times. But they banned gun shows in the city. Not gun friendly at all.

My wife did not like having guns around the house when the kids were growing up, so I was stuck with one, my Ruger MK II /bull barrel for awhile. Plus we were living in CA. I had several stashed at parents house. These days there's no shortage of guns. Now she does not mind considering the level of crazy trumpers out there. During the last election and and especially around 1/6 she kept asking if we had enough ammo.
Officials in Tucson plan to ignore a new "Second Amendment sanctuary" law signed earlier this year that bars the use of any state or local resources to enforce federal gun laws that conflict with state law.

The move by Democratic Mayor Regina Romero and the City Council again puts the city and state at odds over how to regulate gun sales and use.

The city has long tried to enforce gun laws stricter than the state's, including mandating background checks for guns purchased on city property and destroying seized firearms. Over the years, those measures were challenged after the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted laws barring the actions.

The new action came after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill in April declaring that Arizona is a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary. The bill was in part a response to the election of Democratic President Joe Biden, who has vowed to enact tighter firearms regulations.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/lo ... 874997002/
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”

Re: A little progress.

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Ridge83 wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:51 am Speaking as someone that has a number of conservatives in my friend circle. RINO's are seen much like the Democrat party hardliners, only they pay lip service to the 2A when in public but are completely fine with sitting on their hands when it comes to voting on anything outside of fudd approval. Rural people are looked down upon by the elites of both sides of the political aisle. It's just that the Republicans In Name Only realize that their voting base are "Those subhumans located in fly-over country,so we need to treat them like they have some value" . My friends hate voting for the RINO's and have made it clear that they know both sides hate them for being who they are, they see it as leaving them with little choice. At least the RINO's try to lie about liking them. Most of the time they vote Republican as a protest toward the Democrat party. I mean that was the #1 reason the majority of my friends voted for Trump in 2016 when I asked them. One even said and I quote "I was going to write-in for another candidate when I walked up to the booth, but then I decided Fuck Hillary and pressed the button for Trump" . And with the way things have continued to go, I can see that happening again in 2024.
Good analysis. Population density in my county is 28 people / sq mile. Everyone owns guns here. It's not even an issue. Example. We're in the process of becoming a foster home. If you've ever done that, you know the county (appropriately) crawls up your ass with a microscope to make sure you're safe, but around here storage of cleaning supplies is a bigger problem than my guns and ammunition. Frankly though, the guns/ammo are locked up and the cleaning supplies aren't (yet).

In this very rural county, a significant number of people feel completely shit on by the establishment, and their natural inclination is to vote for Tr*mp. They apparently don't mind getting shit on by a guy who pretends to shit on the establishment. His flags are still flying here, and he will likely sweep this region in 2024 after we hand over Congress in 2022 and solidify Tr*mpist supermajorities in many state houses as well.

Among those that hate the establishment, I suspect many are on the dole in one form or another if they would be honest (agriculture subsidies and tax breaks, etc.). I don't exclude myself, I'm just honest about it (I'm a physician and know a huge amount of federal and state dollars go towards propping up the busted system I work in; that shit needs to change too, but that's another thread).

So, back to the original point of the thread. Democrats could care less about this area. I think it's worse than ignoring us--I really feel that have true disdain for us.

The fascists will always be to blame in my eyes, but the opposition that didn't know how to counter the fascists is not blameless either.

Re: A little progress.

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The fascists will always be to blame in my eyes, but the opposition that didn't know how to counter the fascists is not blameless either.
That's about it. Both parties like living in their echo chambers and can't see and won't venture beyond.

My county is mostly rural we have 106 per square mile (the county is 20,000 sq miles), but you're even more rural. Kudos to you and your wife for wanting to become foster parents.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A little progress.

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cooper wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:15 am
Ridge83 wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:51 am Speaking as someone that has a number of conservatives in my friend circle. RINO's are seen much like the Democrat party hardliners, only they pay lip service to the 2A when in public but are completely fine with sitting on their hands when it comes to voting on anything outside of fudd approval. Rural people are looked down upon by the elites of both sides of the political aisle. It's just that the Republicans In Name Only realize that their voting base are "Those subhumans located in fly-over country,so we need to treat them like they have some value" . My friends hate voting for the RINO's and have made it clear that they know both sides hate them for being who they are, they see it as leaving them with little choice. At least the RINO's try to lie about liking them. Most of the time they vote Republican as a protest toward the Democrat party. I mean that was the #1 reason the majority of my friends voted for Trump in 2016 when I asked them. One even said and I quote "I was going to write-in for another candidate when I walked up to the booth, but then I decided Fuck Hillary and pressed the button for Trump" . And with the way things have continued to go, I can see that happening again in 2024.
Good analysis. Population density in my county is 28 people / sq mile. Everyone owns guns here. It's not even an issue. Example. We're in the process of becoming a foster home. If you've ever done that, you know the county (appropriately) crawls up your ass with a microscope to make sure you're safe, but around here storage of cleaning supplies is a bigger problem than my guns and ammunition. Frankly though, the guns/ammo are locked up and the cleaning supplies aren't (yet).

In this very rural county, a significant number of people feel completely shit on by the establishment, and their natural inclination is to vote for Tr*mp. They apparently don't mind getting shit on by a guy who pretends to shit on the establishment. His flags are still flying here, and he will likely sweep this region in 2024 after we hand over Congress in 2022 and solidify Tr*mpist supermajorities in many state houses as well.

Among those that hate the establishment, I suspect many are on the dole in one form or another if they would be honest (agriculture subsidies and tax breaks, etc.). I don't exclude myself, I'm just honest about it (I'm a physician and know a huge amount of federal and state dollars go towards propping up the busted system I work in; that shit needs to change too, but that's another thread).

So, back to the original point of the thread. Democrats could care less about this area. I think it's worse than ignoring us--I really feel that have true disdain for us.

The fascists will always be to blame in my eyes, but the opposition that didn't know how to counter the fascists is not blameless either.
Oh I know the democrat hardliners (even more so on the coasts) fuckin' hate us,that has never been of any question. We just happen to be "Their rubes" when a major election comes around.
And best of luck with the adoption, I hope everything goes well.

Re: A little progress.

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Republicans say they hate socialism, but they accept all the government subsidies that are offered to them. If they abolished all of them, they'd be thrown out of office. All governments do it, from the EU to China it's a reality of the modern age.

Both parties gerrymander districts, not just Republicans.
As detailed on the FiveThirtyEight redistricting tracker, 157 congressional districts have been drawn so far. Ninety have a FiveThirtyEight partisan lean1 of R+5 or redder, 55 have a partisan lean of D+5 or bluer and only 12 are in the “highly competitive” zone between R+5 and D+5. Compared with the old lines, this represents a net gain of six Democratic-leaning seats and two Republican-leaning seats and a net loss of five highly competitive seats.
That Democrats have picked up more seats than Republicans at this point is unexpected. Going into this redistricting cycle, Republicans had 2.5 times as many districts as Democrats to redraw (187 versus 75), yet that hasn’t translated into big GOP gains so far. Republicans have pulled their punches somewhat in states such as Indiana, where they could have converted the Democratic-leaning 1st District into a red seat (they didn’t), and Iowa, where they could have overridden the state’s nonpartisan redistricting agency to draw more solidly red seats (they didn’t do that, either).

At the same time, Democrats have gone for the jugular in each of the few opportunities they’ve had so far to gain seats. They used hardball tactics to push through a map for Oregon that eliminates one highly competitive seat and adds two Democratic-leaning seats. And they turned Illinois’s map from one with 11 Democratic-leaning seats, five Republican-leaning seats and two highly competitive (but slightly Republican-leaning) seats to one with 13 Democratic-leaning seats, three Republican-leaning seats and one highly competitive (but slightly Democratic-leaning) seat.

That said, our definitions of what is a “Republican-leaning” or “Democratic-leaning” seat are only one way of calculating each party’s net gains and losses. You can also look at who represents the newly drawn seats, and this method suggests more of an edge for Republicans in redistricting so far this year.
For example, a lot of those newly added Democratic seats are already represented by Democrats (they’re swing seats that the party won thanks to their strong performance in the 2018 and 2020 elections), so they don’t represent opportunities for Democrats to pick up House seats. In fact, if we just factor in which party currently holds the seat, I calculate that Republicans have already picked up two or three seats through redistricting alone. They’ve gained three seats via reapportionment (one each in Montana, North Carolina and Texas) and also turned two existing Democratic districts red (Rep. Kathy Manning’s seat in North Carolina and Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s seat in Ohio). However, they’ve also lost two seats via reapportionment (one each in Illinois and West Virginia), and one other (the Illinois 13th) was turned blue by Democratic cartographers. (That’s a net gain of two. The possibility for a third gained seat comes in Colorado, whose new 8th District has a partisan lean of R+3. Theoretically, that district would elect a Republican in a neutral political environment, but it’s close enough to be uncertain.)

Meanwhile, Democrats have come out even. They’ve gained two seats via reapportionment (one in Oregon, one in Texas) and redrawn one existing Republican district (the Illinois 13th, again) to favor Democrats. However, they’ve also lost one seat in reapportionment (in Ohio), and two of their seats have been redrawn to be red (again, Manning’s and Kaptur’s).

However, any redistricting assessment that focuses on gains and losses — whether based on the change in a district’s partisan lean or who now controls the seat — obscures an important way in which Republicans have benefited from redistricting this year: They’ve taken already Republican-leaning seats and moved them totally out of Democrats’ reach. If you look under the hood of the GOP’s two-seat gain, you can see that although they have lost nine light-red seats (which we define as having a partisan lean between R+5 and R+15), they have gained 11 dark-red seats (R+15 or redder).
All four maps that have been enacted so far in states where Democrats control redistricting (Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada and Oregon) have heavy Democratic biases going by efficiency gap (though, interestingly, Nevada is alone among them in having a Democratic median-seat bias). But eight GOP-controlled states have passed maps with significantly pro-Republican efficiency gaps, and most of those have Republican-leaning median seats too.

There’s no foolproof statistical test for gerrymandering, but our metrics suggest the maps in North Carolina (R+20 efficiency gap, R+11 median-seat bias), Utah (R+29 efficiency gap, albeit a D+1 median-seat bias) and Texas (R+15 efficiency gap, R+12 median-seat bias) are some of the most egregious of the cycle so far.3
Some of these maps, in fact, are so egregious that they may not survive long enough to get used in the 2022 elections (much less beyond that). Democrats have already filed lawsuits against several Republican-enacted congressional maps, including both partisan gerrymandering and racial gerrymandering suits in North Carolina. They’re also arguing that Ohio’s new map (which has an R+16 efficiency gap and makes 11 of the state’s 15 districts Republican-leaning) violates the partisan-fairness requirement for redistricting in the state constitution, and that Alabama ought to give Black voters the chance to elect a candidate of their choice in two districts, not just one.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/re ... publicans/

A lot more redistricting ahead.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A little progress.

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I've long been the sole pro-hunting voice in my friend group, and besides one other guy, none of them own any firearms... several, especially the women, have probably never shot one. Most of my friends joke about how my wife and I are "preppers" because I spend a lot of time shooting, hunting, and handloading and she maintains a good supply of canned goods and emergency supplies. They ignorantly poke fun at my stances ("why on earth would you ever need an AR machine gun?") and humor me when I serve wild quail.
But recently, many have told me that if the SHTF, they know where to come.
I'm not sure if that makes me happy or annoyed....
Crow
Minute Of Average

Re: A little progress.

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Crow wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:28 am
But recently, many have told me that if the SHTF, they know where to come.
Very generous of you. I've only invited immediate family and the very closest of friends to the end of the world at our place. My life boat ain't big enough for everyone!

It's been interesting that many of those who viewed me as mildly paranoid no longer due so post 45, wildfires and Covid.

Re: A little progress.

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You're "prepping" to live in Montana where anything can happen weather-wise and you and your family might have to survive for quite a while on your own. You've been preparing for Montana for a long time.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: A little progress.

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I have been saying it for decades... Democrats have a good platform, but they seriously don't know shit about selling and marketing.
Republicans are assholes who want their illegal shit to be legal.
Democrats are assholes who want everyone to live to their moral standards.

That's pretty much how the independent voters view both parties. And I don't see Dem's doing anything to change that image.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: A little progress.

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highdesert wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 12:37 pm You're "prepping" to live in Montana where anything can happen weather-wise and you and your family might have to survive for quite a while on your own. You've been preparing for Montana for a long time.
Indeed. Insane how long it takes to get anything done, including moving, in our current economy.
Crow
Minute Of Average

Re: A little progress.

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Crow wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:26 pm
highdesert wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 12:37 pm You're "prepping" to live in Montana where anything can happen weather-wise and you and your family might have to survive for quite a while on your own. You've been preparing for Montana for a long time.
Indeed. Insane how long it takes to get anything done, including moving, in our current economy.
Crow
You'll get there. Not only the pandemic related labor and supply issues, but Montana moves at a slower pace.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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