Brahma Blogs

This team blog is designed to allow a group of friends who have known each other for 20+ years to share their thoughts on culture, politics, religion, relationships, etc.

Friday, November 05, 2004


Map on left is 2004 Electoral Red and Blue States, Map on right is Pre-Civil War Free vs. Slave States (Green vs. Red and Yellow) - Note the Similarities Posted by Hello

posted by cvo @ 5:07 PM  

8 Comments:

  • At 8:17 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    It is interesting.

    Of course, it may very well be that whatever property is shared among the former slave territories exerted itself at one time to make slavery economically attractive and at another time to make Republicanism politically attractive. It may be something like the relatively high density of persons, each of whom owns a large piece of land.

    The figure seems intended to mislead the weak-minded into thinking that there is some strong connection between the philosophy in which slavery is seen as good and the philosophy in which Republicanism is seen as good.

    These aren't the droids we're looking for.
    Move along.

     

  • At 10:22 PM, Blogger cvo said…

    I wasn't being judgmental about why the map on the left is almost a mirror image of the right one, but I do have a theory.
    This goes back to your thread in the "moral values" discussion about Democrats and their role in the Civil Rights struggle. I believe there is still some animosity (at least in the South) from those Democrats from the North forcing them to integrate instead of segregate. I believe it is the key reason for that region's swing to the Republican Party over the last generation. It resembles the kind of resentment that has been expressed by many "Red Staters" saying that "Blue Staters" are snobby elitists who look down on the Heartland and people in rural areas and stereotype them as hicks.
    It's hard not to equate those kinds of emotions with the kind of rift we were experiencing during and after the Civil War in which the North insisted that the South would have to give up slavery. I know that's an oversimplification of the Civil War, but you know where I'm going with that.
    I don't think it's a coincidence that so much was made of Howard Dean's remarks in the primaries when he said the Democrats must figure out how to talk to those "pick-up drivers with gun racks and Confederate flags on their bumpers".

     

  • At 10:34 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    That line of reasoning feels to me as though it contains some truth.

     

  • At 10:37 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    I was hoping that you would enjoy my reference to Star Wars.

     

  • At 10:42 PM, Blogger cvo said…

    Sorry, I meant to comment on that but I rambled so much I forgot.
    Speaking of which, I saw the trailer for the new Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith tonight before the screening of The Incredibles that I attended.
    Although I have not enjoyed the last 2 Star Wars movies near as much as Chapters 4 - 6, the trailer made me want to see Chapter 3.

     

  • At 10:56 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Is it possible to craft a long response without rambling?

    Just what is "rambling", anyway?

    I am thinking that you did not ramble.

    Anyway, I hope that Episode III will be better than Episodes I and II. Those just sucked. Episode IV is still my favorite. I watch IV--VI with some frequency on DVD still. And I have all available Star Trek on DVD (except for TNG season 1, which I just can't quite muster the strength to buy). And I have the B5, which really has not stood up to my long-term scrutiny as well as I thought it would.

    Yes, I think that there is some truth in the hick-reaction theory. But to be fair, the hick may be justified to some degree if he is not only reacting wrongly against the past moral integrity of the Democratic Party but also reacting rightly against the present and real moral degeneracy in the Democratic Party.

     

  • At 12:24 AM, Blogger cvo said…

    There is definitely a disconnect going on between the Red and Blue states and among the people who live in all states, and I don't know how those gaps are going to be bridged, but I'm fairly certain that President Bush is not going to be the one who builds those bridges in the next 4 years.

     

  • At 7:25 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Who could bridge the gap? And what form might a good bridge take?

    Do you think that, on the Republican side, someone like John McCain might have been able to do a better job? It seems that the Democrats usually try to pick a Southern candidate to build a bridge of sorts.

     

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