One State Two State
Red State Blue State Redux

Rockvale, TN July 22, 2006 - - I live in Tennessee, which is a very Red state. Blue man in a red state.
We're getting ready to have our primary elections here, where the would-be candidates square off against each other to determine who is going to actually be the Democratic or Republican candidate in the general election coming up in November. I've noticed that the Republicans are slinging mud, and one of the biggest accusations each has for the other is that their opponent is "not truly pro-life."

For my European friends I'd like to say, "yes, we have only two political parties here and it doesn't make much sense, but there you have it. We're Americans and that's the American way, and don't forget what we did for you after World War II or we'll kick your ass again. So there." But I won't.
I'll just stick with saying that we're a simple people and we like simple politics. That way we don't have to think too hard about things.

Basically, the Red states are those states which, with a few exceptions, are toward the South and central part of the country, while the Blue states are those states which, with a few exceptions, are those states in the North and on the coasts. The people in the Red states believe that the Blue states think of them as ignorant redneck jackasses. The people in the Blue states believe that the Red states think of them as elitist snobs. Both sides are correct. Blue staters ARE elitist snobs and Red staters ARE ignorant redneck jackasses. Red staters tend to vote Republican, but only because, since we only have two parties, they can't vote the straight Fascist ticket. Blue staters vote Democratic but only because we don't have actual viable Green and Socialist parties.

One of the things that supposedly distinguishes the Republicans from the Democrats and vice-versa is their projected stance on abortion, also known as birth control (Democrats) or baby-killing (Republicans). Democrats tend to spawn women who have higher education levels and who work and achieve well into and sometimes past their reproductive years. Republican women tend to have babies early and more often and to forego higher education. I'm just talking trends here, not absolutes.

Living in the South, which, including our coasts, is basically all Red states, there is a higher percentage of teenage mothers while Blue state moms, when daughter comes home pregnant, tend to visit Planned Parenthood with her in tow posthaste so as not to screw up her Stanford career.

So that you have a situation where, here in the Red state Deep South, there are a lot of births to unwed, unprepared girls, while in the Blue states out on the West Coast in particular, you have a lot of women who become finally ready to have children only to discover that their chances of conception and carrying to term are somewhat diminished, that ticking biological clock and all.

The other day, my daughter pointed out to me an ad in one of the conservative magazines we have around here. In the ad, a lawyer was seeking to adopt a baby for a couple in California from one of the pregnant unwed moms-to-be, of whom we have a lot, as I've said The ad said that the child would be totally secure in growing up, that he would go to college, and would basically want for nothing; financial support and love in abundance would both be provided. His chances, in other words, to have a decent shot at life would be greatly improved by giving him or her up for adoption by the couple in Cali. A kind of deal that an unwed mom might see as being "the right thing to do".

It struck me as odd that this child, who after all was being brought into the world as a result of a Conservative world-view, was going to go off to California probably to be raised as a Liberal. There's a certain symmetry to that which I find fascinating.

Panama

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