Friday, February 16, 2007

Red State Blogs and Bloggers

There are two fundamentally different political philosophies in the United States, and those philosophies are nowhere more apparent that in National elections. Even the televised election results show the states in either red or blue, depending on the vote count in the particular state. Although there is a strong correlation between the "Red" states and Republicans, and the "Blue" states as being Democrats, it's really not that simple. By land area, most of the United States is red, but by population, it's about even. The high population density areas strongly blue, and the more rural areas are strongly red.

In my state, Washington, the total vote count makes it a blue state, yet once you get outside of the city limits of the largest cities, Washington is very red. Although I don't have the data to support the idea, I'll bet most countries of the industrialized world are the same. The more rural folks are much more "Red Staters" than their counterparts in the cities.

That led me to the conclusion that being "Red State" or "Blue State" really refers to a state of mind, not a physical geographical location. A "Red Stater" might live and work in a big city, and a "Blue Stater" might live in a rural area. You don't even have to be living in one of the United States to be a "Red Stater", you might be in France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or anywhere, for that matter, since it's a state of mind, not of geography.

What exactly is the "Red State" philosophy? I think we believe that everything revolves around personal responsibillity, rather than having the government take care of the citizens. we believe that the government is ONLY to do those things that individuals cannot do for themselves.

In trying to come up with some further explanation of the "Red State" philosophy, the Cowboy Code comes to mind. I suspect most "Red Staters" are in agreement:

The Cowboy Code

1. A cowboy always tells the truth and keeps his word.
2. A cowboy is a Patriot and stands for Truth, Justice and the American way
3. A cowboy never betrays a trust or takes advantage.
4. A cowboy is brave, but never careless.
5. A cowboy defends the weak and helps them.
6. A cowboy is kind to children, old folks, and to animals.
7. A cowboy is free from racial and religious prejudice.
8. A cowboy is clean about his person and in thought, word, and deed.
9. A cowboy is loyal, hard working and maintains a high ethic.
10. A cowboy is thankful for what God has given him.

A lot of you out there express yourselves way better than I when it comes to explaining what it means to be a "Red Stater", so please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below with your ideas on what it means to be a "Red Stater". I know what it means, but somehow I just can't quite explain it very well.

With all of this in mind, I put together the flag up at the top of this post. If you are a blogger and you would like to put it on your side bar to proclaim yourself as a "Red State Blogger", feel free to do so. I'd be honored if you did so.

If you want to link back to this post so folks can read the story behind the flag, that's be fine, but you don't have to do so if you don't want to. I'm not looking for links, I just want to see the "Red Staters" of the world get some recognition.

6 Comments:

At Friday, February 16, 2007 10:05:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think PJ O'Rourke sums it up pretty well:

"There's only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."

If you try to avoid the second, you end up giving up the first.

 
At Friday, February 16, 2007 10:11:00 PM, Blogger Mr. Completely said...

It's hard to encapsulate the whole thing in a sentence or two, but that comes pretty darn close!!

..... Mr. C

 
At Monday, February 19, 2007 10:23:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That sounds pretty much what I learned as a Boy Scout, several centuries ago.

Merle

 
At Tuesday, February 20, 2007 8:07:00 PM, Blogger Jerry The Geek said...

Mike,
if you're really interested in how states become red or blue (or purple!), here are a couple of websites which break down the presidential elections by counties

This one shows the counties, and provides "skew" results based on the influence -- weight by population -- of each county.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

The next one shows a huge graphic which not only shows the counties (including the outline, which I've found helps in detail) but also shows trending in presidential election years from 1960 through 2004. A special feature is that it shows the influence of "independent" votes for a few years. You can draw your own conclusions, if you know the candidates.
http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/

 
At Monday, March 09, 2009 5:21:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel that the idea of being in a red state of mind is quite accurate in terms of "Left" of "Right. And although I don't consider myself a far right or far left, I have no intentions of supporting partial birth abortions, or our new governments ideas of taking my guns away! I believe We as Americans should band together and stand up for our rights. We people who are in a RED state of mind should join political groups which support our way of life and are willing to fight for it. Which I might add could very well be destroyed!
God save my NRA!

 
At Friday, November 11, 2011 1:32:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Listen to the Duke


John T. Chance (Rio Bravo):
"Sorry don't get it done, Dude."

Sergeant John M. Stryker (Sands of Iwo Jima):
"A lot of guys make mistakes, I guess, but every one we make, a whole stack of chips goes with it. We make a mistake, and some guy don't walk away - forevermore, he don't walk away."

John Bernard Books (The Shootist):
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them."

Ringo Kid (Stagecoach):
"Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from."

Hondo Lane (Hondo):
"I don't guess people's hearts got anything to do with a calendar."

Hondo Lane (Hondo):
"Yup. The end of a way of life. Too bad. It's a good way. Wagons forward! Yo!"

Capt. Rockwell Torrey (In Harm's Way):
"All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else."

Colonel Madden (Back to Bataan):
"This kind of war, you've gotta believe in what you're fighting for."

Tom Doniphon (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance):
"Out here a man settles his own problems."

Duke Gifford (Operation Pacific):
"He was a good man. Make sure that it says so on the patrol report."

Tom Dunson (Red River):
"Every time you turn around expect to see me. 'Cause one time you'll turn around and I'll be there, and I'll kill you, Matt."

Marshall J.D. Cahill (Cahill, U.S. Marshall):
"Cause even grown men need understanding."

Col. Michael Kirby (The Green Berets):
"Out here, due process is a bullet."

Col. David Crockett (The Alamo):
"Republic. I like the sound of the word."

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

All contents copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and beyond, unless otherwise noted