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.