Republican rebirth in New England?
New England used to be fairly solidly Republican, with the exception of Massachusetts, and even Massachusetts retained a periodic tendency to vote for Republican governors. But the New England brand of Republican was always a combination of fiscal conservative and social—well, if not liberal exactly, then at least moderate. The New England strain was really more libertarian than traditionally conservative; rugged individualism was at its core.
Back in 2006, when the Democrats were starting the ascendance that continued with their 2008 Congressional landslide, the NY Times described the fade of New England Republicans, calling them an endangered species. But politics is a fickle thing, and trends can reverse themselves, as today’s Boston Globe demonstrates by headlining the tentative return of the rock-ribbed New England Republican. And if you read the piece, you’ll see that New England may be poised for a series of New York District 23-type confrontations between the conservative and moderate wings of the Party.
My guess is that this is a portent of things to come, and not just in New England. But a year can be an awfully long time in politics.
I think the NE Moderate Republicans got tired and began to stop fighting the leftist flood. There was and remains a market for practical, frugal new England republicanism. My last representative Nancy Johnson was in office for years (part of the problem) but she was able to blend wealthy suburbs with heaviliy Polish worker New Britain CT.
In her last few terms she seemed to be unable to stand strong for here prior opinions and started to give ground. Since she became a Democrate lite, it took only a little push to be beaten by an Obama like closet leftist.
Fortunately there is a new young GOP candidate Jason Bernier in the race who may take a few years to run out of steam.
I’ll wait and see. My lack of confidence in the New England electorate runs deep, very deep. When the winter weather is bad in Boston, a faint little voice within me since Chappaquidick failed to turn out Ted the K always wants to say,”They deserve it.”
Cue Perry Como singing, “Dream along with me…. I’m on my way to a star.”
something is definitely in the air. my ever flaming liberal brother in law was recently heard quoting margaret thatcher, the “the problem with socialism…other people’s money” thing. I wonder if he even knew who said it though. I think that people are becoming more educated on stuff like the constitution and what we have to lose by going socialist – definitely a good thing.
Remember, New England has never been conservative. Contrary to popular belief, the Puritans were actually representing the most left-wing edge of political thought at the time. Puritans became Unitarians in less than 200 years. 100 years ago, Republican didn’t equal conservative, or Democrat equal liberal. The pre-Kennedy Catholic Democrats were basically more conservative than Yankee Republicans. Joe Kennedy was a fanatical anti-communist and RFK worked for McCarthy. The Yankee reformers were on the left edge. The Boston Brahmins were bourgeois liberals since day one. The potential for conservatism in the region was squashed when Ted Kennedy dragged Catholics to the left.
I’m hopeful. I was speaking with a friend on the phone tonight who is basically surrounded by democrats at work. She says even many of them are scared – yeah, scared – about all that is going down so quickly with Obama and the left in general. I guess when the dems locked and chained the doors after Pelosi’s promise of bi-partisan cooperation, a few people saw some sort of light.
If this thing passes the house, and the nuclear option is taken in the senate, it goes to Obama’s desk. When he signs it, there’s no going back. People damned well need to be scared. Not to mention angry. I guess if any of us can get to D.C. for Thursday, it might not be a bad idea, eh?
Ford made a profit. Blew everyone’s minds. Now the union basically wants it. I knew it would happen. The union, after all, is now Ford’s competition, as well as its largest employee group. I don’t see that working out to well for Ford.
too well
Well, this is encouraging–and surprising. I know a few people in New England, and they are committed left-liberals. I have no idea how representative they are, though, and they certainly are members of the wealthy, Ivy-League “elite.” We live in the mid-South, which is of course fairly conservative.
So-hope springs eternal! Tomorrow should be pretty interesting.
The Conservative movement may arise reinvigorated.
Whether or not the current Republican party will be there is very much an open question. I don’t see it happening.
Gotta say, it looks like TmjUtah has the meat of it – I joined the NRSC with a donation, and it seems the most they can manage is “our records indicate you donated $??.??, could you donate $??.?? x2?” every month. The republican party has quite a bit to repair with its constituency… that’s a long row to hoe.
tjmutah is right on the money. i am thinking why support a national party that puts up this moron in ny state and gets out of the race just to support the demo. GREAT Rockerfeller repub!!!
which party really understands the conservatives? and who really wants us and had ethics and morals to support and stand up for what they think?
i do not know about the rest of the room but when i run out of money i stop spending. our fair gov’t keeps printing and borrowing money and making it 500 times worse!!
and when will people start understanding that medical is the next gov’t takeover of private industry? how can we pay for such a mess. if ss is so great why is it out of money? if medicare is so great why is it out of money in 8 years? and postoffice is running major red ink??? please help me understand how can dc think they can run medical better???
i will stop now…or i will pull the little hair i have left out!!
Republicans in NE used to tend towards the low spending, leave me alone frugal Yankee type.
Skeptical, practical.
At least as I remember them. Among the Republicans in my hometown were the widow of a Governor and the direct descendant of a Revolutionary War hero from our town. Down to earth they were, who implicitly told you to judge them for what they were, not for whom they were related to.
“My guess is that this is a portent of things to come, and not just in New England.”
I hope you are correct in your guess. I also hope that NY 23 sends a message to “RINO” type Republicans…
The biggest problem the GOP has in New England is that the media (Hollywood, TV, news) has joined with the Democrats very effectively in painting conservatives with the worst imaginable Southern redneck hillbilly stereotypes (racist, sexist, stupid, inbred, etc).
New Englanders don’t want to identify with that stereotype.
There’s a reason that any prominent conservative gets the vicious slander treatment. It makes any Republican think twice before venturing into the crossfire and it keeps middle of the road voters from wanting to identify with the “haters.”
The 5% of the electorate thus affected is the difference between a GOP president and Congress and Democrats in control in DC.
I still think there’s an enormous opportunity for the Right in stressing fiscal conservatism. Smaller smarter government, lower taxes to spur economic growth, less instrusive (nanny state) govt, etc. The problem is that the Right’s position on social issues alienates and overcomes too many people. I know many Liberals and even those that support expansion of govt power will readily admit that govt is wasteful and inefficient.
I’m not too sure about this thesis. While I’m registered as a Republican, I haven’t been too pleased with the party lately. I also live in a small (6000) New England town. And yes, everyone knows everyone else.
In the local election today I just voted in most of the races for the Democrat. Why?? Because the local Republicans think that the ideas that work on the national level (lower taxes, very limited government) also apply directly to the problems of a small town. They campaigned on lower local taxes which would lead to a drastic cutting of the school budget. This is not a town in southwest Connecticut where the schools are large, shiny, super well-equipped, and could absorb a 10% reduction without batting an eyelash. This is a place where the school pays the teachers the lowest salaries in the state, and as a result we get the dregs of the teachers. The high school is already at the edge of having virtually nothing, and the Republicans want to cut it back to that level. A definite losing proposition.
I’ve tried to argue to my fellow local Republicans that the best government is the local government, as we all know each other and we all have direct control over the spending. Paying taxes to fix a few roads we live on, and to keep our kids at a MINIMUM of an educational experience, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Get me started on Hartford or Washington and I sing a quite different tune. I always thought that was the essence of the original Constitutional intent: let us manage our lives locally. Not sure the Republican party, at any level, understands this any more.
physicsguy,
The state pays for the schools not the town. You made a mistake. Time to hit the books for you !
States need to make the right choices in where they spend their money and how. They aren’t making good choices.
You, are an enabler. It is my humble opinion.
BTW, I have a liberal friend who also argues like you do.
They seem to think that Republicans argue for no government and no spending.
I get exasperated with you types.
Prioritizing doesn’t mean “NO”. We’ve had unprecedented growth in government over how many decades and you continue to believe we can’t even FREEZE the current level of spending while we re-prioritize…
/throwing my hands in the air. You are like Nyom. You make bad choices at the ballot box and there is no hope i see on the horizon.
physicsguy wrote, “The high school is already at the edge of having virtually nothing, and the Republicans want to cut it back to that level.
I may have lost all respect for you with that one sentence.
Baklava, you’re not being quite fair to physicsguy. The amount that states contribute to local school budgets varies quite a lot. I now live in rural NY where the state contribution is relatively high, but I used to live in Massachusetts where the state contribution was far smaller and the town bore a huge share of the burden alone. Let me tell you, the schools suffered for it.
I know that the amount states contribute varies. I’m very aware
Physicsguy wrote, “and the Republicans want to cut it back
Each state is structured pretty differently – with property taxes going to fund schools in some states and income taxes in others.
I’m being more than fair to physicsguy for writing what he wrote and being an enabler.
If anybody believes that Republicans want less education than they are spreading lies.
Why? Because it is a lie. I do not know any conservative who wants less education. What we have is an out of control situation as I see it and it will continue unabated because of stupidity, incompetence and lying. I’m done. You can have the last word.
“The state pays for the schools not the town. You made a mistake. Time to hit the books for you !”
I would also suggest to Baklava that we don’t have enough information to make blanket statements re that particular tax/school situation in that particular town.
Here is some information. Regarding how that is in each town statewide, and how that relates to local tax burdens, I don’t know. But towns in CT range from Gold Coasters. to never rich milltowns that are now towns with dead mills.
Starting Salary: $39,259 1st in country
Average Salary: $59,304 2nd in country
http://teacherportal.com/salary/Connecticut-teacher-salary
Let’s blame the Republicans Gringo !
So now I’m an “enabler”?? I’m sorry but in my town a large portion of our school budget comes from the local property taxes. And, yes, Baklava, the Republicans, IN MY TOWN, do want to cut the education down to almost nothing. They ARE anti-education. The logic that this then means that I think ALL Republicans are against education eludes me.
What you don’t seem to understand is that these Republicans may be a more local phenomenom. The majority of them are either local farmers and/or retired persons without children. The most common comment they make is “Why should I have to pay for these kids?” How would you characterize such a statement? They aren’t interested in prioritizing as you suggest, they are definitely saying “NO.”
You said, “Why? Because it is a lie. I do not know any conservative who wants less education.”
Come to my town, I’ll introduce you to whole bunch of them.
Just because I will vote to protect what I think is in the best interest of the local children instead of adhering to some party line is an example of a non-rational approach. Some of these local Dems are decent people. I disagree with them on almost every state and national issue, but maybe they have it right at the LOCAL level compared to the LOCAL Republicans.
I just don’t understand the approach that anyone who votes for any Dem is then an “enabler”. Such a blind ideological approach is exactly what is wrong with the Dem. party at the national level, and you wish me to pursue the same blind ideology with respect to every election, local or otherwise. Sorry, not going to happen.
Education in new england is too expensive. I have a question concerning baracs czars. he’s such a smart boy. does he have a czar that cleans out houses located in the middle of the woods with a dart board on the door? look if you like tax and spend pain then keep supporting democrats. as for me if it’s a democrat it should be thrown out of office asap.
Education in new england is too expensive.
Hi Caroline, concerning your question. I work for the white house and I have your answer…see below.
I have a question concerning baracs czars. he’s such a smart boy. does he have a czar that cleans out houses located in the middle of the woods with a dart board on the door? look if you like tax and spend pain then keep supporting democrats. as for me if it’s a democrat it should be thrown out of office asap.
Yes, Caroline barac has a czar that clean out house located in the middle of the woods with a dart board on the door. By the way Caroline, barac even has a czar that if you fart and stink the room up his czar will come to your location and spray an air freshner.
Good question Caroline, stay tuned we here at the white house are adding future czars that will clean up after any accidents you have in your underwear, clean your ears for your and scratch your back among other things.
Regards, the white house susan summer
[note from neo-neocon: Why hi, Caroline Liberty and Susan Summer! So glad you could drop by—but I happen to have a policy here against sock puppets, unless it’s done for humorous effect by regulars. In case you don’t know what sock puppets are—although I suspect you do—it’s when a single person pretends to be more than one person in order to argue with him/herself or support him/herself.]
physicsguy wrote, “hey ARE anti-education.”
Clarity is key.
Please give us a link of each Republican on your ballot so that we can scour their website to find that sentiment.
You will fail miserably and therefore I submit – you are severely impaired as an analytical thinker. I’ve lost all respect until and unless you can show us the Republicans on your ballot that are as you say.
Pointing to a farmer does not do anything to tell us with clarity how each Republican on your ballot is for or against education.
http://aconservativeteacher.blogspot.com/2009/10/teachers-should-vote-republican.html
http://www.heritage.org/LeadershipForAmerica/education.cfm
Baklava,
Website for the candidates?? You got to be kidding! There are no websites for any candidates, Rep, or Dem.
Do you live in a small town? Do you understand anything that I’m talking about? Did you read in my first post about how all of us know each other?
In the races today about a third of the candidates were unopposed. Why? Because we vote on the person; we have personal knowledge of the people. There’s no need for websites in such a situation. I personally know 90% of the candidates, and so do the other voters in the town. For the Bd of Finance the Reps had two candidates unopposed, and the Bd of Ed had two Dems unopposed. Why again? Because the outcomes of those races were already determined by the personalities involved
Now to specifics: this year’s budget battle which happened last spring. Two proposals to deal with shortfall due to declining state funds to the town.
1) Dem– cut the regular town budget by 8%, keep the school budget flat, and a 1 mil increase in the property tax. This results in the layoff of several town employees, loss of some services and the delay of some road repairs.
2) Rep– cut the school budget by 15%. Results in layoff of 20 teachers, no sports, no field trips, no text replacement, and the kicker: loss of accreditation of the high school. All over a 1 mil increase. Note also how they did not have a cut for the regular town budget.
Under the New England Bd of Selectmen governance, the town budget is always by referendum. Which would you have voted for? The voters in the town approved the Dem version 60-40.
Yeah, well, with a PhD in physics, I am very impaired in my analytical thinking. Care to argue quantum mechaincs with me? See, I can be nasty too. 😉
br549,
Ford as a company is in a pickle since it has employed many people who also serve the owner of GM… that is the union has spies in Ford who can tell them anything they want to know.
bad place for ford to be in, unless ford can use that point to eradicate the union inside their plants under unfair competition.
Just because I will vote to protect what I think is in the best interest of the local children instead of adhering to some party line is an example of a non-rational approach.
“best interest of the child” is a partly line that hitler pointed out would be effective to use to take away all liberties.
the idea of not adhering to some party line and also saying you are adhering to a party line in one small sentence kind of makes an example, no?
note i am not saying of what…
p wrote, “There are no websites for any candidates, Rep, or Dem.
Then scan a picture of their flyer that went into your mailbox. Post it on FLICR or something.
Give us something – until then give it up! You are COMPLETELY DISCREDITED as a source of logical information.
p wrote, “Yeah, well, with a PhD in physics, I am very impaired in my analytical thinking.
Until you can provide proof that Republican candidates are anti-education – you are a lot of hot air right now.
Should I put put my 21 years in computers up as a way of blowing smoke.. or will you deal with the concrete issue and provide clarity
Sakes alive….
Yeah, well, with a PhD in physics, I am very impaired in my analytical thinking. Care to argue quantum mechaincs with me? See, I can be nasty too
sure!
but how that gives you any expertise outside of that is the real question. note that einstein was stupid enough to side with teh same politics that wanted to exterminate him.
the problem physics guy is that you have all the information on your secret town, and we cant.
you could make up everything about that town, and we cant refute until you give us a name.
however the minute you do, we WILL refute you. so like so many MODERN crap scientists (and i work with them), you are not wiling to let all the facts lie down and let them be interpreted.
the ONLY time i see reps against education is when its indoctrination, not education.
that is, at some point the edifices wells ahve too much poison in them. too much early sex ed, too many pockets of socilaist collusion, too many high earners ot of the class, too many rules against classical eduation in favor of socialist communist educations.
but you never let us know one detail you are not in control of…
whether we live in a small town is irrelevent, we are educated enough to go to the town and read and find out the inforation in detail.
Look at your two options… and lets analyse them with some more smarts than you claim to have.
and LETS SEE WHICH WOULD RESULT IN A BETTER END… not which one on the surface without much thought represents the idea that you want to claim.
Dem— cut the regular town budget by 8%, keep the school budget flat, and a 1 mil increase in the property tax. This results in the layoff of several town employees, loss of some services and the delay of some road repairs.
here, the dem says, lets hit the population for the mistakes we make. lets not reform the school. lets not get any pressure to bear on the problem. we can also use it as a stick and carrot that when the people get laid off, everone knows what side they were on and who chose to drop them. and road repairs can get fixed from some other fund, like passing things off to the fed highway, or maybe start an adopt a road program.
2) Rep— cut the school budget by 15%. Results in layoff of 20 teachers, no sports, no field trips, no text replacement, and the kicker: loss of accreditation of the high school. All over a 1 mil increase. Note also how they did not have a cut for the regular town budget.
what would be the end result of what he wants to do? your claiming a phd in physics, and picked the ONE physics subject that NO ONE understands to debate about!
its not their proposals that count, its what the execution of those proposals would result in.
may i ask why the teachers will get cut, and not the administrators? and THATS what your too smart to see.
that by doing that stuff, the republican will create a better end… why? because unless people have a gun, they respond to such things.
and if they are not coached to attack the guy trying to fix things, they will naturally blame the administrators for runing such a poor ship.
all those loses would result in the republican out of office if the people were stupid… if they were at all normal and smart, they would see that the people at teh schools need to change their ways!
no sports is not a problem. title IX has removed a lot of the male sports anyway. or are you going to tell me that you ahve enough girls in a town of 6000 to have equal numbers in sports other than cheerleading (which doesnt count as a sport) to be allowed to ahve thoser other sports teams?
if not, then that argument is moot anyway.
no feild trips. they are not needed and generally cause one class to crap 5 other classes.
and text replacement… they might do better with old texts that have not put in lysenko type science of AGW and other political things as science fact in them.
the big point is that text books is a indoctrination business that out of texas makes sure that we as a nation follow the un/unesco one world culture ideals.
the minute loss of acreditation hits the parents. they will start looking with a better eye. they will wonder why the people didnt make better choices when there was more money and so on.
i can see why you hate the republicans.
they wont keep building up a house of cards till it collapses the way the democrat you like will.
this doesnt mean that he is not for education.
it means that he is for fiscal responsibility… and RETURNING to that after the opposite or more of it as proposed, is a pain ful thing brought to you not by the people wishing to correct it, but by the peopel wishing to use it to their advantage to get your vote.
you now know which i would have voted for.
the first option puts them to sleep and does nothing to repair the problem only shifting it to infrastructure (what if the kids die in a bridge collapse as their bus crosses, will the result be seen with the irony it creates?)
the second one makes the people so pissed off at the bunglers at school that the person in office may have enough power to change them and put better people there.
phds ARE very impaired by their thinking!
i work with a lot of them, and they look up to me as being more predictive of real world things than they are. why? because they are so smart they cant see how things they think dont work CAN work. and so they never retune their thinking. instead they tell others who are tring to show them that they have a phd, and then requre them to listen to them because they have that degree.
a person who claims to be a scientist would know better (if they were good) than to argue from authority. such arguments are false.
and your phd in physics has no bearing on this subject.
there is a difference between analytical thinking applied the way scientists do, and analytical thinking the way that generals do, and social areas.
in fact, many of the logical things that a very educated person would never choose, are just perfectly fine.
the phds are abysmal at social arts outside their protected little world. i went to bronx science, and so i am very familiar with these people who think they know life and are too afraid to participate.
[i am very atypical for that group. VERY]
you have to think beyond the terms laid out to you.
and thats where your not getting what the others are saying.
you want 1) Dem to be the right choice.. but in order for that to work for you, you hacve to be ingnorant of being able to work out what happens next socially and how that can be used.
something politicos are not ignorant of.
which is why the Dem is playing you and the Rep looks likethe bad guy for being more honest.
by the way…
EXPLAIN why the town has to suffer for the school due to the bad planning of the school in running up budgets in good times and expecting some left liberal to bail them out during bad times when budgets shrink?
i mean how do you get spendthrifts out of the school?
vote 1 or 2?
and if the spendthrifts are unseated and removed, then in the long run, which is the better choice.
and for your other point..
i work along the lines of space time cavitation and that concept budding objects in time and space defines particles and allows their qualities to be divided between the two realities of the cavitation, and the connection to the universe proper. however space time cavitation is not a hypothesis on the table… so enjoy.
As Baklava noted, I am an educator and a proud union member- but I am also a conservative and Republican.
A rising tide floats all boats and the only thing that truly matters in life is results. As I noted in my post (http://aconservativeteacher.blogspot.com/2009/10/teachers-should-vote-republican.html) in my state, ‘anti-teacher’ Republicans did a lot more for education than ‘pro-teacher’ Democrats. And the same is happening nationally now too.
Teachers need to wake up and vote the right way next election- vote Republican.
Wow, Art, your the last one I would have expected to unleash such a tirade.
BTW, my comment on my PHD etc. was supposed to be sarcastic, not an appeal to authority.
My “secret” town will remain such. I do want to keep part of my privacy rather than spill everything out into the web. If you think I’m making everything up, well so be it.
My original intent was to show that not all Republicans are alike, and sometimes, especially on a local level, have less appeal. However, because I had the audacity to acutally vote for an evil Democrat at a LOCAL election, I now seem to be a pariah. Fine.
I’ll now go away and not bother all the purists here. Maybe if the subject of AGW comes up again, I can help you all out with the right science to discredit that idea…..oh, wait, I’m not able to think properly! Forget it.
You don’t have to. You can just type the text of the candidate’s flier right here. Do I assume too much that they might’ve given you a flier?? 😉 Something to go on?
Something like this:
My name is Baklava. I’m running as a Republican against Democrat xyz. I’m anti-education. I’m for firing teachers not administrators. I do not want results in the classroom. I want less education nor more. VOTE FOR ME ON ELECTION DAY ! And remember on judgement day I will have your soul.
Again, you avoided the topic with AGW instead of providing the literature to back up such a claim.
I’m glad I mostly stayed out of that. Part of the problem is that physicsguy was talking about a specific situation, and Baklava was trying to derive certain generalizations from it. Which I don’t believe physicsguy was trying to do: he was simply describing how it is in his small town.
People without children who didn’t want to raise taxes for schools: I knew some of those from my hometown in NE. I have a recollection from when I was ten years old of sitting in on a conversation with a Republican neighbor who was complaining about such people. The Republican neighbor later got involved with projects for the State Board of Education. As I had plenty of childhood experience with Republicans in a NE small town — my father included- who valued education, I found it difficult to see how Baklava concluded that physicsguy’s story meant ”Let’s blame the Republicans Gringo !”
It was a story about a small town in NE. Voting one ticket for small town candidates and voting another ticket for state and national candidates: sounds like the small NE town I grew up in. Voting for person and not for party, ditto. There was a poorly-paid town official who ran virtually unopposed for decades because like his father before him, he was a man of integrity who did his job well.
Another point is that in a small town politics tend to not be as polarized because most involved know each other outside the political arena. I once had an online exchange with a Venezuelan/American blogger who had grown up in the same town in Venezuela I had once worked in, who made the same point to me. (Exception to less polarizing politics in a small town: there will be relatively more abrasive eccentrics in small town politics, who in a bigger place would be laughed off the stage.)
Upon further reflection, I have concluded that physicsguy was making a generalization, but it was not the one that Baklava thought it was. I saw physicsguy’s generalization as being: don’t vote straight party without due reflection. Vote for whom you think will do the best job. Just like voters in NY 23 who will be voting for Hoffman instead of the S person.
ACT,
Amen!
Gringo wrote, “Vote for whom you think will do the best job.
Minus the campaign literature that physicsguy is not providing – showing PROOF that the Republicans were “anti-education” you might as well be writing about flowers and tapestry.
physicsguy made a claim that was decidedly provable if he had provided the literature.
THAT is what this was about. Until such time – the playbook gets played all over the country. Republicans = satan and Democrats are GOOD