Rural Communities

Conservative Politics and Moving Out West

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One of the reason I want to move out west is to move into a political environment that is more comfortable and agreeable. Living in New York and being involved in City of Albany politics, I frequently run into people that are extremely liberal and whose views are much farther to the left then I could ever accept. At least for some city political activists, I’ve been characterized as downright conservative, even if I’m generally pro-union, pro-worker rights, and pro-strong environmental protections.

Black Angus

I find it particularly painful to be categorized as a conservative outsider. I support many progressive positions, and for people to just label me as a conservative who is against progress just bothers me. I want to have a clean healthy environment, I want to have a high minimum wage, and allow people to make their own private lifestyle choices.

PA 155 Frame 4

In a more conservative area, many of core beliefs, particularly on rural issues, will be norm for the society. I may face an uphill battle in rural areas on more progressive issues like the minimum wage or clean air from big corporate polluters, but wherever one goes there still is a core progressive group that I can join up with that shares my progressive beliefs. I find it much easier to fight for a liberal cause, then against a liberal cause I disagree passionately with.

Sandy Plains

One the things I loved best about attending college in North Country of New York State was I could find like minded Democrats in the region. Many of the progressives of the North Country shared the same beliefs that I hold dear, but also where strong progressives on the major issues. Rural progressives generally where not proponents of gun control or hostile to rural issues but still cared strongly about labor rights and strong environmental protections against some of the worst abuses across our country.

Madison County and West Virginia Homesteads 🐐

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Rural Poverty

Deciding to take a trip out to Madison County a week after West Virginia made me realize in how many ways the landscapes are similar, even while they are different. Less coal and more cows in Madison County, but many of rural homesteads and farms really aren’t that different. Hills are smaller and hollows less deep, but in many ways the people are all alike, trying to make a living out of a tough, rural landscape.

Modern American culture is much more standardized then one might want to admit. We all use and consume same products, the J.D. tractors in New York aren’t that different then West Virginia. Mobile homes and double-wides look much the same, the same breeds of goat and cattle are raised all over. People raise hogs and chickens all over, the make-shift shelters and pens really don’t look all that much different. The wood and coal smoke isn’t all that much different nor the pungent smell of farm country in the autumn after and during harvest time.

We are often told that West Virginia is somehow different then New York. But if anything, the accents aren’t much different or indeed in some parts of rural New York the accents might be even stronger. The thing is most things aren’t that different, as rural culture is both nationalized, as are products and services. And the land is the land, livestock husbandry that works in one part of nation works equally well in other parts of nation, using similar products. And people generally scrape by a living in much the same way, no matter which part of the rural country they reside in.

30 Zip Codes with the Fewest People Per Square Mile 📨

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30 Zip Codes with the Fewest People Per Square Mile 📨

1HamiltonHoffmeister 13353
2HamiltonPiseco 12139
3St. LawrenceChildwold 12922
4HamiltonLong Lake 12847
5EssexNorth Hudson 12855
6HamiltonRaquette Lake 13436
7HerkimerEagle Bay 13331
8UlsterClaryville 12725
9HamiltonInlet 13360
10St. LawrenceCranberry Lake 12927
11HamiltonBlue Mountain Lake 12812
12HamiltonLake Pleasant 12108
13St. LawrenceSouth Colton 13687
14EssexNewcomb 12852
15WarrenNorth River 12856
16EssexSaint Huberts 12943
17EssexMinerva 12851
18GreeneWest Kill 12492
19HerkimerOld Forge 13420
20OswegoRedfield 13437
21HamiltonIndian Lake 12842
22FranklinOwls Head 12969
23EssexNew Russia 12964
24OneidaForestport 13338
25HamiltonWells 12190
26FranklinSaint Regis Falls 12980
27St. LawrenceParishville 13672
28LewisGlenfield 13312
29St. LawrenceOswegatchie 13670
30St. LawrenceDegrasse 13684

Hometown 🏡

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Hometown 🏡

It seems like a lot of small town businesses in Central New York State and probably other places use the term hometown in their name. I guess living in the suburbs temporarily, with only a somewhat vague idea about where I want to live in the future, I’ve never really had a place to call home, and I certainly don’t have hometown pride.

But it must at some level be nice to have a place to call home, a community to be proud of. A place where you cherish your neighbors and friends, a place still not completely dominated by the anonymous big box stores that dot the freeway interchanges.