Comments on: The changing politics of New England

By: Ed Bonderenka

Ed Bonderenka — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 12:30:23 +0000

I just started rewatching “Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House”
At the breakfast table, Cary Grant remarks on the foolishness of his kids “progressive” (his term) teachers.
And the kids disdain him.
There it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PX-rAsMdi8

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 02:04:10 +0000

So my question remains, why was Massachusetts so liberal, even when the rest of New England wasn’t?

I don’t think it was prior to 196?. It was a state without much of a starboard, however. A number of statewide positions were held by temporizers (Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr; Leverett Saltonstall) and by dissenting Democrats (David Walsh). John F. Kennedy didn’t much care for liberals and called them ‘honkers’.

By: Douglas B. Levene

Douglas B. Levene — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 23:18:51 +0000

Vermont was ruined by all the New York trust fund babies who moved there. New Hampshire was ruined by all the Massholes who fled Massachusetts taxes but brought the same tax-and-spend ideology with them.

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 21:33:34 +0000

I suspect that some of your acquaintances wouldn’t have found it hard to get in touch w Whitey Bulger.

Gringo: Could be! Although the Winter Hill Gang was based in Somerville, north of Cambridge. Not all that close to Southie, in Boston terms.

Leo, the guy who offered to do the murders for me, was pure Southie. I don’t know what happened to him. The other guys ended up in the Boston Fire Dept.

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 21:15:16 +0000

neo: Those working-class guys in Boston — I’m sure were affected by the busing. But my impression was their attitudes towards blacks was more long-standing. One of my Boston work-friends still talks about blacks as “nigs” and makes no bones about his racism.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 21:12:13 +0000

huxley
I’m not completely unaware of how that aspect of Boston worked.

I guess not. 🙂
I suspect that some of your acquaintances wouldn’t have found it hard to get in touch w Whitey Bulger.

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 21:01:34 +0000

I’m not sure who’s guessing about Massachusetts’ liberalism.

neo: That was my guess and I don’t defend it as anything more. It’s all right if you don’t have an answer or even a better guess.

By: neo

neo — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 20:54:42 +0000

huxley:

I’m not sure who’s guessing about Massachusetts’ liberalism. I don’t profess to know the answer and I didn’t guess, either. I just referred you to a Wiki article about it.

Maybe some day I’ll decide to look into it more deeply. There is no question, though, that northern New England was conservative longer, and it also was far more rural. In fact, even today there aren’t any REALLY big cities in Maine, Vermont, or NH. Nashua NH, Manchester NH, and Portland Maine are the biggest, and they’re really not very big. Those states also have tiny populations in general compared to Massachusetts.

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 20:52:24 +0000

For the record I worked in Boston area factories and I went to bars with working class kids from Charlestown, Southie, and general Boston. One guy from Southie offered to kill the guys who murdered my brother.

I’m not completely unaware of how that aspect of Boston worked.

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 20:39:57 +0000

neo: C’mon.

Why was Massachusetts so liberal, even when the rest of New England wasn’t? I guess the big cities and all the universities are the answer, but it would be nice to nail that down better than a guess.