This November, for the first time since Bill Clinton's 1992 victory, I experienced affinity with my fellow members of the electorate, as all but one of my favored candidates won, and every one of the ballot items I voted for passed. From Barack Obama for president down to a yes for a proposition funding public transit improvements, my affinity with Seattle voters is sealed.
I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for just six years. Either I'm in the right place at the right time, or, as some might argue, I'm now living in the wrong place. Judging by the ballot results, too many of my brethren agree with me here in liberal la-la land. The reason the results of this year's presidential election were surprising to Seattleites despite poll indications that Obama would win is because 2004 was so upsetting. If you live in the liberal cocoon that is Seattle and are quite shocked when your fellow countrymen re-elect George W. Bush.
It's fashionable to criticize people like me, who were drawn to Seattle in part because of the liberal political scene. Shortly after moving here, I told an acquaintance it was comforting to see that my neighbors had a "No Iraq War" sign in their front yard; whereas, in slightly more conservative Tacoma, Wash., our "John Kerry" sign had twice been destroyed. The acquaintance then lectured me on the importance of being a voice of dissent in a conservative climate. Easy for her to say. She grew up in the socialist state of Vermont and lived in New York City prior to Seattle.
Apparently, what I should do is go back to one of the red states (by 2004 definitions, anyway) I've previously called home: Missouri, Florida, Texas, or Arizona. Except for a handful of years in California (one being the year of my birth) and about six years downstate in the red area of otherwise blue Illinois, I've spent the bulk of my life in the reds. And another thing: I'm a military brat, so you might say I grew up in the most conservative communities within those red states.
There's a political elitism at work when someone says that liberals should somehow infiltrate red areas, and, like so many religious missionaries, convert the heathens. I learned long ago that this is the wrong tactic to take, that instead, one must realize that our states, our towns, our very streets are not segregated ideologically. While attending a Catholic university, I organized a group of students to participate in the pro-choice March for Women's Lives. My 13-year period of vegetarianism began not in the comfort of a college town known for its vegetarian restaurants but while living in a small burg near a military base in the Midwest, where the best I could hope for, culinarily speaking, were bean burritos at Taco Bell. I was inspired by my best friend at the time, a girl who grew up there and had developed a fierce animal rights mindset more or less on her own.
This year, my one local candidate pick who didn't win, Marcia McCraw, is a Republican. But not so fast: She favors gay marriage, is pro-choice, and wanted to promote renewable energy. I'm not the only one who voted for her; our dependably lefty weekly for teens and twentysomethings, the Stranger, endorsed her, and not just to cast a protest vote against our incumbent lieutenant governor, who makes a sort of mockery out of an easy public office, his knighthood notwithstanding. Furthermore, he was one of few Democrats to receive endorsement by the Building Industry Association of Washington, which viciously attacked Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire.
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
Lisa -
Greetings from Kitsap County across the water!
You're not the only Dem who voted for Marcia McCraw. I did too (and convinced my wife and mother-in-law to do so)...and I was an alternate state delegate for Hillary (to show my liberal street cred, as it were).
In my experience, a liberal is substantially more likely to vote for a Republican than conservatives are to vote for Democrats - and this is evinced by the tendency of Republican administrations to be more dogmatic in their nominations than Democrats. That, and I'm sure you're well aware of the conservative tendency to see things as us-vs-them, and how well the cons tend to stick together even when all the evidence and provable facts are against them.
Whereas we liberals, as you well know by our shared voting choice, are much more likely to try to 'get along' with each other, to work with others, to reach a consensus agreeable to all. Don't you think?
2 - Glenn Contrarian
Oh yeah -
IMO to call The Stranger a "dependably lefty weekly"...is sorta like calling Ichiro a 'pretty good baseball player'.... The Stranger is so far left that to them, Ellen DeGeneres is a political twin to Charlton Heston...
...yeah, I like the magazine, too....
3 - Baronius
Such a great city.
You're right about its preening liberalism. There are more leftward places, but I don't think I've ever been anywhere that was so vocal about it. Of course, if Seattle thought that monarchy was hip, they'd build a throne.
4 - Lisa Albers
Glenn Contrarian:
Yes, I'm inclined to agree with you, at least anecdotally, though I have no hard data to suggest that Republicans aren't as likely to switch teams, as it were, as Democrats are. Funny comment about the Stranger. I find them somewhat libertarian-minded on some subjects, such as the porn industry, so I'm not sure that fits the far-left Seattle nanny state mold.