Mushy colors, and false dichotomies
Nov. 10th, 2004 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI live in a "Blue" state. I (had I been allowed to) voted for Kerry.
But painting me as being a raging Democrat fails to properly depict me. I am against the sorts of gun control that Party favors. I'm also a bit middling in my views of regulation, and taxes.
If you were to color me with balance, I am a muddy purple, more blue than red, with streaks of whatever color one wishes to use for social libertarianism.
Which is true of Texas, and Ohio, and Tennesee, and all the rest.
Take Texas (the object of scorn in some of those maps of frustration). She cast more votes for Texas than New York did, than Ohio did, than Pennsylvania did. In fact she cast more votes for Kerry than any state save California.
The country split, almost straight down the middle, and that split was reflected in almost every state. Bitching and moaning about the Red statesis not beneficial. It steals focus, and it risks pissing off the people in those states who didn't vote for Bush.
The unpleasant aspects of the Republican Platform are not going away, but they might find another stealth candidate; someone who look good, and then turns out to be as bad (or worse, entrenchment breeds complacency, and unfettered power {which both House and Senate, combined with Executive, and a tolerant Judiciary will only make exacerbate} and that may aggravate contempt), and we need the people who voted for Kerry this time around to vote with us the next time.
Worse, that sort of villification plays into the meme of the "hateful left" (which is being astroturfed into a real problem).
Don't let the great size of the map be used to distort the squeaker this election was.
Paint it in shades of purple, from sea to shining sea.
But painting me as being a raging Democrat fails to properly depict me. I am against the sorts of gun control that Party favors. I'm also a bit middling in my views of regulation, and taxes.
If you were to color me with balance, I am a muddy purple, more blue than red, with streaks of whatever color one wishes to use for social libertarianism.
Which is true of Texas, and Ohio, and Tennesee, and all the rest.
Take Texas (the object of scorn in some of those maps of frustration). She cast more votes for Texas than New York did, than Ohio did, than Pennsylvania did. In fact she cast more votes for Kerry than any state save California.
The country split, almost straight down the middle, and that split was reflected in almost every state. Bitching and moaning about the Red statesis not beneficial. It steals focus, and it risks pissing off the people in those states who didn't vote for Bush.
The unpleasant aspects of the Republican Platform are not going away, but they might find another stealth candidate; someone who look good, and then turns out to be as bad (or worse, entrenchment breeds complacency, and unfettered power {which both House and Senate, combined with Executive, and a tolerant Judiciary will only make exacerbate} and that may aggravate contempt), and we need the people who voted for Kerry this time around to vote with us the next time.
Worse, that sort of villification plays into the meme of the "hateful left" (which is being astroturfed into a real problem).
Don't let the great size of the map be used to distort the squeaker this election was.
Paint it in shades of purple, from sea to shining sea.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-10 10:16 am (UTC)The shades of purple through the Central Valley of California is some of the more heartening information I've gotten today.
TK
Cartograms
Date: 2004-11-10 02:02 pm (UTC)The one that is comparable to the above is:
Re: Cartograms
Date: 2004-11-10 05:10 pm (UTC)