Funny enough, while a born and raised New Englander, I did live in Texas from 2012 to 2018 and the politics were a *shock* to my system. First time in my life that I went to the ballot box and was given the option to just check 'R' or 'D' and have the WHOLE ballot filled out for one party. I'd also never felt so much that my vote was wor…
Funny enough, while a born and raised New Englander, I did live in Texas from 2012 to 2018 and the politics were a *shock* to my system. First time in my life that I went to the ballot box and was given the option to just check 'R' or 'D' and have the WHOLE ballot filled out for one party. I'd also never felt so much that my vote was worth only a fraction of what it should be because our districts were so gerrymandered, and what I thought I knew of Republicans in New England was a far cry from the ones in Texas, who openly wanted a bigger and more powerful government (with *less* local control) so long as it served them. They didn't face any true opposition that could upturn their power, and they knew it.
Even funnier is that, while I was in Texas, Maine elected our own angry populist in Paul LePage. Because Maine has a long history of Independents and other third party candidates, LePage won his first race with only 37% of the vote, giving him the distinction of being one of the reasons Maine ultimately embraced Ranked Choice Voting in 2016. It's allowed us to continue to have multi-party races while supporting consensus among voters. Maine, like every state, is deeply flawed and a far cry from perfect, but my civic engagement has become a lot more satisfying since I moved back home. I do love and support all of my friends in Texas who are continuing on in their much harder effort to make things better.
Funny enough, while a born and raised New Englander, I did live in Texas from 2012 to 2018 and the politics were a *shock* to my system. First time in my life that I went to the ballot box and was given the option to just check 'R' or 'D' and have the WHOLE ballot filled out for one party. I'd also never felt so much that my vote was worth only a fraction of what it should be because our districts were so gerrymandered, and what I thought I knew of Republicans in New England was a far cry from the ones in Texas, who openly wanted a bigger and more powerful government (with *less* local control) so long as it served them. They didn't face any true opposition that could upturn their power, and they knew it.
Even funnier is that, while I was in Texas, Maine elected our own angry populist in Paul LePage. Because Maine has a long history of Independents and other third party candidates, LePage won his first race with only 37% of the vote, giving him the distinction of being one of the reasons Maine ultimately embraced Ranked Choice Voting in 2016. It's allowed us to continue to have multi-party races while supporting consensus among voters. Maine, like every state, is deeply flawed and a far cry from perfect, but my civic engagement has become a lot more satisfying since I moved back home. I do love and support all of my friends in Texas who are continuing on in their much harder effort to make things better.