how can people living in the most stunning parts of the US (arizona, utah, south dakota, wyoming, nevada, montana) see the beauty around them and vote conservative so much that theyre all red states with no remorse
like “look at all these amazing natural formations i get to wake up to every single day...mother nature sure is beautiful. i think i will not vote in favor of preserving it because climate change is a lie up by the government”
Idk about the others but keep Arizona's name out of your mouth lmao we deal with massive voter suppression and most of the population, at least in southern az, lives in poverty. the state wouldn't be red if it weren't for the gerrymandering, voter suppression, and awful shit governor.
we're literally trying our best in AZ so go look at the goddamn grand canyon and then maybe get off your high horse jesus christ
utah is also run by a literal cult that encourages its members to be conservative in every sense of the word. trust me, we're trying to combat it :/
South Dakota has some of the largest and poorest Native American reservations in the USA (Pine Ridge especially) - Native Americans are the largest racial demographic in the state after whites, and they are a group that also experiences massive voter suppression.
(Also though, many rural area folks love their guns and will vote to protect them before they vote to protect humans, don’t forget.)
The US South & Appalachia are also gerrymandered to hell and back, it's not necessarily a choice to have some of the worst politicians in the US.
This is honestly one of the most infuriating things, no offense OP I'm sure you meant well, but a lot of people older than you & allegedly well informed like to completely ignore the fact that the US government has never, ever represented its people, ever. The only group that has never had to fight for representation is wealthy white men, & they are also the only group that has never had their existence legislated in such a way that they are disenfranchised indirectly even after direct laws are passed. Even poor whites in Appalachia historically faced a lot of the same suppression & intimidation from politically connected coal barons, for an extremely long time, even while those same politicians were using racism to separate the white working class from everyone else. West Virginia & Kentucky have some of the least representative politics due to the way district lines have been drawn in both states, but honestly a ton of states are massively hosed & have been for decades.
Nevada this year passed a law that sends absentee ballets to every registered voter automatically. To fight voter suppression as well as protect against Covid. The Orange attempted to sue us for this move.
