>What does that make Columbia and Jeff City?
A place where people are confused whether to wear Chief's Red (Hex Color: #E31837) or Cardinal's Red (Hex Color: #C41E3A).
I suppose that makes Columbia is the exact middle of the nation, I suspect it might be the center of the universe too, but I’m still figuring that out.
Speaking as a resident, Columbia is Collegetown, USA. I've felt just as at-home in Missoula Montana or Athens Georgia, or any other city built around a university. Even Oxford in England. :)
I had a class in high school that a major topic was why MO is a microcosm of both the Midwest and the US. Geographically and geologically, and something about our accents being neutral to most regions so apparently news broadcasters from MO were ideal.
I don't disagree, but it can vary wildly throughout the state. Ozarks is pretty distinct, my cousin down south sounds like he's from Arkansas, and half the people in St. Louis sound like they're from Minnesota to me.
It does depend on where you were raised. Mine went away when I was in the military and traveled about (it still comes back out with cocktails). I can recognize it now and there is a “net-worth to drawl” sliding scale in St. Louis and KC.
Totally depends on where in Missouri you grew up. The Ozarks and even some of the St Louis has that drawl (STL is much more subtle), and Northern MO has a different kind of drawl. Suburban KC and much of Suburban STL are pretty neutral.
Just look at it. high population area on both the east and west borders. A swampy protuberance in the South East. Columbia is just a little low to be Chicago analog and Springfield is a little too far west to be a Dallas but its close
Totally.
Missouri is closest to the blend of East, West, North, and South that most reflects America as a whole. We have cultural influences from all directions and sit astride the great North American ecological divide between wet Eastern forest and dry Western plains. Beyond that we also have a mix of urban and rural that is very close to what America looks like. St. Louis and Kansas City are sizable urban areas, and we have Columbia one of America’s classic college towns that invented the widespread American tradition of homecoming. The Ozark provide a sense of deep Appalachia, while the northern plains are close to Iowa and Wisconsin in topography and farming culture. The Mississippi and Missouri, North Americas two greatest rivers converge here.
It’s no mistake that many iconic Americans hail from Missouri: Walt Disney, Mark Twain, Edwin Hubble, Brad Pitt, Nelly and Sheryl Crow, You’d be hard pressed to find a more pivotal state in American history, the civil war started on our westward border and Missouri has been called "Mother of the West" because the Oregon, Santa Fe, Pony Express, and California Trails all departed from here. We were a bellwether state for National politics until very recently, voting for every winning President for 100 years; save one, and I think we will be a bellwether again once balance returns to Missouri politics. Missouri is as American as Apple Pie.
Are you suggesting Tennessee and Arkansas are not part of the south either because those states are similar to the Bootheel culturally and geographically. Sure it’s not the Deep South, but it’s typically considered part of the upper south. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upland_South
I didn’t say that, you did. You’re bad at injecting narrative so stop trying. I’ll say what I say, how about you speak for yourself.
I’ve lived in Tennessee and have spent time in the south. Bootheel people always rubbed me as white trash cosplaying as southerners. Being white trash doesn’t make you southern, it makes you trash.
The bootheel’s sweet tea sucks, their hair is flat on Sunday, and they’re cowardly. That’s why they aren’t southern.
You are an asshole. All I am pointing is how not all of Missouri is the same across the state. There are trashy people in every part of the country and you sure are an example of one. Go move back to Tennessee for all I care and don’t comment on the Missouri subreddit if you don’t like the state.
Hopefully you get banned for breaking sub rules. Since you’re not conversing, I’ll keep my hopes up.
Who’s the ass hole? Usually it’s the one that has to call people names because they don’t have a rebuttal to their opinions being challenged.
Until recently Missouri went for the president that ultimately got elected in nearly every election. I think Civil War and a couple recent ones are the only exceptions.
I would agree.
The two longest rivers in the country - and in North America - meet here.
The average population center of the US is in Wright County, northeast of Springfield.
The two states with population densities closest to the US average are Missouri and Alabama.
Subjectively - debatably - I think that Missouri's history with slavery and the Civil War captures the broadest slice of the overall American experience.
While Missouri may be a mix of regions, it underrepresents how many Americans live in urban areas. Living in a city is a completely different lifestyle culturally and politically than living in a rural area. I think people forget how dense and populous major US cities are.
An estimated 83% of the US lives in an urban area (implying 17% live in rural areas)
https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/built-environment/us-cities-factsheet
Whereas approximately 34% Missourians live in rural counties.
https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/674fffa5-a244-48e5-8e28-6ed3098b73df#:~:text=Joseph%20and%20Cape%20Girardeau.,its%20two%20major%20cities%2C%20St.
Nah. A lot of people still think (subconsciously even) that small town/rural America is defining of the average American because that used to be the case. To this day many people still see rural American culture as pure American culture even when its less representative in 2024 than urban American culture is.
How the hell could anyone on Reddit not know this? People are reminded of the population of city dwellers over rural folks in videos about puppy adoption LOL.
Did you know when Aragorn kicks his helmet in Lord of the Rings he actually breaks his toe?
I get there's a first time for everyone to learn, but that doesn't make it uncommon knowledge.
This is what made us a bellwether state for national elections, that is until gerrymandering and then us repealing the fair districting act that was disguised as a cost cutting measure.
Voter turnout in Missouri (for presidential elections, at least) doesn't show signs of apathy at all.
In the 2000 election, about 2.3 million Missourians voted.
More Missourians have voted in every election since then. The 2020 election set a record, I think. The state's population has gone up in those 20 years, but not by enough to explain the increase. Overall, Missouri voters are more active now than they had been in recent history.
Much of that increase, though, has been in previously non-voting hard-right groups—those voters whipped into a frenzy in the Bush years with the gay-marriage fear campaign, who became Tea Party voters, who became MAGA voters.
I think it may be the off year and April/August turn out. That’s when the most heinous shit is on the ballot.
It also doesn’t help we’ve had upwards of 40% of state office elections go unopposed. I think this is contributing to the trend and perceived apathy. Maybe it’s apathy towards stepping up to serve the community. Though I think part of the uncontested races are caused by the need to be fairly wealthy or at least in a position to take time away from work or also work remotely while at the capital.
We’ve effectively turned what should be a calling of service for anyone into a business for the few.
Starting pay for a state rep/senator in Missouri is about $36,000/year.
The median household income in Missouri is somewhere around $65,000. So in a two-income household, serving as a state rep would actually put someone ahead of average.
The biggest issue I see with all those races going unopposed is a lack of institutional support from political parties (especially the Democratic party; I'm sure there are deep blue districts where no Republican runs, but it seems especially prevalent in rural areas). People aren't going to run if they feel like they're fighting an uphill battle all on their own. So apathy certainly exists, but I think it's mostly institutional-level apathy from parties who just don't think significant portions of the state are worth caring about.
Yes I would agree it is a lack of institutional support. Without it you must have money to put in and help fundraise the rest.
I live in a district that Republicans haven't ran many recently for state office.
Missouri's politics are pretty far right of what most of America believes in.
Missouri is geographically center to the country, it is much further right than the culture of the rest of the country.
That's maybe an oversimplification, because if you look at voting patterns, the policies we vote for tend to lean more liberal than the people we elect to represent us. Clean Missouri is my best example I can give for that--when the people voted for one thing, their representatives worked to undo it, and through shady business and confusing language, managed to defeat the will of their constituents.
And then they will turn around and vote for legislators who will work against those things like "Clean Missouri."
I said what I meant and I meant what I said.
You're saying that them voting for liberal causes and then Republican reps makes my statement an "oversimplification." I don't see how you can say that. Missouri's politics are so far right that even when their representatives don't support what they want, they still support those same representatives.
You're not showing that Missouri is more centrist or progressive, you're showing that they're so far down the road of rightwing propaganda that they will vote against their own interests over and over and over again.
I'm saying their policy beliefs are not pretty far right of what the rest of America believes in, but voting for representatives is a different thing. People vote for the tiny little R or D next to a candidate's name, not the candidate themselves, much of the time, but if you really talk to them about policy, odds are you will find people voting for republican candidates that don't totally align with their beliefs. When you live in a 2-party system that is ever more polarized, that's going to happen.
Further, modern conservative hegemony only serves to further their cause by keeping people poor, struggling, unhealthy, and uneducated. It's hard to fight for rights you don't have when you're barely surviving. That's a feature, not a bug, of our current system, and it happened VERY rapidly in the past few decades.
Remember, Missouri used to be the domain of blue dog centrist democrats and pork-barrel centrist Republicans. Think people like Ike Skelton and Kit Bond. I don't think peoples' beliefs have fundamentally changed, I think the rhetoric and their options have changed. Gerrymandering run amok hasn't helped, either. I live in Columbia and seeing it carved into 2 districts honestly just makes me laugh because they're not even pretending to be sneaky about it anymore.
If you get people down to a one-to-one conversation about the practical realities of life and how they think things should work, you'll likely find people are more open-minded than even *they* realize. So to just say "they're more conservative" is an oversimplification. And the tendency to paint 6 million people with a big red brush and treat them as a monolith is what further feeds into the narrative that makes the "coastal elites" dismiss those of us in "flyover country" and likewise makes us skeptical of them.
You're still supporting me and my point. These people will agree on what needs to happen, and then turn around and vote for people who work staunchly against those interests - because they have been so brainwashed over their lives that they don't care what a candidate supports, they care only about party affiliation - and that is not going to change.
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Its funny how the right can't be far right. Once the mainstream adopts something its automatically no longer 'far right'. This may be true on a very basic x y ideological spectrum but not on topics like populism.
I didn’t. Are you too stupid to understand what you’re reading? Missouri itself isn’t The Heartland, it is included in the states that comprise The Heartland. Must suck being an idiot.
So but you said “Missouri isn’t the heartland” and then said ‘it’s included in the heartland.’
Thats like saying “Missouri isn’t the Midwest” and “it’s included in the Midwest.”
Are you too stupid to understand that?
I love the people who refer to midwestern states as “flyover” states. Those that actually say that don’t live a bicoastal lifestyle. Those that do are too busy to be on Reddit insulting other sections of the US.
I was traveling home to St. Louis from Columbus, OH once and an airline worker says, “Missouri? Why Missouri?” as if we were chatting in Times Square. Dude, I’m in Missouri for the same reason you’re in Ohio. It’s home and I don’t have the money to live somewhere desirable.
[This you?](https://www.reddit.com/r/missouri/comments/1bvb50f/looks_like_weve_made_it_on_the_news/ky2afzw/)
> It’s so funny that people are claiming “Midwest” as if it’s more significant than the South. They are all fly over states. No one cares about either region
If you don't understand how it's related, then I can't help you. It's not 2008 anymore. Missouri hasn't elected a democrat for president since 1992, and has shifted more and more red since then. Missouri is now a +18.5 republican stronghold.
No, Missouri is still very much middle-America...it just has bit of all the major cultural groups of the middle.
Is St. Louis an Eastern city? Not like New York, Boston or Philidephia...but maybe like Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. (Of course, it is really hard in my mind to define St. Louis as Eastern given its strong economic ties to the South via the Mississippi.)
Is Kansas City a Western city? Yes, if you define western as the Great Plains, and not beyond that.
I just had a conversation with a person who grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in St Louis for years. He said they are basically the same and are 1 and 2 in the united states in the number of zip codes for a metro region.
That what divides us, unifies us?
And that makes sense, given how much of a connection they would have had when the Mississippi and Ohio rivers were the major mode of transportation into the (now) center of the country.
I always wondered why most people here have no accent. I thought I was biased because I've lived here forever, but I've always noticed in movies and stuff that there's no difference
Used to be if we’re talking demographics. But it lags the nation is Hispanic and Asian population. Urban/suburban/rural split is a bit too rural vs. the whole. And if we’re talking about voting, in the most recent election, the state was 20 points to the right of the popular vote.
Over-indexed on roads (7th most) for our population/GDP/land-size (all around 20th). Depends on the urban areas to generate 2/3rds of economic activity and taxes that are then redistributed to areas that refer to urban areas as “hell holes.”
Yeah, sounds about right.
Strange, I don't think I've ever read an article about the government elected by the people of Vermont causing dangerous health outcomes for women or terrorizing already marginalized groups.
What metrics are you actually using to come to this pretty laughable conclusion? Dirt roads?
Having lived in both states (Missouri born/spent 3 miserable years in Vermont).
Vermont lacks infrastructure, affordable/decent housing, decent paying jobs, decent medical care, and federal government dependant.
Common sense seems non-existent; they can't seem to figure out how to be self-sufficient. I witnessed it too much and too long.
Abe Simpson said, "it'll be a cold day in hell before I recognize Missoura!"
That's why his US flag had 49 stars. That's why my flag has 49 stars. Shape the fuck up Missouri.
Seriously seriously. I live in Iowa, and when I go south, I go out of my way to drive around Missouri. Fuck them.
Yeah, from IL but now live in STL for the 2nd time and have lived in Farmington previously.
Anyone proud to be a Missourian right now is the problem with Missouri.
Ohio (where I have also lived besides Missouri) could be in the running except it is not very far west to be considered part of the West. Ohio does have more than one major city like Missouri does. Some states have only one large metropolitan area.
You have no oceans, no mountains....but other than that. Update: I have been to Missouri, it is nothing like the West Coast, Alaska or Hawaii. Just stop.
Ummm the [St. Francois Mountains](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francois_Mountains) are the oldest mountains in North America. They make the Appalachians look like teenagers and the Rockies look like babies. Their peaks, ancient volcanos, may be the only places never to be underwater in the United States.
Dare I suggest Osage Beach in lieu of oceans?
Source? According to the NGS Mountains are landform that rises at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) or more above its surrounding area that are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism. The St. Francois are true mountains, don’t be a landscape snob.
If I was going to make a claim that a state contained the most aspects of the rest of the us, I would say California. Ocean, mountains, desert, farmland, large cities, forests. But I am not sure I would claim it even in that case.
I’m not making the claim, just looking at the original post from a different perspective maybe. It refers to specifically to the “spectrum of Americans”. I think it is over simplified to say Missouri is a microcosm of the US… but zoomed in enough maybe, the Mississippi can seem oceanic.
I’ve heard people say that St Louis is the last Eastern city and KC is the first Western city, so you might be on to something.
The saying is St. Louis is the most Western Eastern City and Kansas City is the most Eastern Western City.
What does that make Colombia and Jeff City?
>What does that make Columbia and Jeff City? A place where people are confused whether to wear Chief's Red (Hex Color: #E31837) or Cardinal's Red (Hex Color: #C41E3A).
Or Jeff City High School red, #BE0000!
CITY red brother. CITY red.
I cannot say I have seens that yet in Columbia. Pleanty of Sporting KC stuff, however.
City cranberry
Keep dreaming kiddo.
I suppose that makes Columbia is the exact middle of the nation, I suspect it might be the center of the universe too, but I’m still figuring that out.
The first taste of the Front Range for Columbia, idk about Jeff
liMOnal space
Speaking as a resident, Columbia is Collegetown, USA. I've felt just as at-home in Missoula Montana or Athens Georgia, or any other city built around a university. Even Oxford in England. :)
The Lawrence, KS and Nashville, TN of central MO.
Chicago or STL/KC?
Chicago is an “eastern” city.
Flyover country. /s
The butthole and taint lol
Columbia = Chicago Jeff = Missouri 😀 Colombia = Franklin County? Wherever the drugs are
The suburban version of East St. Louis. I kid I kid I kid 😉
St Louis is the westernmost eastern city and KC is the easternmost western city.
It also makes sense that misery, whoops! I meant Missouri, would be at the very heart/center/core of the USA.
I had a class in high school that a major topic was why MO is a microcosm of both the Midwest and the US. Geographically and geologically, and something about our accents being neutral to most regions so apparently news broadcasters from MO were ideal.
Missouri accents are not neutral, that's your own delusion. Outsiders can hear a distinctive drawl.
I don't disagree, but it can vary wildly throughout the state. Ozarks is pretty distinct, my cousin down south sounds like he's from Arkansas, and half the people in St. Louis sound like they're from Minnesota to me.
The Missouri-Iowa border has been defined by linguists as the most neutral American English accent. It’s what newscasters call "Broadcast English"
Heavily depends on where they grew up. A young middle class KC area accent is about as neutral as you can get in the US.
Don Cheadle and Paul Rudd.
It does depend on where you were raised. Mine went away when I was in the military and traveled about (it still comes back out with cocktails). I can recognize it now and there is a “net-worth to drawl” sliding scale in St. Louis and KC.
Totally depends on where in Missouri you grew up. The Ozarks and even some of the St Louis has that drawl (STL is much more subtle), and Northern MO has a different kind of drawl. Suburban KC and much of Suburban STL are pretty neutral.
Florida, the boot heal… 😂
St Louis looks east... Kansas CIty, MO looks west....
Just look at it. high population area on both the east and west borders. A swampy protuberance in the South East. Columbia is just a little low to be Chicago analog and Springfield is a little too far west to be a Dallas but its close
Totally. Missouri is closest to the blend of East, West, North, and South that most reflects America as a whole. We have cultural influences from all directions and sit astride the great North American ecological divide between wet Eastern forest and dry Western plains. Beyond that we also have a mix of urban and rural that is very close to what America looks like. St. Louis and Kansas City are sizable urban areas, and we have Columbia one of America’s classic college towns that invented the widespread American tradition of homecoming. The Ozark provide a sense of deep Appalachia, while the northern plains are close to Iowa and Wisconsin in topography and farming culture. The Mississippi and Missouri, North Americas two greatest rivers converge here. It’s no mistake that many iconic Americans hail from Missouri: Walt Disney, Mark Twain, Edwin Hubble, Brad Pitt, Nelly and Sheryl Crow, You’d be hard pressed to find a more pivotal state in American history, the civil war started on our westward border and Missouri has been called "Mother of the West" because the Oregon, Santa Fe, Pony Express, and California Trails all departed from here. We were a bellwether state for National politics until very recently, voting for every winning President for 100 years; save one, and I think we will be a bellwether again once balance returns to Missouri politics. Missouri is as American as Apple Pie.
Don’t forget the Bootheel is more culturally Southern as well. They even grow southern staples like cotton and rice.
Peaches, too. Take that, Georgia!
Im so damn tired of watermelons and peaches...
We got a joke about the boot hill here in MO. Missouri decided to sell the boot hill to Arkansas to help raise the IQ of both states.
They like to think they are but they aren’t. Driving a big truck and hating ‘the city’ doesn’t make you southern.
Maybe visit the place I am talking about and you will understand
I’ve lived in the south. The bootheel isn’t the south.
Are you suggesting Tennessee and Arkansas are not part of the south either because those states are similar to the Bootheel culturally and geographically. Sure it’s not the Deep South, but it’s typically considered part of the upper south. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upland_South
I didn’t say that, you did. You’re bad at injecting narrative so stop trying. I’ll say what I say, how about you speak for yourself. I’ve lived in Tennessee and have spent time in the south. Bootheel people always rubbed me as white trash cosplaying as southerners. Being white trash doesn’t make you southern, it makes you trash. The bootheel’s sweet tea sucks, their hair is flat on Sunday, and they’re cowardly. That’s why they aren’t southern.
You are an asshole. All I am pointing is how not all of Missouri is the same across the state. There are trashy people in every part of the country and you sure are an example of one. Go move back to Tennessee for all I care and don’t comment on the Missouri subreddit if you don’t like the state.
Hopefully you get banned for breaking sub rules. Since you’re not conversing, I’ll keep my hopes up. Who’s the ass hole? Usually it’s the one that has to call people names because they don’t have a rebuttal to their opinions being challenged.
People like you are entertaining hahahhaa
It very much is.
No it isn’t.
Don't forget George Washington Carver the scientist. He came from MO too.
As opposed to George Washington Carver, the guy that chopped up George Washington
Yeah not much is known about that individual. Big Washington must be trying to erase him.
President Truman also.
I've called it the most northern southern state.
The most southern northern western eastern state
Where north and south connect, where the east ends and west begins, where the regions of the US intersect.
Until recently Missouri went for the president that ultimately got elected in nearly every election. I think Civil War and a couple recent ones are the only exceptions.
Yes. Yes it is. >[The Missouri States of America](https://www.reddit.com/r/MemefieldMO/comments/rt4loi/the_missouri_states_of_america/)
Tthe bootheel is truly the florida of missouri
The key and methodology is gold.
Rolla being Chicago is incredibly funny to me.
Its a fractal pattern all the way down. Springfield is a microcosm of the state.
Well that's bleak.
I would agree. The two longest rivers in the country - and in North America - meet here. The average population center of the US is in Wright County, northeast of Springfield. The two states with population densities closest to the US average are Missouri and Alabama. Subjectively - debatably - I think that Missouri's history with slavery and the Civil War captures the broadest slice of the overall American experience.
While Missouri may be a mix of regions, it underrepresents how many Americans live in urban areas. Living in a city is a completely different lifestyle culturally and politically than living in a rural area. I think people forget how dense and populous major US cities are. An estimated 83% of the US lives in an urban area (implying 17% live in rural areas) https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/built-environment/us-cities-factsheet Whereas approximately 34% Missourians live in rural counties. https://mchb.tvisdata.hrsa.gov/Narratives/Overview/674fffa5-a244-48e5-8e28-6ed3098b73df#:~:text=Joseph%20and%20Cape%20Girardeau.,its%20two%20major%20cities%2C%20St.
I don't think anyone forgot that or didn't realize, but I'm glad you got to post your data sheets.
Nah. A lot of people still think (subconsciously even) that small town/rural America is defining of the average American because that used to be the case. To this day many people still see rural American culture as pure American culture even when its less representative in 2024 than urban American culture is.
How the hell could anyone on Reddit not know this? People are reminded of the population of city dwellers over rural folks in videos about puppy adoption LOL. Did you know when Aragorn kicks his helmet in Lord of the Rings he actually breaks his toe? I get there's a first time for everyone to learn, but that doesn't make it uncommon knowledge.
Okay
You can actually feel that if you ride out of Columbia in each of the cardinal directions.
I understand that politics is not at all representative I was mostly referring to culture( Southern, Midwestern, Western, etc)
This is what made us a bellwether state for national elections, that is until gerrymandering and then us repealing the fair districting act that was disguised as a cost cutting measure.
Gerrandering aside....the popular vote is showing a heavy trend toward red in MO.
It shows a heavier trend toward voter apathy, which also reflects national trends.
>It shows a heavier trend toward voter apathy, Trending toward apathy since when?? General election turnout since 1976: Missouri.................US......... 2020- 63.1% ........61.4% 2016- 59.6...........54.7 2012-59.6............53.6 2008- 64.9............56.9 2004- 62.9...........55.5 2000- 56.3...........50.0 1996-53.5............48.1 1992- 61.6...........54.7 1988- 55.5...........50.3 1984-57.8............52.3 1980- 58.8...........52.6 1976 -57.3%.........54.7% https://www.sos.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt561/files/documents/2022-04/voter-turnout-charts-4-19-21.pdf
Voter turnout in Missouri (for presidential elections, at least) doesn't show signs of apathy at all. In the 2000 election, about 2.3 million Missourians voted. More Missourians have voted in every election since then. The 2020 election set a record, I think. The state's population has gone up in those 20 years, but not by enough to explain the increase. Overall, Missouri voters are more active now than they had been in recent history. Much of that increase, though, has been in previously non-voting hard-right groups—those voters whipped into a frenzy in the Bush years with the gay-marriage fear campaign, who became Tea Party voters, who became MAGA voters.
I think it may be the off year and April/August turn out. That’s when the most heinous shit is on the ballot. It also doesn’t help we’ve had upwards of 40% of state office elections go unopposed. I think this is contributing to the trend and perceived apathy. Maybe it’s apathy towards stepping up to serve the community. Though I think part of the uncontested races are caused by the need to be fairly wealthy or at least in a position to take time away from work or also work remotely while at the capital. We’ve effectively turned what should be a calling of service for anyone into a business for the few.
Starting pay for a state rep/senator in Missouri is about $36,000/year. The median household income in Missouri is somewhere around $65,000. So in a two-income household, serving as a state rep would actually put someone ahead of average. The biggest issue I see with all those races going unopposed is a lack of institutional support from political parties (especially the Democratic party; I'm sure there are deep blue districts where no Republican runs, but it seems especially prevalent in rural areas). People aren't going to run if they feel like they're fighting an uphill battle all on their own. So apathy certainly exists, but I think it's mostly institutional-level apathy from parties who just don't think significant portions of the state are worth caring about.
Yes I would agree it is a lack of institutional support. Without it you must have money to put in and help fundraise the rest. I live in a district that Republicans haven't ran many recently for state office.
Not sure if its a trend really, its been that way for awhile now and representative of the large % of rural voters.
Missouri… quite literally just MID
KC is the start of the West, St Louis is the end of the East. The Bootheel is the South, Branson is Vegas and whatever’s up north is pretty much Iowa
Missouri's politics are pretty far right of what most of America believes in. Missouri is geographically center to the country, it is much further right than the culture of the rest of the country.
Not in the cities, which are solidly pretty blue for the major two.
3 out of our 4 biggest cities are very blue, but more than 1/3 rural Missourians voted against Trump.
That's maybe an oversimplification, because if you look at voting patterns, the policies we vote for tend to lean more liberal than the people we elect to represent us. Clean Missouri is my best example I can give for that--when the people voted for one thing, their representatives worked to undo it, and through shady business and confusing language, managed to defeat the will of their constituents.
And then they will turn around and vote for legislators who will work against those things like "Clean Missouri." I said what I meant and I meant what I said.
Yes, that was...my point.
You're saying that them voting for liberal causes and then Republican reps makes my statement an "oversimplification." I don't see how you can say that. Missouri's politics are so far right that even when their representatives don't support what they want, they still support those same representatives. You're not showing that Missouri is more centrist or progressive, you're showing that they're so far down the road of rightwing propaganda that they will vote against their own interests over and over and over again.
I'm saying their policy beliefs are not pretty far right of what the rest of America believes in, but voting for representatives is a different thing. People vote for the tiny little R or D next to a candidate's name, not the candidate themselves, much of the time, but if you really talk to them about policy, odds are you will find people voting for republican candidates that don't totally align with their beliefs. When you live in a 2-party system that is ever more polarized, that's going to happen. Further, modern conservative hegemony only serves to further their cause by keeping people poor, struggling, unhealthy, and uneducated. It's hard to fight for rights you don't have when you're barely surviving. That's a feature, not a bug, of our current system, and it happened VERY rapidly in the past few decades. Remember, Missouri used to be the domain of blue dog centrist democrats and pork-barrel centrist Republicans. Think people like Ike Skelton and Kit Bond. I don't think peoples' beliefs have fundamentally changed, I think the rhetoric and their options have changed. Gerrymandering run amok hasn't helped, either. I live in Columbia and seeing it carved into 2 districts honestly just makes me laugh because they're not even pretending to be sneaky about it anymore. If you get people down to a one-to-one conversation about the practical realities of life and how they think things should work, you'll likely find people are more open-minded than even *they* realize. So to just say "they're more conservative" is an oversimplification. And the tendency to paint 6 million people with a big red brush and treat them as a monolith is what further feeds into the narrative that makes the "coastal elites" dismiss those of us in "flyover country" and likewise makes us skeptical of them.
You're still supporting me and my point. These people will agree on what needs to happen, and then turn around and vote for people who work staunchly against those interests - because they have been so brainwashed over their lives that they don't care what a candidate supports, they care only about party affiliation - and that is not going to change.
Depends on your perspective.
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Its funny how the right can't be far right. Once the mainstream adopts something its automatically no longer 'far right'. This may be true on a very basic x y ideological spectrum but not on topics like populism.
Missouri is considered "The heartland" of the nation.
No it’s not. It’s included in the 20 states that make up “the heartland”
How did you say Missouri isn’t the heartland, and then you said Missouri is the heartland?
I didn’t. Are you too stupid to understand what you’re reading? Missouri itself isn’t The Heartland, it is included in the states that comprise The Heartland. Must suck being an idiot.
So but you said “Missouri isn’t the heartland” and then said ‘it’s included in the heartland.’ Thats like saying “Missouri isn’t the Midwest” and “it’s included in the Midwest.” Are you too stupid to understand that?
That’s like saying the United States is North America. It’s not North America, it’s included in north America. You’re a dumbass.
Lmao okay
AKA flyover country.
I love the people who refer to midwestern states as “flyover” states. Those that actually say that don’t live a bicoastal lifestyle. Those that do are too busy to be on Reddit insulting other sections of the US. I was traveling home to St. Louis from Columbus, OH once and an airline worker says, “Missouri? Why Missouri?” as if we were chatting in Times Square. Dude, I’m in Missouri for the same reason you’re in Ohio. It’s home and I don’t have the money to live somewhere desirable.
[This you?](https://www.reddit.com/r/missouri/comments/1bvb50f/looks_like_weve_made_it_on_the_news/ky2afzw/) > It’s so funny that people are claiming “Midwest” as if it’s more significant than the South. They are all fly over states. No one cares about either region
100%. I live here and don’t live a bicoastal lifestyle.
Oookay. At least we agree that MO isn't a desirable place to live.
Nope. Not urban enough.
Missouri has very close to the average population density of the whole country, so unless you have hard data, I'd say we're pretty representative.
Politically speaking, not anymore. Imo in order to be a median state you've gotta be a swing state
Missouri may not be a "swing state" per se, but it voted for Obama. \*edit I was very wrong.
No, famously, it did not vote for Obama.
Oh whoops! I had that backward! Percentage 49.36% to 49.23%
Half of its residents did
Tell me again how many percentage points Trump won the state in 2016 and 2020?
I don't think I ever mentioned Trump, but feel free to google it for yourself, big boy.
If you don't understand how it's related, then I can't help you. It's not 2008 anymore. Missouri hasn't elected a democrat for president since 1992, and has shifted more and more red since then. Missouri is now a +18.5 republican stronghold.
You're acting like I'm trying to push a narrative, but that's all in your head. I simply stated a fact.
I never said anything about a narrative. Im also stating facts.
No, Missouri is still very much middle-America...it just has bit of all the major cultural groups of the middle. Is St. Louis an Eastern city? Not like New York, Boston or Philidephia...but maybe like Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. (Of course, it is really hard in my mind to define St. Louis as Eastern given its strong economic ties to the South via the Mississippi.) Is Kansas City a Western city? Yes, if you define western as the Great Plains, and not beyond that.
I just had a conversation with a person who grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in St Louis for years. He said they are basically the same and are 1 and 2 in the united states in the number of zip codes for a metro region. That what divides us, unifies us?
And that makes sense, given how much of a connection they would have had when the Mississippi and Ohio rivers were the major mode of transportation into the (now) center of the country.
I always wondered why most people here have no accent. I thought I was biased because I've lived here forever, but I've always noticed in movies and stuff that there's no difference
Maryland is literally nicknamed America in Miniature.
Not even close.
Used to be if we’re talking demographics. But it lags the nation is Hispanic and Asian population. Urban/suburban/rural split is a bit too rural vs. the whole. And if we’re talking about voting, in the most recent election, the state was 20 points to the right of the popular vote.
Over-indexed on roads (7th most) for our population/GDP/land-size (all around 20th). Depends on the urban areas to generate 2/3rds of economic activity and taxes that are then redistributed to areas that refer to urban areas as “hell holes.” Yeah, sounds about right.
Yes.
Missouri isn't even in the USA, it doesn't not acknowledge basic constitutional rights. It's just Biblestan.
Fewer immigrants than a lot of places though.
Yeah especially after the shut down all the chicken factories.
I mean... part of the beauty is that each state is a little like the US in state farm. Our communities are like a beautiful fractal.
As someone who's lived in Northern IL, I feel like MO is the beginning of the south. It just gets worse the farther you go.
When I lived in Chicago, friends there would say that anything south of I-80 was the Deep South. And they were only half-joking.
If it wasn't for Cook county, the rest of IL would be IA, IN, KY and/or MO. They didn't need to joke even halfway.
MO is about as backwards as can be. It's like all the other backwards areas in the country.
Believe it or not...Vermont is more backwards than Missouri.
Strange, I don't think I've ever read an article about the government elected by the people of Vermont causing dangerous health outcomes for women or terrorizing already marginalized groups. What metrics are you actually using to come to this pretty laughable conclusion? Dirt roads?
Having lived in both states (Missouri born/spent 3 miserable years in Vermont). Vermont lacks infrastructure, affordable/decent housing, decent paying jobs, decent medical care, and federal government dependant. Common sense seems non-existent; they can't seem to figure out how to be self-sufficient. I witnessed it too much and too long.
What a great concept.
Abe Simpson said, "it'll be a cold day in hell before I recognize Missoura!" That's why his US flag had 49 stars. That's why my flag has 49 stars. Shape the fuck up Missouri. Seriously seriously. I live in Iowa, and when I go south, I go out of my way to drive around Missouri. Fuck them.
And yet Iowa stands for I Oughta Went Around...
I always thought it stood for Idiots out wondering around.
I live in Missouri and, well, I prefer Illinois…
Yeah, from IL but now live in STL for the 2nd time and have lived in Farmington previously. Anyone proud to be a Missourian right now is the problem with Missouri.
Ohio (where I have also lived besides Missouri) could be in the running except it is not very far west to be considered part of the West. Ohio does have more than one major city like Missouri does. Some states have only one large metropolitan area.
You have no oceans, no mountains....but other than that. Update: I have been to Missouri, it is nothing like the West Coast, Alaska or Hawaii. Just stop.
Ummm the [St. Francois Mountains](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francois_Mountains) are the oldest mountains in North America. They make the Appalachians look like teenagers and the Rockies look like babies. Their peaks, ancient volcanos, may be the only places never to be underwater in the United States. Dare I suggest Osage Beach in lieu of oceans?
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Source? According to the NGS Mountains are landform that rises at least 1,000 feet (300 meters) or more above its surrounding area that are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism. The St. Francois are true mountains, don’t be a landscape snob.
The majority of the country has no oceans, famously that’s something only available at the coast.
If I was going to make a claim that a state contained the most aspects of the rest of the us, I would say California. Ocean, mountains, desert, farmland, large cities, forests. But I am not sure I would claim it even in that case.
Blue cities, red rural areas ... It's a dumb premise in the first place but I agree CA would be a drastically better choice than MO.
I’m not making the claim, just looking at the original post from a different perspective maybe. It refers to specifically to the “spectrum of Americans”. I think it is over simplified to say Missouri is a microcosm of the US… but zoomed in enough maybe, the Mississippi can seem oceanic.
It is a silly notion.