Wow, no offense intended, but where you live... sure seems like it sucks.
Hang in there, I suppose. It's certainly not like that everywhere.
It's a nice area. The people are honest, hard working...
But the local politics are crazy.
The Amish and the Mennonite churches have been here forever. They aren't very political, and they don't often force their ideals/beliefs on people.
The baptist church, on the other hand, controls just about everything around here. Their congregation alone is enough for them to hand pick the winner of every single local republican primary. Once the "R" is by the name, they are guaranteed to win the election. My area is about 2/3rds R.
This local baptist church has their own school, and yet their members control 3 out of 5 seats on the public school board. Our local township's elected leader constantly posts conspiracy theories about how 9/11 was an inside job, etc. etc. etc. Our local state senator refused to answer if his kids were vaccinated.
They constantly refuse any type of new business trying to come in unless it is has a member in good standing in their church. We can't get a Cracker Barrel because it would ruin the "quaintness" of our town, but it's ok to approve a pipeline and a huge landfill.
They also haven't re-assessed home values since 1994, and slash public school funding at every opportunity they can possibly get. After all, underfunded and under supported public schools don't effect their kids.
I had a friend run for local office as a D. He's not really a D, but that was the only way to get on the ballot. He was hoping, as a conservative, he could draw some of that 2/3 R vote and change things around here. Didn't work. He only got 37% of the vote. haha
