The NH Primary is NOT the NH Primary

With the New Hampshire primary less than a week away, it's importance is the latest entree for the news media. But what the media overlooks (because they are ignorant of it) is that the New Hampshire primary is NOT the New Hampshire primary - it is the Massachusetts primary, held early.

I was raised in New Hampshire and spent over 50 years in that beautiful, rugged state. And up until recently (the last 25 years), New Hampshire was populated by rugged, individualist Yankee conservatives. But as happens with all good things, people who covet what you have will come and take it from you.

The people of Massachusetts - particularly Lowell, Lawrence and Methuen - who had already ruined their own state with their liberal policies and politics, saw and envied the freedoms and lifestyle of New Hampshire. They wanted that for themselves, as they grew sick of the results of their own liberalism. So, they began emigrating into the cities of southern New Hampshire - first Nashua, then on to Manchester.

That, in and of itself, is not bad, but for the fact they brought with them those same liberal values that they were running from. Flooding the New Hampshire cities and becoming the vocal majority  (conservatives tend to actually BE conservative and are seldom vocal), these liberal emigrants soon elected liberal politicians, resulting in the same policies that caused the rot in Massachusetts.

And because liberals tend to be pushier, louder and more prone to bullying than conservatives, it did not take long to turn "red" New Hampshire into a "blue" mini-Massachusetts.

This same scenario occurred in Vermont. A peaceful, quiet farming state, where cows outnumbered people until the 1960's, the liberals of New York saw it as a better place for raising children, and living peacefully. Many emigrated to the cities of Vermont, wresting control from the quiet conservatives. And now, Vermont has become so liberal that they elect socialists like Bernie Sanders into office.

When I first visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming, it was little more than an intersection in a beautiful landscape, in the foothills of the Rockies. It was TOO beautiful, because as others discovered it, many moved there to partake of its beauty every day. In fact, so many moved there that it has become a roiling, busy city. The backdrop of the Rockies is still there, but the simple, quiet beauty of Jackson Hole is long gone.

People ruin what they treasure most. It's a lot like the old saying, "You always hurt the one you love".

So, for the sakes of those quiet, rugged individualists who have managed to survive the liberal onslaught from Massachusetts, I want you to know I empathize with you, recognize you, and sorely wish we could return New Hampshire to its roots and the values that made it so attractive in the first place. Perhaps conservatives should make a stab at being more vocal, pushier, and not quietly sit back and let others take what we treasure.

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