Greg Garretson

I live in a rural county in far Northern California. Most of the state forgets about us unless it’s to call us rednecks, make meth jokes, or flood one of our local state parks in the summer. In this year of the Republican bloodbath and complete national leadership failure, I noticed that, with most of the votes counted, my county remained basically the same. Roughly R+30 depending on the race or ballot measure. A county of conservatives trapped in the most liberal state in America is now more right wing than the gun-toting, “don’t mess with us” cowboy state of Texas. As much crap as blue state conservatives are given by red staters, it’s nice to have just a small bit of vindication. Even if our votes here are meaningless on a state and federal level. Unfortunately, many red states are going to learn what the much maligned “red necks” of my county learned long ago. Being conservative in a blue state brings much pain.