> It's amazing to me that the top-rated comment in this thread broadly generalizes both "coastal intellectuals" and "Middle America" with insulting stereotypes.

It's amazing to me that you took this (what you've recognized as) hyperbole'd and obviously emotionally filled post and assumed this is how I act in daily life, a point which I didn't feel I needed to make but apparently must do so is that of course I do not dismiss everyone from a coastal area as being a pseudo intellectual. That doesn't stop the majority of them from proving to be exactly that, but you know, I do try.

FTR, I never once intended to insult the midwest. I prefer it here, and that may well be simply because I've never lived anywhere else.

Using hyperbole in a discussion about politics will almost always get you in trouble. To be safe from this, you basically have to talk about your political views with all the detached clinical nuance of a biologist "sacrificing" lab mice to biopsy them. (That was hyperbole too, and I fully expect to get in trouble for it.)

My personal ideal for "well-done political debate" is comes from economists: they can quickly distinguish between facts, speculation about facts, and value judgements, and then engage with the first two while steering clear of the third. (It does make for some silly interviews, though: journalists basically only care about people's value-judgements, and economists will redirect every attempt at getting theirs into a discussion about some fact or another.)

Quite often on the internet, and in life, I see situations that make me think, "That guy got in trouble/got grief because he has a sense of humor and everyone around him is wilfully not getting the joke".

I explicitly acknowledged that this comment was an outlier from your ordinary train of thought. I referenced your otherwise calm comment history. I don't know where you got the impression I thought this represented you as a person. However, I apologize. I do not intend to offend.

I agree, I'm from Iowa, there are lot's of smart people in Middle America. There are also a lot of condescending people on the Coasts.

My comment was just a response to the stereotype that people from the middle of the country are stupid. Now you're bring up the stereotype that people from the Midwest are closed-minded and hateful. I don't hate anyone, I simply brought up another stereotype.

I think the personal attack was unnecessary.

> One trip to Houston or Minneapolis

Uh, okay. How about rural Georgia where I grew up?

Dollars to donuts that Houston and Minneapolis have much higher subscription rates to the New Yorker than zip codes from elsewhere in the state.

Are you implying that Houston and Minneapolis aren't in the midwest?

Are subscriptions to the New York Times the benchmark of intellectualism?

C'mon, you seriously think the population of rural Texas is about the same as Houston? Where I grew up in Georgia is a heck of lot different than Atlanta.

http://www.politico.com/2014-election/results/map/senate/geo...

And people wonder why Trump does so well in the polls.

You are arguing a viewpoint that is not in contention here. The post I was responding to was talking about "Middle America" versus "coastal intellectuals." In other words, you are attempting to refute a position I haven't advocated.

Having lived around Davidsonville, MD for awhile, I'm pretty certain that the 'pragmatic' folk you referenced feel absolutely trampled by the establishment in the nearby megalopolis. I know a farmer there, he barely scratches out a living - much of the local farmland was bought up by rich lawyers to build large homes.

My point being that I think you actually unwittingly identified this 'midwest/coastal divide' in your own backyard.

Likewise having lived in the area, I have not identified this feeling of being "trampled". I have identified a local pride and a comfort with a less urban way of life.

But I feel I could not possibly give an example that could satisfy you, since practically every habitable region in the world has experienced a "rich lawyer" or two buy up land in the area. Yet the fact remains that the majority of the region maintains its rural character.

The maintenance of its rural character is purely by fiat - every square inch of Anne Arundel county is zoned for the benefit of the politically connected in Annapolis. Absent the imposed zoning law, the whole area would have been converted to high density suburbia decades ago. Further, farmland would be immediately sold if it weren't sheltered from property taxes through state subsidy law. So anyone trying to scratch a living from that farmland lives in an economic reality that is largely dictated by others.