Why do Western states like California, Oregon, and Washington have such a large proportion of freethinkers?

Answer 1

I am a native Oregonian, more recently living in California, and now I live in Virginia because of the Marines. I have the answer you seek

I believe it is because of all the old money on the east coast. In the west coast the primary people who settled there, and those who are still coming to the west.....are looking for a better life than they left behind. It is amazing to me when I am here in Virginia, a place that has been colonized and occupied more than 200 years longer than all of the west coast states........and yet they are a generation "behind" in their way of thinking. Everything from govt policy to races living together in harmony is just a pure mystery to them. I think that because there are so many families whose fortunes have been passed on from generation to generation, and who have such an influence on politics and these people are pretty much set in their ways they will do anything to preserve the status quo. West coasters are way more optimistic and more centered in their political views, we more often find common ground than that of the still very much alive "civil war" raging between the very much far right bible belt southerners and the ultra hippie new englanders. One has to agree that a California republican and a Georgia republican are far from the same, and likewise with a northern California democrat and a new yorker dem.
Hope this helps

Answer 2

If you are liberal you are a freethinker? So what, if you are conservative you arent?

How exactly is a person freethinking if they spout off the same talking points as every other person that is a so called freethinker?

You can look at all the evidence, research history, look at different points of views and then come to a conclusion, even if that conclusion is not that of the socalled freethinkers of the liberal west.

Being a conservative or right wing doesnt make you any less free thinking then being liberal.

California is not as liberal as you think either. The dems in the state legislature have managed to politically divide the state into districts that would ensure they get to keep a liberal democratic majority.
But several more conservative voter initiatives have been put on the ballot time and time again and they pass overwhelmingly because the state isnt as liberal as the far left extremist legislature.



didnt I just answer this question?

Answer 3

Why have Californians consistently DEFEATED propostions on the ballot for the last 30 years to improve Schools and expand the water system.

When the drought comes every 14 years they moan and groan, but when the Bond Issues come up on the ballot they defeat them 19 out of 20 times.

California once has a Civil Lawsuit Cap propostion that would have ended multi-million dollar judgements they turned it down.

This from a state whose view is MARCH THE LAWYERS INTO THE SEA

Only about 5,000 people in California get multi-million dollar judgements, the other 30 million don't ever benefit from this.

So how did that propostition against the LAYWERS the STATUS QUO go down to defeat.

It's simple, Californians, like eveyrone else, want to to know they can WIN the lottery if they have to.

Californians vote in more Republican Governors than you shake a stick at.

Not indicative of free thinkers.

Californians are opportunists.

That isn't free thinking.

If they were free thinkers they'd think about the SMOG problem and do something about it.

California has 60 million registered cars and trucks, more than any other state in the Nation.

That's close to 3 vehicles for each adult.

In Los Angeles if they NEVER see the sun again because of smog, that will not induce them to pass laws on emissions.

That's not free thinking.

That's being a slave to something.

Answer 4

That's an excellent question...

I'm in Oregon and it's not nearly as "liberal, freethinking" as you have been led to believe. Unless you are in Portland or Salem or Eugene (and that's a stretch), the rest of the state is as red as the midwest. The state voted to alter the constitution to ban gay marriage in 2004, so it can't be nearly as liberal, freethinking as people think.

Answer 5

Um, in Cali and I think we have a lot of close minded people here..But I think that a lot of freethinkers flock to the western states because it is okay to have an open mind

Answer 6

I hate this term freethinkers. What does that mean? are not all of us freethinkers in our own techniques? and that i stay in Washington too. Northwest Washington, element of the Northwest u . s . a . of u.s., it relatively is interior the Northern and Western hemisphere.

Answer 7

You seem to exclude important parts of the country. A rather liberal/libertarian Minnesota.
Your vapid regionalism is noted. I live in the Bay Area; where moderate thinking is considered neo-con. I weary of such immoderate nonsense. Did you know that both Oregon and Washington despise Californians and do not want them moving to their states?
Do no be so open minded that your brain falls out. I, for one, do not confuse the tolerance that is posited for the Bay Area, for the inurement that is real.

Answer 8

The situation will soon change, California has passed a law that applies at the state line bordering Nevada. Atheists are no longer allowed in. I think maybe this also applies Arizona too.
If you cannot sign an affidavit saying you believe in God, you're out of luck.
If the other states will ban atheists, we can get this country back in line for Jesus who's returning soon, pulled by twenty-four reindeer.

Answer 9

Normal people got the advantage before the protestants moved in. California had Roman Catholicism, but they aren't into proselytizing like Protestants. Therefore, free thinking got a foot hold before religious brain washing and now they have the strength of being fully rational.

Answer 10

Simple - because they do not just accept status quo. We really do want to understand and if the answer is not good enough, we dig deeper and question. If that is called free-thinking, then so be it. We just do not want to be sheep.