There's a certain type of "liberalism" that I really dislike that isn't so big in New England but rather moreso in places like Maryland and Illinois, that is kind of what like libertarians like to strawman liberalism as and really big nanny-statism. Like those states despite overwhelming Democratic majorities in the legislatures won't liberalize their drug laws, or why it was so difficult to pass medical marijuana laws, and why they have laws on things like making it illegal to film cops, and laws that basically no one favors but get passed anyway (like how Boris said that in Illinois drinking games are illegal and a lot of bars got raided for hosting them. And I've read in some places it's not just that drinking games are illegal in bars but ANYWHERE and private parties have been busted for them.) These are also the type of places that get obsessed over silly gun laws that don't really do anything to reduce gun crime but make people like Carolyn McCarthy feel better about themselves by passing them.
I kind of wonder what type of political culture leads to things like this, since barely anyone in grassroots Democratic activism supports it.
This is the kind of vibe I've gotten from Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Massachusetts leaning more authoritarian, and Connecticut more hawkish, specifically Boston and the NYC suburbs.
