How did WASPs vote in the past?

[NY Jew]

Go to the census bureau and find high income states. Then go to the Pew religious survey and find states with high numbers of mainline protestants. The states that qualify for both would be Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, Colorado, and Maryland. Of course the place where WASPs have the longest history is the Northeast.

Most of these states used to be strongly Republican or swing states but are now Strong Democrat or swing states. A lot of this shift has been from WASPs shifting Democrat.

As a WASP myself (Episcopalian) I can try to explain. You see, Episcopalians and other mainliners, even in the south, hold a more progressive approach to religion. The Baptist preachers stand at the pulpit and go off on gay marriage, the Catholic priests demonize abortion and dole out a big serving of catholic guilt, the Mormons are foot soldiers for conservative causes, but mainliners are much more hesitant to mix religion with politics.

Church services in mainline denominations will be much tamer, and the ministers will almost never take a political stand on an issue in front of the congregation. In the same strand, mainliners believe in a more personal relationship with God that doesn't necessarily rely on dogma and doctrine. We're less fundamentalist and more likely to see value in other faiths as well.

That being said, I think mainliners have watched the GOP transform into a big tent revival and it's turned many off to the party. Even as Christians, it's hard for them to watch many of them drone on about America being a "Christian nation" and use their faith as a means to justify their political crusades that probably aren't that Christ like in the first place. The Democrats pay lip service to Christianity as well, but they're less likely to make it the focal point of their political message and agenda. Men like Obama and Clinton are quieter about their faith than Bush or the current crop of GOPers today. So the Democrats just align themselves better with mainliners views of faith these days.

please explain the blue laws put in place by mainline Protestants?

Opposition to North Eastern Wasps are the main reason why Jews are now Democrat.

Unfortunately only half of those are still what they were 80 years ago.

[NY Jew]

Go to the census bureau and find high income states. Then go to the Pew religious survey and find states with high numbers of mainline protestants. The states that qualify for both would be Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, Colorado, and Maryland. Of course the place where WASPs have the longest history is the Northeast.

Most of these states used to be strongly Republican or swing states but are now Strong Democrat or swing states. A lot of this shift has been from WASPs shifting Democrat.

As a WASP myself (Episcopalian) I can try to explain. You see, Episcopalians and other mainliners, even in the south, hold a more progressive approach to religion. The Baptist preachers stand at the pulpit and go off on gay marriage, the Catholic priests demonize abortion and dole out a big serving of catholic guilt, the Mormons are foot soldiers for conservative causes, but mainliners are much more hesitant to mix religion with politics.

Church services in mainline denominations will be much tamer, and the ministers will almost never take a political stand on an issue in front of the congregation. In the same strand, mainliners believe in a more personal relationship with God that doesn't necessarily rely on dogma and doctrine. We're less fundamentalist and more likely to see value in other faiths as well.

That being said, I think mainliners have watched the GOP transform into a big tent revival and it's turned many off to the party. Even as Christians, it's hard for them to watch many of them drone on about America being a "Christian nation" and use their faith as a means to justify their political crusades that probably aren't that Christ like in the first place. The Democrats pay lip service to Christianity as well, but they're less likely to make it the focal point of their political message and agenda. Men like Obama and Clinton are quieter about their faith than Bush or the current crop of GOPers today. So the Democrats just align themselves better with mainliners views of faith these days.

Well, if you have your rose tinted glasses off by now, may I ask who it was that advocated blue laws?

Otherwise, good post.

Well, if you're trying to portray modern day WASPS as more fundamentalist because of blue laws then you might as well also argue that Massachusetts is the most conservative state in the nation because of the Puritans.

People change, politics change, faiths change.

Bergen County