April 18, 2005

OUR OWN SLICE OF EUROPE:

Shrinking pains (Robert David Sullivan, April 17, 2005, Boston Globe)

MASSACHUSETTS IS a loser. According to figures released on Thursday by the US Census Bureau, the Bay State ranked 50th in population growth last year, and was the only state to suffer a population decline - losing 3,852 out of some 6.4 million people.

''Good!'' you might say, especially if you're someone who fights traffic on Route 128 every day or worries about all our open space being gobbled up by developers. Massachusetts is the third most densely populated state in the United States (behind New Jersey and Rhode Island), so it may seem a matter of fairness to shove some people elsewhere - even if the logical extension of this argument is to build more homes in the Everglades or the White Mountains.

But a stagnant population does Massachusetts little good, and may actually do harm.


How fitting it was that the Democrats chose a presidential candidate from our most European state.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 18, 2005 12:00 AM
Comments

Is MA no longer part of the Anglosphere?

Posted by: ghostcat at April 18, 2005 12:34 AM

Most of the Anglosphere isn't.

Posted by: oj at April 18, 2005 12:51 AM

Wolf's victory on the Plains of Abraham was ultimately Pyrrhic?

Posted by: ghostcat at April 18, 2005 12:56 AM

Ghost:

Was for him.

Posted by: jeff at April 18, 2005 9:05 AM

Ghost:

Was for him.

Posted by: jeff at April 18, 2005 9:06 AM

The deficit is made up of people with jobs who have moved to New Hampshire, thereby moving both states to the left. This movement also contributed directly to John Kerry getting the '04 Dem nomination.

Posted by: David Cohen at April 18, 2005 11:38 AM

According to the 2004 exit polls I heard quoted recent Mass. emigres claimed they voted Republican. Go figure.

Posted by: Genecis at April 18, 2005 11:59 AM

P.S. NH's congressional Reps./Senators remain comfortably ensconced. Could GWB's small marginal loss be attributed to the NHNGMP's serving away from home for two years, longer than most other comparable units, have anything to do with it? Considering friends, families, employers and sympaticos ... I suspect as much.

Rove missed that one.

Posted by: Genecis at April 18, 2005 12:12 PM

No, it was just the Benson deadweight.

Posted by: oj at April 18, 2005 12:24 PM

Not really. The candidate from MA has always won here (or done shockingly well)

Posted by: oj at April 18, 2005 3:12 PM

Genesis - Yes, emigres from Taxachusetts to NH were more Republican than the natives in 2004. But much of NH gets Boston TV stations, and Mass Dems benefit from the supportive coverage (nothing but respect) from the Boston media.

I do think Bush I was hurt by his call-up of the reserves for Gulf War I. This time, I think 9/11 made a difference.

Posted by: pj at April 18, 2005 4:18 PM

In my own defense, let me note that the fact that people who moved from MA to NH were Republican is not inconsistent with the idea that both states moved to the left.

Posted by: David Cohen at April 18, 2005 5:45 PM
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