Prolific commenter NHNative had posted the above on Steve’s “NH Dem – Religious Liberty is Extremist!” post and wondered if GraniteGrok could make some up as fundraisers. It is something that a lot of NH Natives (and long-term non-natives like me as well) keep saying.
Related: New Hampshire Has One of the Lowest Overall Tax Burdens in the Nation (Again!)
If you come here because you hate (for WHATEVER reason) where you came from, leave it all behind. ALL OF IT. Stop trying to pick apart the “wrongs” of your new place simply because of where you came from.
DON’T REMAKE HERE THE HELLHOLE YOU CAME FROM!
Assimilation – it seems to be a dirty word lately. It basically means respect the culture that already exists when you go elsewhere to live. Respect the place, respect the neighbors, and respect the culture. Frankly, don’t be the outsiders that immediately make it clear that the culture of “here” is the one we want; embrace it instead of trying to change it (and in changing it, wreck it completely),
And it’s been going on for a long time – and has resurfaced again with a lot of folks from “there” coming “here” to get out of the cities, the high taxes areas, and away from the WuFlu. I’ll return to the sign in a bit. First, an example of this from the ‘Grok past.
Early in the life of GraniteGrok, back in 2008, I wrote about a rather well off family that came from “there” and immediately started to complain about the town they had moved in: didn’t have this, didn’t have that, we can spend more…the mark of the REAL Privileged – and an attitude to boot. This was about the St. Amand family that immediately turned on their new neighbors there were “here” after the St. Amands had moved from “there.”
They didn’t grow the ethos of “Live Free or Die” or the New Hampshire Advantage. Frankly, I don’t think they cared. They saw an idyllic setting – and immediately sought to change others to fit them. Those posts are from 2008, the first is here:
During that time, lots of Letters to the Editors were written, pro and con. The two that caught my eye seems to be all too typical lately – Wealthy couple moves into small hamlet, considers taxes dirt cheap, get buyer’s remorse over the “smallness” of the town, and decide to ramp up town spending (and therefore taxes).
Because the mentality expressed by this couple (yup! a twofer!) of “we know better than you do even though we just moved in and have more money than you” irks me so much, being of sound mind and body, I just couldn’t leave them alone.
These are taken, by permission, from their site:
Well, I guess a number of people liked my treatment of Mr. St Amand’s manifesto – I was asked for a repeat performance! Thus, so as not to be accused of sexism, let’s do for her what we did for him. Let’s translate what Madam St. Amand has to say in support of the new edifice being contemplated, shall we?
…All politics is local. While this spitting match is local, the overall theme is “newly rich move into small hamlet, starts wanting the ‘left behind’ amenities”, wants to remake town.
Well, it seems like I have crawled under the skin of those that are unhappy that I dared to criticize what they wrote in pushing for higher taxes in one of the Lakes Region’s towns. What did they expect? To be able to lead the charge on raising spending in their town, Moultonborough, and not be challenged? Why shouldn’t they be challenged? They have fallen right into proving the stereotype of the newly rich moving into a small town and then wanting it change to fit their vision.
Did I use satire to skewer the St. Amand’s Letters (especially the Missus’s)? Sure did! Would I do it again? Sure would! When someone moves into a town, complains about what it doesn’t have, and even takes the Selectmen to task for them thinking about their future financial needs for their retirements over her view of what the Town needs now (regardless of the burden put on the taxpayers), satire is the tool to use.
And they deserved it. But back to the sign – NH Native posted it and it caught my attention. And if you are one that has been here for ANY amount of time but have inculcated the “Live Free or Die” so that “there” has disappeared, I think you can appreciate both the sentiment and the humor within it.
But I’ll ask this – if GraniteGrok were to make up some yard signs like this, would you be interested in donating for one, a couple, or a few?
She also asked, and this probably would be more of a GoFundMe project, what do you think about getting money together and put the message up on some billboards around the State?
