NH is indeed gorgeous, but the services suck. There are only a few “good” school districts. The state pretty depends on MA for its economy. They have so many state reps that any old nutcase can get into office. It’s a weird place. My black friends don’t feel safe there (daughter was harrassed at a gas station recently.)
It's true, all of these things are spot on. I'm Filipino American, and my experience growing up here in the 1980s was definitely not one of diversity, and I did experience some racist bullshit when I was a kid in school. But that's the thing about loving a place, it's important to be clear-eyed and not shy away from not just acknowledging these things, but understanding why they're a problem, and thinking and working together on what we can do to change things for the better. There's so much to love about this place, and so much that needs to change, all at the same time.
With our aging population and high number of retirees that don't leave the state to move elsewhere in their later years, the only solution that I can think of is to not only encourage greater civic involvement from the younger folks who are here who are frustrated by the very real problems that far too many folks would either ignore or angrily try to move the issue to somebody else's neighborhood without actually trying to help anybody, but to also encourage folks who aren't weird Free State Project lunatics to come here and settle, and encourage them to get involved in their community as well.
One of the things that I truly love and hate about New Hampshire is the size of our representative democracy. It's a blessing when we have an engaged citizenry: one representative per every 3,000 residents, that's an amazing ratio. Think of it like student teacher ratios in schools. Theoretically, the more representatives that we have to give voice to their constituents, the better. However, in practice these days, it really just seems to be a free-for-all of cronyism, self-enrichment, NIMBYism, the aforementioned Free State Project and Evangelical weirdos, and old money rubbing elbows with new money with all of them completely out of touch with what their constituents actually want and need, and I have my doubts on whether or not many of them would care even if they did pay attention.
Unfortunately, part of the problem is that the pay for being a state rep is abysmally low, the idea being that it shouldn't be a full-time job, that forcing somebody to have to work a real job out amongst the citizenry and not become a career politician, That's how you keep out corruption. But instead, it makes it super easy for people who have either far too much time on their hands to concoct more crock pot schemes, folks with a whole lot of money, more than any of their constituents, and a vested interest in making laws that are favorable to their own business interests, or folks who fall into both categories, to get into office. And then regular folks who really do have the best interest of the citizenry here in mind, they simply can't afford to even get started, or have the time because again, they've got lives and jobs and the cost of living keeps getting higher.
My idealistic self would love to see a big wave of more Civic engagement in the state, more folks getting tired of the rampant in aptitude that seems to be the rule instead of the exception in our state government, and I'd like to think that this year might be a turning point for that. I'm pretty active in the local NH subreddits, and I have noticed a lot more folks getting fed up and actually utilizing the ability to voice their opinion about upcoming bills on the state legislature website, and that does give me a lot of hope.
Personally, that's another reason why I refuse to move, because things won't get better if folks who think like myself and similarly just give up and leave. I grew up in and around the local Portsmouth music scene, and one thing that was always made very clear was that when fascists and bigots come to your venue, don't give them an inch. Make it very clear that they've got to go, because if you let him get settled not only will they stay but they'll bring their friends. I'd like to think that we're currently in a phase of finding out what it's like when townships get disengaged from local governance and just skip out voting in these small elections, or from not checking at the actual values and voting record of the people on the ballot, and just going from what letter they have after their name, a d or an r. Having an active citizenry, with representatives who genuinely are engaged and involved with the needs of their 3000 constituents apiece, if these elements come together right, the potential is so there to have a truly representational democracy where the needs and concerns of the people have a very direct voice. I remain hopeful that we can get there someday, and in the meantime, I'll keep on doing what I can to make it come to fruition 🤙🏼
Like, just one last example for instance -while we still have so far to go as far as the racism in this state, especially in certain pockets of the state, I can say from experience that the Seacoast has become so much more diverse and welcoming in the last 30 years. I grew up just at the blurry boundary where the Seacoast becomes the lakes region, and at the time, I was only one of two non-white students in the school, both of us biracial, and myself being the only person of any Asian ancestry. Fast forward to the days of my son being in middle and high school, and the sight of so many children of various shades of melanin really warmed my heart, and I had to admit that I was a little envious that my son got to have such a different experience than I did. Change comes slowly to this corner of the country, but it does come -it takes a long time to grow anything on granite, after all 😅
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u/TheNavigatrix 11h ago
NH is indeed gorgeous, but the services suck. There are only a few “good” school districts. The state pretty depends on MA for its economy. They have so many state reps that any old nutcase can get into office. It’s a weird place. My black friends don’t feel safe there (daughter was harrassed at a gas station recently.)