state by state speak your mind about...new hampshire

[SwampG8r]

i will start by saying i know nothing about new hampshire except is was named for old hampshire
so as i write i will do some research and tell the interesting bits
it was once its own country after seceding from great britain
it holds americas first primary
it has many industries from textiles to logging
it has voted for dems for president only 6 times 3 of them during fdr's terms
new hampshire seems to be the epitome of the "yankee" independence
new hampshire is another place i want to see
and remember du "live free or die"

[graywarrior]

1. I lived there for 15 years

Worked for App. Mtn Club and loved it
New Hampshire people have beady little eyes that bore right through you. They do not like tourists but put up with them. They applaud when one of them falls off a cliff.
John Birchers have taken over the state, especially small towns
The most beautiful highways in the country--Route 16 to Route 302 to Route 2.
The White Mountains are intimate and cozy until the weather comes at you from three directions--then you are dead.
Moose like to fuck with traffic.

[TuxedoKat]

2. Birch trees

it has lots of birch trees. That's what makes those New England autumns so special -- the red, yellow and brown leaves against the white bark. There are some nice covered bridges too.

[TuxedoKat]

8. Ah, okay

I've never lived there but used to visit and was always so impressed by the many white trees!

[Jennicut]

3. My favorite vacation spot.

We are going this summer again. My father in law lives there. The white mountains are beautiful. I love the Kangamangus Highway. Franconia Notch. It is beautiful there. We live in Connecticut so we are fellow New Englanders but NH has way less population. And a lot of moose. And I can't forget maple sugar candy and climbing through the Polar Caves. Lots of great places for kids.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. I loved the towns/cities I visited. So rich in history and beautiful country.

[XemaSab]

7. Portsmouth might be my favorite city in the US

It's certainly on my top 10.

[piratefish08]

17. born and raised there - couldn't even think about affording to live in my birth town again.....

property has been driven through the roof by transplants and commuters to MA.......

[Warren Stupidity]

9. the descent into t-bag-nuttery in 2010 was rather depressing.

There is some hope things will turn around, but my wife (ms stupidity to you) and I wonder if we are gonna stay or gonna go. Long term we probably cant afford to retire here because the IDIOTS prefer a tax system based on the theory that property equals income, a theory that was valid circa 1850, but is hopelessly stupid circa 2012, over an actual income based taxation system.

I could go on about this. In fact I will. I had more or less the following conversation with a person I work with, both of us from the same town in NH, both of us working, like a lot of the population of this state, in our neighbor to the south, the dreaded Taxachussettes.

Me: "you know if we had a state income tax instead of us giving all this money to Mass every year, we could repatriate a lot of it back to our own state. We could lower property taxes, and perhaps all of us could afford to actually retire here."

Him: "yes but I prefer keeping things the way they are".

Me: "why? Wouldn't your rather have that money back in our state?"

Him: "property taxes are spent locally. If we had an income tax my money would be going out of town."

I stopped there. What can I say to that? He would rather lose 6% of his income to Mass than have some of that, say half of it, come back to NH, lowering his property taxes in addition, because he'd be sharing that loot with people outside his town. Seriously. I give up. The republican mind set is all about the fear that "those people" are getting a free ride off of "my money". It is insanity, as in an irrational belief system.

[Mopar151]

11. One of the odd things about NH

Is that our "reddest" areas are in the southeastern part of the state - full of "Taxachusetts" refugees. And there is no talking sense to them about the problems in our tax structure - which is badly in need of help. Almost all of our educational funding is from property taxes, and very little at the state level (50th, behind Mississippi), and property desaprities between towns are HUGE - like 100 X (Times!, not percent) - so poor towns struggle mightily to educate their children. Many attempts to rectify this have failed - often because of political opposition from "rich" towns.
We have no state income or sales tax here - it's a great place to be rich! But for the rest of us, it's kinda crazy - like property taxes that are more than morgtage payments.

There's a lot that's good, here. Highest number of motorcycles per capita in the US, same with vanity plates. A lot of racetracks, antique cars, and hot rods. Local food RULES, every large ethnicity has a great food festival. And everything is better with maple. Ox and Horse pulling has a big following at the fairs and "Old Home Days". Yard sales, flea markets, auctions all over the place - The State has 2 "surplus property" auctions a year, you can buy an old police car , DOT pickup, or library van.

[hfojvt]

12. they have no income tax

So Brownback loves to use them as an example for Kansas to follow.

They were a key state in giving the 2000 election to Bush. If New Hampshire had gone to Gore, then Gore would have become President. Some 22,000 New Hampshire voters screwed us all by voting for Nader.

Way, way back, the Governor of New Hampshire illegally created the state of Vermont by selling New York land to people from Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I am pretty sure I have been through New Hampshire, sometime in the 1970s on the way from New York to Maine and back, but I don't remember anything about it. Technically though I still get to say I have been to New Hampshire.

[phylny]

13. I have fond memories of New Hampshire from when I was a kid.

Our family didn't have much, but we always had enough, and that included a two-week trip almost every year to Lake Wentworth. The water was crystal clear, and we spent every minute of every sunny day swimming and playing. It gave me such a love and lust for lake living,that my husband and I have retired on a lake in Virginia. Whoops, eta we haven't actually "retired" yet, but here is where we'll live until they either force us out, or I exit with a sheet over my body.

[Ganja Ninja]

14. It's the gateway to Vermont. n/t

[Vinca]

15. I live in New Hampshire.

It's not "Live Free or Die," it's "We Don't Care If You Die." That's why I couldn't afford medical care until demon "Obamacare" came along. It's a physically beautiful state - with some exceptions - with a nasty undercurrent of teabagger mentality. The "free staters" have decided to adopt New Hampshire as their own because of low taxation. By now they must have figured out why taxes are so low. It's because any fees associated with anything the government can cash in on are extremely high. Just the permits to install a replacement septic system are hundreds of dollars. When I get my car registered it costs a small fortune because they keep taxing the thing over and over and over again. I don't know about the textile and logging industries you mentioned. I suppose there must be some businesses like that, but most of what I see are big box stores in shopping malls and fast food emporiums. If I had investigated the politics of New Hampshire (I wasn't interested in any politics at the time), I probably would have bypassed a great real estate deal and continued looking in Vermont. Now we're reluctant to pull up roots because we've been here 15 years and love our own little spot.