I live in the most westerly part of Whidbey Island, Washington. Our county, Island County, is designated a "rural" county, although it is the fourth-most-densely populated county in the Evergreen State. It is a county whose politics have been skewed Republican for many years, between its rurality, its Dutch Calvinist rooted community around the biggest town, Oak Harbor, and the presence of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (or, in Elvish, NASWI).
Follow me over the event horizon for more about my purpling home, and a little video treat about our "Democracy Wall".
As I said, Island County (which consists of Whidbey Island and nearby Camano Island) is "rural", by official designation, but it is the 4th most densely populated in the State, and in some parts feels very suburban. It's Western Washington (that's supposed to equal liberal), but often votes more like Eastern (Red) Washington.
We moved here from Deep Blue Rhode Island in 1992, and, during that time have enjoyed having one member of our three-person County Commission be a Democrat for only six of those years. The rest of the years were an all-GOP shutout, and what backward-looking, corruptish GoOPers many of them were. We are lucky to have a State Senator who's a solid Democrat, Mary Margaret Haugen, elected in '92, seeking a fifth term this year versus some very slimy attack politics. Our two state House members have been repugs all those years, except for a couple of terms in the '90s when one of them was a very neat Green Democrat, Dr. Dave Anderson.
I could go on and on, but right now it's the pre-dawn of "Election Day 2008" (we're an all-postal vote county, so Election Day should be called "Posmarked By Deadline Day". Near our home there's a long fence which has been growing slowly, during the course of the year into our neighborhood's "Democracy Wall", which must gall some of the old line GOP who drive to their fancy view properties off West Beach Road from their jobs in the heart of Navy Town Oak Harbor.
Here's a link to a very amateurish video I shot of the Wall. very amateurish video
BY THE WAY: Can anyone give me a quick hint as to how you "embed" a YouTube-hosted video ino a iary? I'm new at the Tube. Thanks.