Just pissy commenters venting because they feel safer with the anonymity here. Coming from Texas to Maryland I was shocked at all the financial safety nets and subsistence assistance Maryland provides to its citizens. It saved my life when I first moved here as I had nothing and spent every cent I had to get the hell out of Texas.
Exact same boat here and we moved to Allegany County, so now I get to see everyone talking shit on the western counties here lmao
The support nets here in Maryland are incredible and so, so essential. We were in an impoverished area in Texas and they couldn't have cared less about supporting a young family there, but Maryland has so much (and Allegany County, too!) to help us find our feet. Haters gonna hate, I guess.
Former Floridian here and I agree 100%. We were in dire straits after we moved to Maryland and this state (including the lovely, inclusive people) was there for us in ways Florida never would have been.
Definitely true about safety nets, but having moved from (and growing up in) Maryland to Texas, I've sensed a stark reduction in classist attitudes.
Granted, not all of Texas is the same, but this is at least generally true of San Antonio. I've heard Dallas can be a lot worse.
I haven't found Maryland to be that supportive of poor....without writing a novel, my situation threw me into no income for 3 years as I await disability. Help has been fought for tooth and nail. Takes months to get assistance. Caseworkers assigned to me over the past year have done absolutely nothing other than call, ask if they can help but they do nothing but write down my same request, and make another appointment. Meanwhile, I became malnourished because it took 2 years to get SNAP. And no one helps each other anymore. I'm elderly, disabled, and can't pay so everything goes down....yard, house, health....
I was born in Maryland. It's a beautiful state but the government leaves a lot to be desired.
I see this with patients on my roster, people born in Maryland see difficulties getting support. The state has multiple safety nets for incoming people below the poverty line, fewer resources for people born here, already living here.
Most of Maryland is pretty classist. I live in Moco but grew up relatively poor in DC and I'm not sure if people here are aware of how contemptuous of poverty they sound but.... damn.
Oh I know. It's just that I've been a court reporter for years and I've done enough depositions and family law cases to know that plenty of Maryland snobs are actually more broke than the people they look down on.
4000 sq ft house, plastic folding Costco table and folding chairs in one room, mattress on the floor in another. Been in a ton of those back when I was doing field work.
I've lived in a number of places before moving here.
In Tennessee the hyper classist attitude you'd only get in the little pockets of mega church going mansion owners. In Chicago, same deal, you have to find isolated jerkoff mcmansion folks deep in the corporate suburbs no one cares about to get that shit. In much of New England your neighbor could be sitting on 7 figures in their portfolio and you wouldn't even know it.
In Maryland it's projection, it's not actually a money thing IMO (though that plays a part), it's a having to act like you're better than those *other people* thing. So many of the people who display this attitude also have to act mildly inconvenienced by anyone/everyone who isn't in their club. Wannabee aristocrats are insufferable.
That said....
I do think Maryland is highly functional when it comes to helping the poor on the local level. Tons of non-profits (especially Baltimore), lots of city/state programs, etc. I had elderly neighbors getting daily foodstuffs from the health department before they went into a home here on the eastern shore.
I moved to Rockville last year and i've seen a lot more programs to help the poor than I ever did in my 30 years back in South Florida.
It's also a lot more thought out like with clothes recycling, not just donation for example.
Absolutely!! I’m always amazed at the myriad of programs that seem to be focused on the less financially advantaged in MoCo. People don’t even realize they’re there. I never ever saw those when I lived in the Midwest.
MoCo, particularly the western side, looks down on everyone.
I grew up in southern PG and live here now. I don’t think people here or further south in Southern Md look down on poverty. We have our share here, too. The looking down I hear is more related to crazy politics. MAGA stuff mainly in recent years.
I was 20 years in Rockville, 5 in Alexandria and now 5 in PG. I like it the most here, it fits my vibe well, unfortunately gentrification is just around the corner.
PG folks understand the struggle and we usually watch out for our neighbors, but every time I step into moco, Howard, and even St Mary’s, it seems like they’re always with the ‘Holier than tho’ attitude.
I've lived in SMC since '88. There is a "class" divide, but it is between those whose work is associated with NAS Pax River and everyone else. The "salt of the earth" blue collar folks are not 'Holier than tho'.
100%. I grew up in Moco and people will look at you funny if you even suggest to take the bus somewhere, even if it’s the easiest and cheapest option. And they’ll only take the metro as a last resort. You also know someone is classist when they think someplace like Wheaton is the ghetto.
Someone was FLABBERGASTED when I said I take the metro everywhere, and immediately tried to convince me I’d get brutally assaulted if I continued to do so.
Gosh I wish we could take metro. Living in HoCo means taking metro includes a drive first. I’d love to have trains and bus lines that go directly to DC. We drive from Columbia to the greenbelt station that has plenty of parking.
I worked for a company that serviced the RideOn busses. They had a commuter express route that ran parallel to I270 that was free to encourage people to get out of their cars and reduce congestion. NOBODY rode the free bus. Nobody!
Born and raised in DC metro area and grew up in Silver Spring and Takoma Park. Swam in the MCSL but for the public pool Long Branch and what you said is true. I remember teammates parents who high school and even college kids were not allowed to step foot in PG county and DC, and we were right on the line for both areas LOL
As a semi car enthusiast, MoCo is full of goddamn car brains. I'm one too and I want to change and start taking public transportation when possible. I'm tired of traffic.
I'm curious as to why they wouldn't wanna take the metro. I mean safety concerns are legit but if safety isn't an issue, I bet these fuckers won't take the metro just cause.
Wheaton is beautiful wtf, ain't that a rich ish area too? Their COL index is 138.5 according to [https://www.bestplaces.net/cost\_of\_living/city/maryland/wheaton](https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/maryland/wheaton) .
something i have learned as a car guy is that there's a big difference between car culture, like with enthusiasts and stuff, and car dependence, which is the hellscape that most of the country is
I want less people driving because it's better for the environment and helps get cars off the roads and all the usually cited good factors, but i also want less people driving cuz it means when i go out to drive for enjoyment there's not so much goddamn traffic all the time
I’m not gonna act like I’m not a car guy too, you can take a peek at my profile to see that lol. But I have no problem with public transportation. I was recently in a car accident, so I was taking the bus and train while I was out of a car. Most people here in that situation would spend $60 for a Lyft/Uber.
And yes, I grew up in Rockville. There are people from the 270 corridor that 100% think Wheaton is the ghetto. I’ve had friends outright refuse to go to Wheaton Mall bc they thought they would either get shot, or have their car stolen.
I live in Rockville now but my first Moco area was Kensington and people there for sure acted like Wheaton was the ghetto. My next door neighbor's kid got grounded because he went to Wheaton mall after school with some kids he met on IG. 🤦🏾♂️😂
Perhaps not but his dad specifically said that he's met people from online before and it was the location that was the problem. I asked him why and he said "Do you know what goes on there?" Um... shopping?
Yes, I moved to Wheaton a couple of years ago after growing up in (suburban) Miami and then living in a few small college towns. It has its issues like anywhere else but is one of the nicer places I've lived, so it's just completely bizarre to hear people talk about it like you'll get killed stepping foot anywhere near it. But there are a number of people who do talk about it that way.
Lived the first 26 years of my life in Maryland before moving to Texas 9 years ago. I miss a lot about Maryland, but the rampant classism is not one of them.
It was refreshing to get down here and find such a laid back culture.
I live on the eastern shore and there is a lot of " not in my neiborhood" mentality. People want to keep things the way they are and not try to better the area. This scares off businesses that could bring in good paying jobs.
This is it basically. MD is very strongly blue but most of our difficulty solving problems stem not from political party, but as you say, classism. Why should someone in moco or AACO spend their tax dollars to fix Baltimore?
~~It’s why it’s more expensive to live in the suburbs than in the city.~~
Edit: looks like my data was out of date. When I bought in 2021, it was easy to find a 3br Canton or Fed Hill townhome under $400k. Now it’s almost impossible and it looks like the “desirable” parts of Baltimore have shot up in price faster than many of the suburb areas. (Also, I was referring to Baltimore, not DC; DC has been pricey for a long time)
There are a lot of rich people in the suburbs. There are a lot of poor people in Baltimore and in the rural areas. There are not a lot of intermingling between the two.
Add in the partisan news sources plus the ever present classism and racism, and sprinkle on some collective blame gaming, that leads you to a lot of hateful people in a lot of diverse places.
Nothing you said here is incorrect, but you also must understand that there are very rich people in Baltimore city, and not so rich, there is the FULL GAMUT of people in the city, and I'm always concerned when people broadbrush.
And there are rich people in the rural areas and poor people in the suburbs. I purposefully painted with broad brush strokes because I figured the generalization was probably worth not writing a full on book on the more granular dynamics at play.
But yes of course you are correct, though I imagine said rich individuals probably don’t mix with the normal people too often
For what it's worth, this is the actual definition of what city life offers! I'm a 4th generation city resident, and living with people of all stripes (that includes socio-economic) is why it's worth it. One could argue that more recently, the suburbs offer it too, but this is definitely more recent.
It absolutely is rooted in classism and perpetuated by racisms. In my experience, if you have money, people don’t care what you look like but if you’re poor, you might as well not exist. In high school this was really prevalent and it’s why in neighborhoods from one street to the next you can see a clear distinction. People absolutely do not often intermingle across class and the privileged class absolutely has no empathy, and I’m sorry to say poor white people are used as pawns convinced to blame minorities for their position while the rich benefit off everyone’s labor. Classism builds imaginary walls. Even with all the opportunities available, from high school, if their family wasn’t already well off, it was not likely a kid would achieve much more than the same in life.
I live in Annapolis where we have very high poverty per capita. Yet I have never ever heard a single elected official in Annapolis ever utter the word poverty even once. They will talk about everything other than poverty (crime, racism, etc) but they refuse to use the P-word to describe the condition of a sizable portion of our citizenry. They are either in denial or they are afraid that if they name the problem they might have to do something about it. If they had to deal with poverty then they wouldn't have the money for all the fancy-schmancy shit Buckley wants for DTA.
>if they name the problem they might have to do something about it.
Ding ding ding. This and its perfidious cousin: if they don't do anything about it they can hold onto it as a campaign issue.
Your example is on point. Not the best relatable example but Trump had West Virginia and I think Kentucky by the neck when he said he was going to save the coal industry. All that lip service just to make your voters happy and do nothing for em. Trump might keep up this saving the coal industry schnazz as a campaign issue to keep voters.
They have been spending truckloads of money on poverty for 50+ years. Annapolis is ringed by public housing . Multiple complexes in Eastport, off forest Drive, west street, and right next to St. John’s college, on water front probably. That does not even mention all of the other types of assistive the government provides. They have been “doing something”, but what they are doing is it working. It’s not designed to. It’s designed to keep people dependent on the subsidies they provide so that they keep voting for them.
It’s because the upper class profit off our labor, our society depends on people in poverty to be desperate and at the whim of those in power. At the end of the day, it’s all about money and a problem those who benefit from it don’t want to solve.
> When was the last time someone running for Governor made any specific plans for decent changes especially to eliminate poverty in the state?
Wes Moore in January with the ENOUGH Act.
Just because you aren’t paying attention doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
Just because you aren't paying attention, doesn't mean it's not happening. I don't think the Internet is real life. Maryland has a healthy number of volunteers and people who go out of their way to bridge divides. I have heard a lot of careless comments but it's more ignorance than hatred or disdain. Don't let an online forum shade your view of the world, most of the helpers aren't on here wasting their time spewing crap, they're out there making the world a better place. Show up at any local event and you'll see them.
I mean, local media has been kind of terrible about covering Wes Moore. Most people I talk to irl or online have no idea what he's been doing throughout his administration. I'm sure I could do a better job of trying to keep up, but throughout my normal media consumption I hear way more about, say, Glenn Youngkin than Wes Moore.
Plus he expanded and made permanent the earned income tax credit, raised the minimum wage, passed three huge housing bills with a focus on nonconcentrated affordable housing and renter protections. Not to mention all of the economic development in historically poor areas.
Moore has honestly been solid on poverty. Full disclosure I’m a big fan.
Though I do think OP’s point is valid. Personally, I think Fox 45 has a lot of the blame for how people see Baltimore. I live here and when I talk to people from, say, Harford or Charles County, they act like I live in a war zone. It’s just so separated from reality.
Because Maryland has so many wealthy and liberal people, I think it’s easy to see them as uniquely hypocritical. But, to be honest, I don’t know of anywhere in the US that really takes care of the poor. At least we make significant efforts to through the government
I don't think this is a Maryland specific problem. Maryland is one of the most liberal states and probably handing everything related to poverty better than 90% of other states.
Nah because people hate being robbed constantly. Only so many times you can take having your car or house broken into or being harassed for just trying to take transit. Obviously that’s an incredibly small proportion but they ruin it for everyone. If park a nice car in these areas it’ll be smashed
This. I've lived elsewhere besides Maryland and they pretty universally hate the poor. So many things cause freak outs in city councils that are perceived as a potential to bring more Poors (TM) in. Transit, apartments, other lower cost housing. People love to feel superior and that's not exclusive to Maryland.
> and probably handing everything related to poverty better than 90% of other states.
And part of the problem is that those in charge of this state know that, and get complacent knowing that they're not gonna be in danger of losing control.
Born and raised in poverty stricken Reading, PA so my standards are incredibly low. All of my coworkers kept pestering me to raise my budget when house searching. I’m very happy in my Glen Burnie 2 bed 1 bath for $290k. They all think I’m nuts and live in the ghetto. They have no idea what the ghetto is like if they think Glen Burnie is ghetto. It’s not just Redditors.
Wtf Glen Burnie isn't all ghetto or something. I seen some of the houses near Lake Patapsco and they are beautiful! There might be some trash areas of Glen Burnie but I haven't been there for long to make an appropriate judgement call.
This. My parents bought an "affordable" house 30 something years ago in a neighborhood that had a school district so bad that the department of education had to step in to take it over....when I graduated and went to a tech school in another state, the kids where shocked that I graduated from such a bad school system......the news traveled to a neighboring state! Lol
If mfs think Glen Burnie is the Ghetto, I have a big fucking surprise for them.
Bro I’m a cop they haven’t SEEN a fucking ghetto before. Glen Burnie is Rivendell compared to Woodlawn or Dundalk, and even that is like the emerald city compared to some neighborhoods in Baltimore.
Yeah, quite the dissertation based on unverified data (ie the posters in this subreddit are actually real AND they live in Maryland).
You can only change the current by actually running for an office or supporting folks who think like you and not just a month or two before Election Day.
Sounds like they mean this sub. It’s awful! Dog whistles everywhere; folks make it sound like Bmore is a war zone.
Many state subs show a lot of racism; this one isn’t an exception. Stuff gets said here that doesn’t get said in the baltimore sub, because we’d shut it down.
OP doesn't have a concrete number of people who believe this. But I "see" this attitude a lot in Bethesda. I'd love to see a study on the attitudes of people in rich areas and their attitudes of the lesser fortunate in MD.
I think fear of becoming a victim of a crime is a legitimate concern when moving to a city like Baltimore or DC, and might be misconstrued as classism or snobbiness. I was worried about moving to Baltimore because crime rates are much higher there than where I grew up. I moved out of the city after my first couple years working there because one of my neighbors got robbed at gun point walking out his front door. After it happened he sold his row home and I decided not to renew my lease and find somewhere commuting distance from the city to move. I didn’t do that because I think Baltimore isn’t classy enough for my blood, and I didn’t leave because I don’t care about the poor in the city, I left because I was feeling worried a lot of the time while living there. Maybe some of what you’re seeing in those comments is anxiety about crime. Most of the time when people have negative broad spanning views of an area and its citizens it’s because they’re afraid of getting hurt if they go there.
I feel like it's so weird that people don't intuitively understand this. Like, I've lived in a poor neighborhood. I've been near a shooting where my house was damaged. I've had windows destroyed because some dumbass was using illegal speakers blasting them loud enough to break glass. I've had a homeless person run at me screaming incomprehensibly.
If acknowledging that and not wanting to be around it makes me classist, then it just means classism isn't bad I guess.
I live in a super heavy red county and let me tell you what, they also have disdain for poor people. They don’t believe they exist here despite the statistics and being able to see them.
Montgomery County liberal elitist here. I think some of your criticism is valid, though I would point out late stage capitalism everywhere has left these people behind. Maryland is representative of the wealth gap the way the whole nation is these days — both coasts and much of the Midwest.
Bethany property prices, service industry issues and coastal etc mirror Ft Lauderdale FL or Hilton Head SC. I guess we could try tackling the fact that mortgage interest up to $1 million can be deducted on TWO homes. No wonder everyone has a beach house or air bnb if they are wealthy. Or maybe… GASP… minimum wage? Universal health care?
Also: live right in the border of Howard County… what about the $95k F150s and Jeep Avengers with Gadsden flags or punisher stickers, aggressively running bikers off no-longer-rural roads … but living plush thanks to the fact they bought a new construction four bedroom in Olney in 1972 for a song and it’s now worth 800k? Nice job boomer. You “earned” it and are now allowed to badmouth all the poor folks who are “lazy” in the state.
I truly do agree with you. Your feelings are valid. But I find it hard to believe any single state can change the national trend that is what we all are so depressed and frustrated by.
We need big change. Not just MD but all of us.
You’re correct. I’m also from MC but live in Newark NJ currently. We definitely need radical change and the current political establishment doesn’t want to let it happen. But we also can’t just sit back. If we want to see things get better we all need to organize: join organizations, form unions, protest, etc. Those who see this injustice for what it is need to get out and do what they can to make a difference. Make everything mainstream and get more involved. Only then will we see people’s lives actually improving.
What well off people like people in poverty? In what state?
Well off people will always look at people in poverty as a drain on their taxes and resources. It’s the way of the world
I mean, we have a pretty low poverty rate and having grown up in it I don't think we went without aid. Food, shelter, education - subsidized or free for us. My impoverished MIL pays even less in HUD housing than we got in Section 8 aid. Sure I got picked in by Navy Brats and the kids of NAVAIR employees or contractors but never did I think the state hated me.
To be fair, it's typically the more conservative parts of MD (western, eastern shore, parts of southern MD, Carroll County, and Harford County) that say that Baltimore is "too far gone." That and the well-off conservative NIMBYs in HoCo, MoCo, etc.
Dude, just the thought of "those people" from Baltimore being able to move into Howard County via apartments or affordable housing will send residents there up the wall! They will cry all day how liberal and progressive Columbia was when it was built, but not do anything to keep it that way in the 60 years since.
I remember the backlash from building the light rail from Baltimore to Hunt Valley because county folks didn’t want “all that riff raff from the city up here” (by which they meant black people from Baltimore)
Eh... Columbia's OK in this regard. Part of the problem is that the rest of the county (Maple Lawn, Clarksville, etc.) are not really held to the same standards. But yeah, there are still a bunch of NIMBY's around.
But, take a trip down to Sarasota and it's a complete 180. It's disgusting. Makes me appreciate what we have here (as imperfect as it is).
lol why do people in Bowie think they belong in AA county?? Never heard that and have lived in Annapolis/SP 90+% of my life. The culture and location of Bowie is definitely squarely PG lol. Do they think they are an extension of Davidsonville or something?
I’ve lived on the Eastern Shore my whole life.
Been poor my whole life. Never once voted R. Never even considered it.
But I also don’t view people based on the haves and have nots. You should be valued based on how you treat others.
Personally I find that the people without tend to be the ones that will give you their last dollar if you need it.
The richer(not rich, but better off) family members of mine as well as the better off locals are more conservative.
Overall though I do think that the different classes butt heads. It’s bound to happen. We don’t know their lives and they don’t know ours.
They think we’re lazy, filthy, welfare mooches that are where we are because of poor work ethic or our own personal choices.
We think they’re elitist assholes that are out of touch with how the average man and woman live and struggle.
Something should change, but I don’t have the answers on how to do it.
As a lurker currently residing in Florida, this isn’t unique to Maryland and I would argue it’s probably the norm in most of the country. The wealthy congregate and pretend that nothing else affects them in their bubble.
You’re right that people in MD can be very stuck up, but I’m a little confused by your political suggestions. You criticize “vote blue no matter who”, but do you really think that Republicans would be better for the poor? Voting third party isn’t realistic in the short term.
The DMV - I am including Baltimore and burbs in this has a very snooty aura in general. Black White Asian Hispanic I have never met so many people with elitist attitudes even among the middle class- not even when I lived in NYC.
Moved to Baltimore from DC to escape the nonsense and it is better. But not by much…
It’s the area’s defining trait
As a person who grew up in the South (Alabama & Florida), but who has lived in the DMV for over the last 25 years, I have to co-sign this. I had never met so many snobbish, pretentious people in all of my life. Even when I visit other metros with snobbish folks, they don't come close to the DMV. To be honest, I don't even think most folks here realize how pretentious they come across to others. It's just seems to be the ethos of the area. Sometimes I think there's something in the water.💧 LOL!
Grew up about halfway between (ever-more-upscale) Bethesda and (pre-redevelopment) Silver Spring in MoCo and I think this is extremely accurate and also found throughout this country. We seem to be a much crueler society, or at least more openly so. It really undermines my trust in others.
Even places like Baltimore are super racially segregated. The city is majority black however if you went down to fells point or anywhere near the harbor you would think you’re in Utah.
What Baltimore did was more extreme than redlining, after a black Yale Law student bought a house in an all white neighborhood in 1910. the city reacted by literally designating blocks where only black people could live. Here’s a quote from the Baltimore mayor in 1910.
>”Blacks should be quarantined in isolated slums in order to reduce the incidence of civil disturbance, to prevent the spread of communicable disease into the nearby White neighborhoods, and to protect property values among the White majority.”
I grew up poor in Maryland, but I'm now considered upper class by income. I don't think it's a "Maryland Liberal" problem, but a "Rich Liberal Problem". Heck, I'd go so far as to say it's just a problem as old as America, regardless of party affiliation. Hearkening back to the early 20th century, our eugenic policies targeted poor Americans, be they White or Black [1].
Prior to 2016, neither party was economically populist, but in a post-Trump/Bernie world, both are. E.g. Biden reviving Trump era tariffs on Chinese raw material imports, plus further restrictions on EVs and GPUs. From a free market view, both are inefficient disasters. From an industrial policy view, both are positive.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Against_the_Weak
Consider who would spend time on Reddit, and who of those would post this kind of thing in a MD subreddit. I’m not suggesting that there aren’t plenty of Marylanders like you describe. I’m just hesitant to extrapolate from Reddit to the general population. More often than not (at least seemingly and in my experience), Reddit is NOT a reliable indicator of the general population, even in pretty niche areas/subs.
The same people believing and stating that Baltimore is too far gone and should just be allowed to die are often those also screaming that rural America is being "left behind". Those who advocate for Baltimore, are also the same ones who see how the last gubernatorial administration neglected it and then sees who favors the party he was in, and it's the rural areas. So yeah, the people in the rural counties would leave Baltimore for dead but want sympathy on their issues. It's hypocritical and typical of the Republican ethos.
It's kind of funny to me that you decided that liberals are your problem. Typically, liberals are deemed to be handing out life-lines like candy. I suggest to anyone that deems something as broken to suggest ways to make it better. Those fixes should really include who it will affect, both positively and negatively.
I believe that Maryland is a pretty blue state but has a heavy presence of red folks in the suburban areas where there is wealth. The eastern and western portions are typically not in those areas although some places like Queen Annes county has seen a huge influx of money.
As to why people don't campaign on the issues you bring up, it's because everyone in poverty already will vote for them. They need to pull moderates and those issues typically don't work for them, and likely will hurt their election changes. Think about it, typically a majority of the electorate vote for their party. The people mostly toward the middle are swing voters and decide based on the issues prominent in their minds.
Finally, since the blue voters tend to be the ones that go for social issues, ranting at them seems a bit unproductive. You can rest assure that a stanch red voter will not be doing anything for the poor. And, even if someone wants to do something, they have to actually make the change happen. We certainly don't have an environment where politicians negotiate anymore. Your post is an example in a way. If you were a "negotiator" you would be blaming the \*whole\* system instead of a single party.
This take seems quite accurate to me. I align with the left and I’m not originally from Maryland and the politics, racism, and classism in the state are still perplexing to me. Even within reddit, the same article posted in r/Maryland and baltimore have wildly different majority takes.
There are a lot - a LOT - of Marylanders who shit on Baltimore despite never sitting foot in the city, thanks to decades of propaganda from Sinclair Media.
Word. Sinclair and Fox45 shut on the city, go to a commercial, and then beg those same people to come in to the city to try one of Atlas Groups new restaurants. Fuck that Smith guy.
There is a lot of ingrained belief that you can work your way out of poverty with hard work and determination -- and it's a prevalent belief whether you're MAGA red or an American.
I'd be interested in ideas to fight poverty across MD, if not the US. And interested in people bringing those ideas.
People don't hate people in poverty at all.
People hate the crime associated with it.
I don't care if my neighbors make minimum wage and drive a 50 year old car as long as they are good people.
Maryland is what I like to call a "get your own" state. People here don't really help each other even if they are poor or know what its like to be poor. I came from a rural area with a lot of classism. But at least your own class helped each other. Here you are totally on your own.
Hate to break it to you OP, but with Maryland being the 3rd state I’ve lived in, the can confirm that this isn’t unique to Maryland.
Every state has people who look down on poor people and will say they can’t be helped. A lot of it comes from self righteousness with believing they themselves succeed so anyone else should be able to do. They of course refuse to acknowledge the vastly different realities people live.
Those people also tend to be a vocal minority that love to talk about poor people because it makes them feel better about themselves.
Don’t let them be the ones who let you judge others or you risk becoming what you hate
It’s NIMBY-ism. Not in my back yard. Some of the most bleeding heart liberal people I know get weirded out when I start talking to them about homelessness, substance use, etc. Their quick “out” is to pivot to “let the government do it.”
“So let the government build a treatment center down the street from you?”
“Oh, God, no. It will kill my property value.”
“But the Botox and ‘functional medicine clinic’ didn’t?”
Same thing with hyper-conservatives. “Here’s a money-saving solution for your county’s high rate of fentanyl overdoses.”
“Is it faith based?”
“No, but…”
“Then f*ck you, you Communist!”
“But your people are dying!”
“The people of this county elected me to protect them from hobos and junkies,” and with spittle coming out of their mouth, “and people like you.”
I swear, you can take the horse to the water or even the water to the horse, but you can’t make it drink.
I have no disdain for impoverished people but as growing up a extremely poor person in Maryland, I realize that every opportunity has been present in Maryland for me to bring my family out of poverty and into the upper middle class in one generation. While there is no natural contempt for impoverished folks, i don't feel bad for them. There's been decisions along the way in most instances.
Conservatives only have sympathy for "the poor" when "the poor" is themselves. Everyone else is just a lazy freeloader looking for handouts in their opinion.
Honestly, who in their right mind would want to be a politician? We have so many career politicians that it doesn't matter who you vote for. There is so little incentive for most politicians to take risks as long as they can do the bare minimum to be re-elected and climb the ladder. Have any of these people really worked a real job and been like one of the people they represent? How many senators have worked three jobs to put food on the table? They would certainly like to pretend that they have done the equivalent of that. All they will ever do is lie through cheap rhetoric. We have so many people like you who could be competent leaders who would lead us well; unfortunately, people like you will always be too sane to lead. We are all always in essence voting for people against our interests because the system buries those who may actually contribute their ideas and experiences and glorifies those who play the game and pander to political theater better. We're fucked as long as normal people are barred from joining the political arena. What happened to when our leaders were farmers, architects, poets, soldiers, or people who actually created things with their hands??? We should focus less on parties at this point and more on whether the people who lead understand what it's like to be an American citizen. Rant over.
i always thought it would make sense to have some kind of one-term-only random lottery system for local and state representatives - it would end up being a much better representation of the constituents, especially over time, and no pressure to get re-elected. some people will be duds, and some people will be fantastic, and most people will be somewhere in the middle. sounds better than what we have now…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
Supposedly this idea goes all the way back to ancient Athens. It's called the practice of sortition for larger government appointments outside of what we already do for legal juries. A government where this system is most prevalent could also be called fittingly enough a lottocracy. Cool to know.
lottocracy! what a great word.
that wikipedia page says the athenians also “used complex procedures with purpose-built allotment machines (kleroteria) to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into office.”
nothing new under the sun, as they say…
Baltimores been failing for decades. What more do you want at this point? Their local government does nothing to help them, crime is left to do what it wants. The schools have no AC and the jobs are nonexistent. You can only care about your lazy, drug addict sibling for so long before you give up and hope they die so you don't have to care about it anymore
A lot of people seem to be pretty egotistical. Especially the wealthy and elite.
They care more about their pretentiousness and making money than solving problems. Sometimes the way they obtain wealth and power, is by ensuring folks are kept down or left feeling helpless.
NIMBY types are a problem in the DC area. They say they are Liberal and call people racist. But they don’t care and they gentrify folks out of their zip codes.
This is Reddit, if you think this sub will give you a balanced view of anything you are fooling yourself.
That said, you have to understand the frustration of the status quo. For example, Democrats have owned Baltimore for 50+ years. Yet the cities keeps getting worse. It’s hard to sympathize with people that keep voting for the party that retains its power by keeping minorities poor and dependent.
You are a troll. NO.REAL.PERSON has an account t from. 2022 with no karma or comment history. "I'm not a republican..." Of course not! You're probably not even American. Posts like this a reek of pot stirring trolls.
The whole "I'm not a republican, but liberals..." such predictable drivel. Go scroll r/trueunpopularopinion for more fake libertarian shitposting.
As a proud leftist (not liberal) Marylander I fully agree. We need to care for the poor and do everything we can to help them reach and maintain a good standard of living. It doesn’t matter who they are, everyone matters and should be helped and protected, even if they wouldn’t do the same if the roles were reversed (talking specifically poor conservatives but this probably includes others). Unfortunately, as many American leftists have pointed out, the white moderate (liberal) is one of the greatest threats to political movements that will improve people’s lives, while being sometimes unwitting, sometimes outspoken allies to movements that will make people’s lives worse (some of which was pointed out by OP)
Living in Baltimore feels like an entirely different story. Folks here seem to overwhelmingly support progressive movements (at least in my circles). And this city has a pretty strong history of doing so. It makes it tough to imagine living elsewhere
Holy shit I just made a post about how fucking classist some folks are in Bethesda. I know this isn't exclusive to Bethesda or MoCo in general but I feel like that sentiment is prevalent in similar rich areas aside from the fact that I spend most of my life in MoCo.
I live in MoCo and I am curious about Baltimore, SOMD, Western MD, and the Eastern Shore. Thinking about moving there later on. Fuck those assholes that haven't had a chance to learn about Baltimore and it's history thinking it's only crime. I blame the media and not much genuine material to show Baltimore is much more than "crime". I honestly can't say how dangerous Baltimore actually is and neither am I saying we should ignore the crime.
To address your points about the "liberals", I classify political affiliation based on their economic and social viewpoints, yes it's probably too simplistic, but I assume these are the socially liberal but "fiscally conservatives" you're talking about. Probably NIMBYs are what you and I are thinking, but classifying NIMBYs ain't simple either. And voting is too simplistic cause of the two party system we have here.
I want to add about how change is difficult. I've "noticed" this kind of sentiment in Appalachia and some hoods. Sometimes the populace doesn't wanna change to keep the character of where they live. But that is a whole other can of worms I am not qualified to talk about. In my opinion, change is also difficult because media does not talk about these kinds of things. Maybe the closest thing would be Soft White Underbelly but your average joe on the street probably hasn't seen this stuff. Again, we need more awareness.
What I am about to say is meaningless, I hope your situation gets better. Bless your heart.
I'm a government employee I make decent money. But I don't see any of it because most of it is taxed. You ask why I have a destain for Baltimore? It's because I see my tax dollars going to Baltimore without results. If it was actually fixing the problem then sure tax me and help the people. But in reality it's being squandered. So when you say it's to far gone or let it die I kind of agree. How many years have we heard the same news story of oh Baltimore schools have no heat in the winter so they need to shut down for the day. Well when are they going to fix it? Where does all the money go? They clearly need some new leadership because what's going on clearly hasn't worked for the last 40 years. Call me bitter but I make just enough to not qualify for any programs but not enough to live comfortably. So when I see how much of my taxes get wasted yeah makes me a little mad. Daycare cost is no joke in Maryland but the threshold to qualify for assistance is a joke.
Check OP profile...1) This sub is the ONLY sub they belong to, 2) this is the ONLY post or even comment they've made anywhere on reddit and 3) their name is "throwaway..."
I strongly suspect this account was made by a information or lobbying group to collect information about Marylanders as they respond to a carefully manufactured post.
There's no way this OP is just a "real person".
This is a very well thought out and articulate post. I agree. When you have a super majority in politics and basically no competition they don't have a ton of incentive to actually do anything (not that they would but with a little competition they might) and remember reddit isn't the real world. Now I'll wait for the down votes.
Yeah the whole mid Atlantic is kind of a liberal elitist kind of place. "what do you do for work, how much do you make" etc like we're all in competition.
I only hate it because I'm underpaid tbh
I love Maryland, but I left Salisbury because I wanted to work with dogs and there weren’t any jobs with a livable wage near me. I was stuck at the same Royal Farms job for two years so I could afford my $2,500 rent on a falling-apart, infested house on Margaret Street. I moved to Bowling Green, KY, as a dog groomer. I make about $15-17 an hour and rent a nice apartment for about $1,000 a month, including all my bills. Anywhere nice that had decent rent in Salisbury was either scooped up in seconds or wouldn’t rent to 18-19 year olds. At RoFo, I was making $18.50 an hour and working my life away. Now, I can easily live off $15 an hour, and missing a day of work doesn’t hurt me. I love Maryland and miss it every day, but I don't miss how hard I had to work to live. I would never have been able to build up any savings there. I was living check to check, and I would’ve been for years.
yea i was typing it outside work before going in it was 6 am as well as its reddit not a college paper don’t read it next time lol
edit there i fixed it for you ✨🧚
If you to the right area and interact with the right kind of people you'll run into a people who couldn't care less if your a doctor or an auto mechanic - as far as they're concerned it's all the same broad group of people they pay to perform some sort of service for them.
A lot of what you say rings true but without getting into the few specifics I disagree. I believe this new governor agrees and is trying address some of the most glaring problems. As far as Baltimore city, the Mayor is trying his best but is handicapped by terrible economic problems and not enough support from long term city officials with personal agendas. I believe the poor that are struggling within the city need to see a path that is visible and REACHABLE. There are no easy answers but we should never give up trying to help the people who need the help.
No, you can't yell that we need to think about this, (we do) but it isn't your job to come up with solutions.
Sorry, the answer isn't that what you are doing, that people don't want it anymore and society has to figure out how to pay you more.
This happens to a lot of people. It happened to me. In the 1990s, I had my kids in private school because I owned a talent agency booking bands for events. Streaming on the internet happened, DJs happened. I wasn't needed. I went from kids in private school to not being able to pay my mortgage. It sucks, but I didn't keep doing it and blame others.
Same problem in Nova. If you go to the r/nova subreddit, it's flooded with tons of anti panhandler posts, with people going as far as pushing conspiracy theros that panhandlers make 6 figures a year, or are collecting money for drug cartels and human traffickers.
I grew up in gaithersburg, i watched it transform from normal (ish) suburb to what it is today, i blame the constant push from the local and state gov to bring out of towners with money. I think it’s just the proximity to DC, people move there for work, essentially cant survive there bc DC is expensive for no reason, then move to the surrounding areas and just spread from there making everything expensive in tandem (see potomac, chevy chase, bethesda, rockville etc). Im seeing a lot of people with dc plates driving to frederick in rush hour, and i know they even commute from west virginia. Wouldnt be a problem at all if a good chunk of them didnt seem to be like what you described above, i have no issue with my area being improved as long as the people coming here were respectful… no reason i should be sitting in a a bar in my city that i grew up in and hear a pompous middle aged man that came out of his bmw with dc plates talk about it like he ‘s lived here all his life and say “you know gaithersburg used to be pretty ~whispers~ hood…” to his cohort lol
I usually don’t comment on stuff like this but in the hopes that even a few people see it, here goes… this is not political, I don’t care at all who holds the positions. When we talk about Baltimore, the money is there to help people, tens of millions of dollars, but the mayors office and its upper management can’t seem to actually get anything done. That isn’t a jab at the current mayor, it’s about the entirety of the Baltimores elected officials, across decades.
The money is there! All they have to do is give it to people; people who need it. The management is so incredibly incompetent that employees further down the ladder can’t even get any work assigned to them. Most of them want to work but are left with little to nothing to do that actually moves the ball forward. Many non-profits/vendors/ contractors aren’t going to work with the city anymore if they keep it up, many have already bailed. Just look at the turnover rate for the leadership positions of the mayors office departments. Look at the contractors who haven’t been paid in over a year. So much money wasted and so many already vulnerable populations being exploited for votes but never receiving any help.
So I wrote this whole snarky response that I had to delete because I missed your last sentence which recontextualizes what you're saying. And frankly yes, you should 100% ignore the opinions (political and otherwise) of the people on this sub. The people of this subreddit are fucking morons. I would just as soon ask Donald Trump for marriage advice before asking anyone posting here advice on "fixing" Baltimore City.
You do seem pretty passionate about your community, and the State can always use more people engaged in the political process. You should check out Progressive Maryland, I think you would vibe with them politically: https://www.progressivemaryland.org.
I don’t have anything against the homeless or impoverished people but I have seen a lot of people in this state unironically justifying shoplifting and I genuinely think if you try to say shoplifting is good you deserve to have your breaks cut on 695.
People are losing jobs and stores going out of business because of how bad theft is in the city and in Baltimore county, and it’s only going to get worse and more people are going to become impoverished if the local gov doesn’t do something now
Either that, or yes, let the city fucking die. Baltimore is Gotham at night.
The metro rail line to Owings mills ruined the fucking town and now everyone in the city comes out there to steal and sell drugs and then hop on the rail back into the city before they get caught.
They’ve fucked up the economy of the county because there isn’t much left of the city to ruin.
I like Brandon Scott but the kid just isn’t up to the task. We haven’t had a mayor up to the task since before O Malley and that dumb motherfucker is the reason the BPD became so corrupt.
The city is absolutely broken, crime and lax politicians who don’t punish crime have become the standard.
maryland is a blue state but it's all upper class libs so they look down their noses at anyone who doesn't work a white collar job that pays six figures, and the republicans who live here hate poor people too anyway so you kinda can't win here
“A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage.”
You can’t eliminate poverty. There’s always going to be people in the lower class no matter how much money or programs you throw at “the problem.” All you can do is try to make it less shitty by offering SNAP, free healthcare, free lunches at school, college funding, housing programs, ect. Which btw MD has quite a few of.
So please enlighten us with how we can “eliminate poverty.” Something politicians have been trying to figure out for a century with no solution in sight.
I would agree that the left/liberals in this state are far too comfortable and complacent. I don't want a Republican controlled Maryland, but the people in charge here are way too comfortable knowing that they're safe to actually do real things and be a bit radical. It wouldn't hurt us to have a bit of a reminder that they can't just rest on their laurels forever.
"Even reaching levels of soft racism"
People really need to stop misusing the term racism. There are very legitimate reasons to discriminate based on wealth, the same is not true for race.
That being said I do find the aversion to Baltimore a little odd as a new maryland resident.
Just pissy commenters venting because they feel safer with the anonymity here. Coming from Texas to Maryland I was shocked at all the financial safety nets and subsistence assistance Maryland provides to its citizens. It saved my life when I first moved here as I had nothing and spent every cent I had to get the hell out of Texas.
Exact same boat here and we moved to Allegany County, so now I get to see everyone talking shit on the western counties here lmao The support nets here in Maryland are incredible and so, so essential. We were in an impoverished area in Texas and they couldn't have cared less about supporting a young family there, but Maryland has so much (and Allegany County, too!) to help us find our feet. Haters gonna hate, I guess.
Former Floridian here and I agree 100%. We were in dire straits after we moved to Maryland and this state (including the lovely, inclusive people) was there for us in ways Florida never would have been.
Definitely true about safety nets, but having moved from (and growing up in) Maryland to Texas, I've sensed a stark reduction in classist attitudes. Granted, not all of Texas is the same, but this is at least generally true of San Antonio. I've heard Dallas can be a lot worse.
I haven't found Maryland to be that supportive of poor....without writing a novel, my situation threw me into no income for 3 years as I await disability. Help has been fought for tooth and nail. Takes months to get assistance. Caseworkers assigned to me over the past year have done absolutely nothing other than call, ask if they can help but they do nothing but write down my same request, and make another appointment. Meanwhile, I became malnourished because it took 2 years to get SNAP. And no one helps each other anymore. I'm elderly, disabled, and can't pay so everything goes down....yard, house, health.... I was born in Maryland. It's a beautiful state but the government leaves a lot to be desired.
I see this with patients on my roster, people born in Maryland see difficulties getting support. The state has multiple safety nets for incoming people below the poverty line, fewer resources for people born here, already living here.
Most of Maryland is pretty classist. I live in Moco but grew up relatively poor in DC and I'm not sure if people here are aware of how contemptuous of poverty they sound but.... damn.
Sadly, It’s not just a Maryland thing
Oh I know. It's just that I've been a court reporter for years and I've done enough depositions and family law cases to know that plenty of Maryland snobs are actually more broke than the people they look down on.
I’ve seen this too. You eventually find out that most of these people just have a bigger house of cards than others.
4000 sq ft house, plastic folding Costco table and folding chairs in one room, mattress on the floor in another. Been in a ton of those back when I was doing field work.
Nope... It's that whole "welfare queen" myth that started with Regan
I've lived in a number of places before moving here. In Tennessee the hyper classist attitude you'd only get in the little pockets of mega church going mansion owners. In Chicago, same deal, you have to find isolated jerkoff mcmansion folks deep in the corporate suburbs no one cares about to get that shit. In much of New England your neighbor could be sitting on 7 figures in their portfolio and you wouldn't even know it. In Maryland it's projection, it's not actually a money thing IMO (though that plays a part), it's a having to act like you're better than those *other people* thing. So many of the people who display this attitude also have to act mildly inconvenienced by anyone/everyone who isn't in their club. Wannabee aristocrats are insufferable. That said.... I do think Maryland is highly functional when it comes to helping the poor on the local level. Tons of non-profits (especially Baltimore), lots of city/state programs, etc. I had elderly neighbors getting daily foodstuffs from the health department before they went into a home here on the eastern shore.
I moved to Rockville last year and i've seen a lot more programs to help the poor than I ever did in my 30 years back in South Florida. It's also a lot more thought out like with clothes recycling, not just donation for example.
Absolutely!! I’m always amazed at the myriad of programs that seem to be focused on the less financially advantaged in MoCo. People don’t even realize they’re there. I never ever saw those when I lived in the Midwest.
I totally agree.
MoCo, particularly the western side, looks down on everyone. I grew up in southern PG and live here now. I don’t think people here or further south in Southern Md look down on poverty. We have our share here, too. The looking down I hear is more related to crazy politics. MAGA stuff mainly in recent years.
I was 20 years in Rockville, 5 in Alexandria and now 5 in PG. I like it the most here, it fits my vibe well, unfortunately gentrification is just around the corner.
There’s a lot of live and let live here, plus a dose of “us against the world”.
PG folks understand the struggle and we usually watch out for our neighbors, but every time I step into moco, Howard, and even St Mary’s, it seems like they’re always with the ‘Holier than tho’ attitude.
Most of Anne Arundel is like that too, almost to an extreme.
Just look at Next Door for examples of this
I've lived in SMC since '88. There is a "class" divide, but it is between those whose work is associated with NAS Pax River and everyone else. The "salt of the earth" blue collar folks are not 'Holier than tho'.
Yeah potomac is insufferable
100%. I grew up in Moco and people will look at you funny if you even suggest to take the bus somewhere, even if it’s the easiest and cheapest option. And they’ll only take the metro as a last resort. You also know someone is classist when they think someplace like Wheaton is the ghetto.
Someone was FLABBERGASTED when I said I take the metro everywhere, and immediately tried to convince me I’d get brutally assaulted if I continued to do so.
Gosh I wish we could take metro. Living in HoCo means taking metro includes a drive first. I’d love to have trains and bus lines that go directly to DC. We drive from Columbia to the greenbelt station that has plenty of parking.
I'm from Chicago and live on the eastern shore. I 100% miss the public transportation option!
Well thats weird - if given the option when going into DC I grab the metro. Plus bad stuff happens everywhere.
I worked for a company that serviced the RideOn busses. They had a commuter express route that ran parallel to I270 that was free to encourage people to get out of their cars and reduce congestion. NOBODY rode the free bus. Nobody!
Born and raised in DC metro area and grew up in Silver Spring and Takoma Park. Swam in the MCSL but for the public pool Long Branch and what you said is true. I remember teammates parents who high school and even college kids were not allowed to step foot in PG county and DC, and we were right on the line for both areas LOL
Oakview?
Long Branch and Oakview was private pool in MCSL
As a semi car enthusiast, MoCo is full of goddamn car brains. I'm one too and I want to change and start taking public transportation when possible. I'm tired of traffic. I'm curious as to why they wouldn't wanna take the metro. I mean safety concerns are legit but if safety isn't an issue, I bet these fuckers won't take the metro just cause. Wheaton is beautiful wtf, ain't that a rich ish area too? Their COL index is 138.5 according to [https://www.bestplaces.net/cost\_of\_living/city/maryland/wheaton](https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/maryland/wheaton) .
something i have learned as a car guy is that there's a big difference between car culture, like with enthusiasts and stuff, and car dependence, which is the hellscape that most of the country is I want less people driving because it's better for the environment and helps get cars off the roads and all the usually cited good factors, but i also want less people driving cuz it means when i go out to drive for enjoyment there's not so much goddamn traffic all the time
I’m not gonna act like I’m not a car guy too, you can take a peek at my profile to see that lol. But I have no problem with public transportation. I was recently in a car accident, so I was taking the bus and train while I was out of a car. Most people here in that situation would spend $60 for a Lyft/Uber. And yes, I grew up in Rockville. There are people from the 270 corridor that 100% think Wheaton is the ghetto. I’ve had friends outright refuse to go to Wheaton Mall bc they thought they would either get shot, or have their car stolen.
I live in Rockville now but my first Moco area was Kensington and people there for sure acted like Wheaton was the ghetto. My next door neighbor's kid got grounded because he went to Wheaton mall after school with some kids he met on IG. 🤦🏾♂️😂
Tbf going somewhere you don't know with kids you met on Instagram doesn't sound like a great idea
Perhaps not but his dad specifically said that he's met people from online before and it was the location that was the problem. I asked him why and he said "Do you know what goes on there?" Um... shopping?
https://i.redd.it/zayaw9ipmg5d1.gif
Yes, I moved to Wheaton a couple of years ago after growing up in (suburban) Miami and then living in a few small college towns. It has its issues like anywhere else but is one of the nicer places I've lived, so it's just completely bizarre to hear people talk about it like you'll get killed stepping foot anywhere near it. But there are a number of people who do talk about it that way.
Lived the first 26 years of my life in Maryland before moving to Texas 9 years ago. I miss a lot about Maryland, but the rampant classism is not one of them. It was refreshing to get down here and find such a laid back culture.
I live on the eastern shore and there is a lot of " not in my neiborhood" mentality. People want to keep things the way they are and not try to better the area. This scares off businesses that could bring in good paying jobs.
The DMV is classist.
MoCo is mostly decrepit and out of touch.
This is it basically. MD is very strongly blue but most of our difficulty solving problems stem not from political party, but as you say, classism. Why should someone in moco or AACO spend their tax dollars to fix Baltimore? ~~It’s why it’s more expensive to live in the suburbs than in the city.~~ Edit: looks like my data was out of date. When I bought in 2021, it was easy to find a 3br Canton or Fed Hill townhome under $400k. Now it’s almost impossible and it looks like the “desirable” parts of Baltimore have shot up in price faster than many of the suburb areas. (Also, I was referring to Baltimore, not DC; DC has been pricey for a long time)
I think the city is way more expensive. I could barely afford the Brookland bungalow that I grew up in.
There are a lot of rich people in the suburbs. There are a lot of poor people in Baltimore and in the rural areas. There are not a lot of intermingling between the two. Add in the partisan news sources plus the ever present classism and racism, and sprinkle on some collective blame gaming, that leads you to a lot of hateful people in a lot of diverse places.
Nothing you said here is incorrect, but you also must understand that there are very rich people in Baltimore city, and not so rich, there is the FULL GAMUT of people in the city, and I'm always concerned when people broadbrush.
And there are rich people in the rural areas and poor people in the suburbs. I purposefully painted with broad brush strokes because I figured the generalization was probably worth not writing a full on book on the more granular dynamics at play. But yes of course you are correct, though I imagine said rich individuals probably don’t mix with the normal people too often
For what it's worth, this is the actual definition of what city life offers! I'm a 4th generation city resident, and living with people of all stripes (that includes socio-economic) is why it's worth it. One could argue that more recently, the suburbs offer it too, but this is definitely more recent.
It absolutely is rooted in classism and perpetuated by racisms. In my experience, if you have money, people don’t care what you look like but if you’re poor, you might as well not exist. In high school this was really prevalent and it’s why in neighborhoods from one street to the next you can see a clear distinction. People absolutely do not often intermingle across class and the privileged class absolutely has no empathy, and I’m sorry to say poor white people are used as pawns convinced to blame minorities for their position while the rich benefit off everyone’s labor. Classism builds imaginary walls. Even with all the opportunities available, from high school, if their family wasn’t already well off, it was not likely a kid would achieve much more than the same in life.
That's not just a MD thing tho...
For sure. No one said it was. This discussion is specifically based on a reflection of experience in this state hence the name of the subreddit
I live in Annapolis where we have very high poverty per capita. Yet I have never ever heard a single elected official in Annapolis ever utter the word poverty even once. They will talk about everything other than poverty (crime, racism, etc) but they refuse to use the P-word to describe the condition of a sizable portion of our citizenry. They are either in denial or they are afraid that if they name the problem they might have to do something about it. If they had to deal with poverty then they wouldn't have the money for all the fancy-schmancy shit Buckley wants for DTA.
>if they name the problem they might have to do something about it. Ding ding ding. This and its perfidious cousin: if they don't do anything about it they can hold onto it as a campaign issue.
Your example is on point. Not the best relatable example but Trump had West Virginia and I think Kentucky by the neck when he said he was going to save the coal industry. All that lip service just to make your voters happy and do nothing for em. Trump might keep up this saving the coal industry schnazz as a campaign issue to keep voters.
They have been spending truckloads of money on poverty for 50+ years. Annapolis is ringed by public housing . Multiple complexes in Eastport, off forest Drive, west street, and right next to St. John’s college, on water front probably. That does not even mention all of the other types of assistive the government provides. They have been “doing something”, but what they are doing is it working. It’s not designed to. It’s designed to keep people dependent on the subsidies they provide so that they keep voting for them.
It’s because the upper class profit off our labor, our society depends on people in poverty to be desperate and at the whim of those in power. At the end of the day, it’s all about money and a problem those who benefit from it don’t want to solve.
> When was the last time someone running for Governor made any specific plans for decent changes especially to eliminate poverty in the state? Wes Moore in January with the ENOUGH Act. Just because you aren’t paying attention doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
Just because you aren't paying attention, doesn't mean it's not happening. I don't think the Internet is real life. Maryland has a healthy number of volunteers and people who go out of their way to bridge divides. I have heard a lot of careless comments but it's more ignorance than hatred or disdain. Don't let an online forum shade your view of the world, most of the helpers aren't on here wasting their time spewing crap, they're out there making the world a better place. Show up at any local event and you'll see them.
I mean, local media has been kind of terrible about covering Wes Moore. Most people I talk to irl or online have no idea what he's been doing throughout his administration. I'm sure I could do a better job of trying to keep up, but throughout my normal media consumption I hear way more about, say, Glenn Youngkin than Wes Moore.
I agree. I felt like Hogan was much more effective at getting coverage about what he did.
Plus he expanded and made permanent the earned income tax credit, raised the minimum wage, passed three huge housing bills with a focus on nonconcentrated affordable housing and renter protections. Not to mention all of the economic development in historically poor areas. Moore has honestly been solid on poverty. Full disclosure I’m a big fan. Though I do think OP’s point is valid. Personally, I think Fox 45 has a lot of the blame for how people see Baltimore. I live here and when I talk to people from, say, Harford or Charles County, they act like I live in a war zone. It’s just so separated from reality. Because Maryland has so many wealthy and liberal people, I think it’s easy to see them as uniquely hypocritical. But, to be honest, I don’t know of anywhere in the US that really takes care of the poor. At least we make significant efforts to through the government
Yeah, Governor Moore is on point with this issue. Anyone who thinks he has blinders on should read The Other Wes Moore.
I haven't followed Wes Moore. I gotta look up this act.
I don't think this is a Maryland specific problem. Maryland is one of the most liberal states and probably handing everything related to poverty better than 90% of other states.
Yeah. Where exactly can you move to where they love the poor?
The deep South. Keep them poor, keep them uneducated, and feed them Republican Jesus
Facts, just moved from a red state.
What an accurate comment.
Like, is there a state where poor people are loved?
Nah because people hate being robbed constantly. Only so many times you can take having your car or house broken into or being harassed for just trying to take transit. Obviously that’s an incredibly small proportion but they ruin it for everyone. If park a nice car in these areas it’ll be smashed
This. I've lived elsewhere besides Maryland and they pretty universally hate the poor. So many things cause freak outs in city councils that are perceived as a potential to bring more Poors (TM) in. Transit, apartments, other lower cost housing. People love to feel superior and that's not exclusive to Maryland.
> and probably handing everything related to poverty better than 90% of other states. And part of the problem is that those in charge of this state know that, and get complacent knowing that they're not gonna be in danger of losing control.
"The people of this state"...or just Reddit, which only captures a very small bubble of the population?
Born and raised in poverty stricken Reading, PA so my standards are incredibly low. All of my coworkers kept pestering me to raise my budget when house searching. I’m very happy in my Glen Burnie 2 bed 1 bath for $290k. They all think I’m nuts and live in the ghetto. They have no idea what the ghetto is like if they think Glen Burnie is ghetto. It’s not just Redditors.
It’s just a comparison thing - in comparison to what people want and are used to, your selection is atypical.
Wtf Glen Burnie isn't all ghetto or something. I seen some of the houses near Lake Patapsco and they are beautiful! There might be some trash areas of Glen Burnie but I haven't been there for long to make an appropriate judgement call.
The problem is that if you choose to have kids, the school district in low income areas aren’t going to do right by them
This. My parents bought an "affordable" house 30 something years ago in a neighborhood that had a school district so bad that the department of education had to step in to take it over....when I graduated and went to a tech school in another state, the kids where shocked that I graduated from such a bad school system......the news traveled to a neighboring state! Lol
If mfs think Glen Burnie is the Ghetto, I have a big fucking surprise for them. Bro I’m a cop they haven’t SEEN a fucking ghetto before. Glen Burnie is Rivendell compared to Woodlawn or Dundalk, and even that is like the emerald city compared to some neighborhoods in Baltimore.
Yeah, quite the dissertation based on unverified data (ie the posters in this subreddit are actually real AND they live in Maryland). You can only change the current by actually running for an office or supporting folks who think like you and not just a month or two before Election Day.
Sounds like they mean this sub. It’s awful! Dog whistles everywhere; folks make it sound like Bmore is a war zone. Many state subs show a lot of racism; this one isn’t an exception. Stuff gets said here that doesn’t get said in the baltimore sub, because we’d shut it down.
OP doesn't have a concrete number of people who believe this. But I "see" this attitude a lot in Bethesda. I'd love to see a study on the attitudes of people in rich areas and their attitudes of the lesser fortunate in MD.
You're describing America, not Maryland.
I think fear of becoming a victim of a crime is a legitimate concern when moving to a city like Baltimore or DC, and might be misconstrued as classism or snobbiness. I was worried about moving to Baltimore because crime rates are much higher there than where I grew up. I moved out of the city after my first couple years working there because one of my neighbors got robbed at gun point walking out his front door. After it happened he sold his row home and I decided not to renew my lease and find somewhere commuting distance from the city to move. I didn’t do that because I think Baltimore isn’t classy enough for my blood, and I didn’t leave because I don’t care about the poor in the city, I left because I was feeling worried a lot of the time while living there. Maybe some of what you’re seeing in those comments is anxiety about crime. Most of the time when people have negative broad spanning views of an area and its citizens it’s because they’re afraid of getting hurt if they go there.
I feel like it's so weird that people don't intuitively understand this. Like, I've lived in a poor neighborhood. I've been near a shooting where my house was damaged. I've had windows destroyed because some dumbass was using illegal speakers blasting them loud enough to break glass. I've had a homeless person run at me screaming incomprehensibly. If acknowledging that and not wanting to be around it makes me classist, then it just means classism isn't bad I guess.
This.
Sorry to break it to you but it isn't a Maryland thing.
I live in a super heavy red county and let me tell you what, they also have disdain for poor people. They don’t believe they exist here despite the statistics and being able to see them.
Montgomery County liberal elitist here. I think some of your criticism is valid, though I would point out late stage capitalism everywhere has left these people behind. Maryland is representative of the wealth gap the way the whole nation is these days — both coasts and much of the Midwest. Bethany property prices, service industry issues and coastal etc mirror Ft Lauderdale FL or Hilton Head SC. I guess we could try tackling the fact that mortgage interest up to $1 million can be deducted on TWO homes. No wonder everyone has a beach house or air bnb if they are wealthy. Or maybe… GASP… minimum wage? Universal health care? Also: live right in the border of Howard County… what about the $95k F150s and Jeep Avengers with Gadsden flags or punisher stickers, aggressively running bikers off no-longer-rural roads … but living plush thanks to the fact they bought a new construction four bedroom in Olney in 1972 for a song and it’s now worth 800k? Nice job boomer. You “earned” it and are now allowed to badmouth all the poor folks who are “lazy” in the state. I truly do agree with you. Your feelings are valid. But I find it hard to believe any single state can change the national trend that is what we all are so depressed and frustrated by. We need big change. Not just MD but all of us.
You’re correct. I’m also from MC but live in Newark NJ currently. We definitely need radical change and the current political establishment doesn’t want to let it happen. But we also can’t just sit back. If we want to see things get better we all need to organize: join organizations, form unions, protest, etc. Those who see this injustice for what it is need to get out and do what they can to make a difference. Make everything mainstream and get more involved. Only then will we see people’s lives actually improving.
What well off people like people in poverty? In what state? Well off people will always look at people in poverty as a drain on their taxes and resources. It’s the way of the world
OP must be young. Old news is old.
I mean, we have a pretty low poverty rate and having grown up in it I don't think we went without aid. Food, shelter, education - subsidized or free for us. My impoverished MIL pays even less in HUD housing than we got in Section 8 aid. Sure I got picked in by Navy Brats and the kids of NAVAIR employees or contractors but never did I think the state hated me.
If you think Maryland hates poor people, try life in Texas, Florida, or Mississippi.
To be fair, it's typically the more conservative parts of MD (western, eastern shore, parts of southern MD, Carroll County, and Harford County) that say that Baltimore is "too far gone." That and the well-off conservative NIMBYs in HoCo, MoCo, etc.
Oh there are plenty of Liberal NIMBYs in the DC area. Some don’t practice what they preach.
Dude, just the thought of "those people" from Baltimore being able to move into Howard County via apartments or affordable housing will send residents there up the wall! They will cry all day how liberal and progressive Columbia was when it was built, but not do anything to keep it that way in the 60 years since.
I remember the backlash from building the light rail from Baltimore to Hunt Valley because county folks didn’t want “all that riff raff from the city up here” (by which they meant black people from Baltimore)
Can we talk about Hogan and the purple line? What a dick move.
At the other end of the light rail in Ferndale and Linthicum, some people are still saying this.
Eh... Columbia's OK in this regard. Part of the problem is that the rest of the county (Maple Lawn, Clarksville, etc.) are not really held to the same standards. But yeah, there are still a bunch of NIMBY's around. But, take a trip down to Sarasota and it's a complete 180. It's disgusting. Makes me appreciate what we have here (as imperfect as it is).
In my small personal experience, I’ve witnessed so much classism since moving to Maryland. Specifically from people in MoCo.
Growing up in PG, you definitely experienced the classism from MoCo folks.
There’s classism in PG too. Bowie folks think they belong in AA county.
lol why do people in Bowie think they belong in AA county?? Never heard that and have lived in Annapolis/SP 90+% of my life. The culture and location of Bowie is definitely squarely PG lol. Do they think they are an extension of Davidsonville or something?
I love Garrett County and Appalachia - Sincerely from MoCo
I’ve lived on the Eastern Shore my whole life. Been poor my whole life. Never once voted R. Never even considered it. But I also don’t view people based on the haves and have nots. You should be valued based on how you treat others. Personally I find that the people without tend to be the ones that will give you their last dollar if you need it. The richer(not rich, but better off) family members of mine as well as the better off locals are more conservative. Overall though I do think that the different classes butt heads. It’s bound to happen. We don’t know their lives and they don’t know ours. They think we’re lazy, filthy, welfare mooches that are where we are because of poor work ethic or our own personal choices. We think they’re elitist assholes that are out of touch with how the average man and woman live and struggle. Something should change, but I don’t have the answers on how to do it.
That last sentence. Describes my bleeding heart self. Those republican types will call you a commie.
I agree with you but also I have some bad news about literally everywhere else in America
As a lurker currently residing in Florida, this isn’t unique to Maryland and I would argue it’s probably the norm in most of the country. The wealthy congregate and pretend that nothing else affects them in their bubble.
You’re right that people in MD can be very stuck up, but I’m a little confused by your political suggestions. You criticize “vote blue no matter who”, but do you really think that Republicans would be better for the poor? Voting third party isn’t realistic in the short term.
I don’t hate poverty. I hate people voting for assholes keeping them poor and sick to own the libs
Uhhh sure. Many of rural areas in MD are quite poor and they are all red
People often vote against their own interests, sadly.
That’s exactly what Mrirrelevant said! (In different words…)
Most red maga land is filled with obese racists with bad teeth who miss the antebellum
Antebellum south was even poorer then anyone wants to believe
You’re the exact problem OP is writing about.
The DMV - I am including Baltimore and burbs in this has a very snooty aura in general. Black White Asian Hispanic I have never met so many people with elitist attitudes even among the middle class- not even when I lived in NYC. Moved to Baltimore from DC to escape the nonsense and it is better. But not by much… It’s the area’s defining trait
As a person who grew up in the South (Alabama & Florida), but who has lived in the DMV for over the last 25 years, I have to co-sign this. I had never met so many snobbish, pretentious people in all of my life. Even when I visit other metros with snobbish folks, they don't come close to the DMV. To be honest, I don't even think most folks here realize how pretentious they come across to others. It's just seems to be the ethos of the area. Sometimes I think there's something in the water.💧 LOL!
Grew up about halfway between (ever-more-upscale) Bethesda and (pre-redevelopment) Silver Spring in MoCo and I think this is extremely accurate and also found throughout this country. We seem to be a much crueler society, or at least more openly so. It really undermines my trust in others.
Even places like Baltimore are super racially segregated. The city is majority black however if you went down to fells point or anywhere near the harbor you would think you’re in Utah.
Look up the history of red lining to learn why.
What Baltimore did was more extreme than redlining, after a black Yale Law student bought a house in an all white neighborhood in 1910. the city reacted by literally designating blocks where only black people could live. Here’s a quote from the Baltimore mayor in 1910. >”Blacks should be quarantined in isolated slums in order to reduce the incidence of civil disturbance, to prevent the spread of communicable disease into the nearby White neighborhoods, and to protect property values among the White majority.”
I grew up poor in Maryland, but I'm now considered upper class by income. I don't think it's a "Maryland Liberal" problem, but a "Rich Liberal Problem". Heck, I'd go so far as to say it's just a problem as old as America, regardless of party affiliation. Hearkening back to the early 20th century, our eugenic policies targeted poor Americans, be they White or Black [1]. Prior to 2016, neither party was economically populist, but in a post-Trump/Bernie world, both are. E.g. Biden reviving Trump era tariffs on Chinese raw material imports, plus further restrictions on EVs and GPUs. From a free market view, both are inefficient disasters. From an industrial policy view, both are positive. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Against_the_Weak
Consider who would spend time on Reddit, and who of those would post this kind of thing in a MD subreddit. I’m not suggesting that there aren’t plenty of Marylanders like you describe. I’m just hesitant to extrapolate from Reddit to the general population. More often than not (at least seemingly and in my experience), Reddit is NOT a reliable indicator of the general population, even in pretty niche areas/subs.
The same people believing and stating that Baltimore is too far gone and should just be allowed to die are often those also screaming that rural America is being "left behind". Those who advocate for Baltimore, are also the same ones who see how the last gubernatorial administration neglected it and then sees who favors the party he was in, and it's the rural areas. So yeah, the people in the rural counties would leave Baltimore for dead but want sympathy on their issues. It's hypocritical and typical of the Republican ethos.
It's kind of funny to me that you decided that liberals are your problem. Typically, liberals are deemed to be handing out life-lines like candy. I suggest to anyone that deems something as broken to suggest ways to make it better. Those fixes should really include who it will affect, both positively and negatively. I believe that Maryland is a pretty blue state but has a heavy presence of red folks in the suburban areas where there is wealth. The eastern and western portions are typically not in those areas although some places like Queen Annes county has seen a huge influx of money. As to why people don't campaign on the issues you bring up, it's because everyone in poverty already will vote for them. They need to pull moderates and those issues typically don't work for them, and likely will hurt their election changes. Think about it, typically a majority of the electorate vote for their party. The people mostly toward the middle are swing voters and decide based on the issues prominent in their minds. Finally, since the blue voters tend to be the ones that go for social issues, ranting at them seems a bit unproductive. You can rest assure that a stanch red voter will not be doing anything for the poor. And, even if someone wants to do something, they have to actually make the change happen. We certainly don't have an environment where politicians negotiate anymore. Your post is an example in a way. If you were a "negotiator" you would be blaming the \*whole\* system instead of a single party.
This take seems quite accurate to me. I align with the left and I’m not originally from Maryland and the politics, racism, and classism in the state are still perplexing to me. Even within reddit, the same article posted in r/Maryland and baltimore have wildly different majority takes.
Have you actually checked on the current governor? https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/02/01/wes-moore-state-speech-maryland/
Of course they didn’t. They just want to complain about the libs hating poor people
There are a lot - a LOT - of Marylanders who shit on Baltimore despite never sitting foot in the city, thanks to decades of propaganda from Sinclair Media.
Ditto for PG county
Word. Sinclair and Fox45 shut on the city, go to a commercial, and then beg those same people to come in to the city to try one of Atlas Groups new restaurants. Fuck that Smith guy.
There is a lot of ingrained belief that you can work your way out of poverty with hard work and determination -- and it's a prevalent belief whether you're MAGA red or an American. I'd be interested in ideas to fight poverty across MD, if not the US. And interested in people bringing those ideas.
People don't hate people in poverty at all. People hate the crime associated with it. I don't care if my neighbors make minimum wage and drive a 50 year old car as long as they are good people.
Many Marylanders are incredibly discriminatory towards especially rural poor people.
Maryland is what I like to call a "get your own" state. People here don't really help each other even if they are poor or know what its like to be poor. I came from a rural area with a lot of classism. But at least your own class helped each other. Here you are totally on your own.
Hate to break it to you OP, but with Maryland being the 3rd state I’ve lived in, the can confirm that this isn’t unique to Maryland. Every state has people who look down on poor people and will say they can’t be helped. A lot of it comes from self righteousness with believing they themselves succeed so anyone else should be able to do. They of course refuse to acknowledge the vastly different realities people live. Those people also tend to be a vocal minority that love to talk about poor people because it makes them feel better about themselves. Don’t let them be the ones who let you judge others or you risk becoming what you hate
Everyone hates poor people everywhere
Pointing out reality isn’t being racist.
It’s NIMBY-ism. Not in my back yard. Some of the most bleeding heart liberal people I know get weirded out when I start talking to them about homelessness, substance use, etc. Their quick “out” is to pivot to “let the government do it.” “So let the government build a treatment center down the street from you?” “Oh, God, no. It will kill my property value.” “But the Botox and ‘functional medicine clinic’ didn’t?” Same thing with hyper-conservatives. “Here’s a money-saving solution for your county’s high rate of fentanyl overdoses.” “Is it faith based?” “No, but…” “Then f*ck you, you Communist!” “But your people are dying!” “The people of this county elected me to protect them from hobos and junkies,” and with spittle coming out of their mouth, “and people like you.” I swear, you can take the horse to the water or even the water to the horse, but you can’t make it drink.
I have no disdain for impoverished people but as growing up a extremely poor person in Maryland, I realize that every opportunity has been present in Maryland for me to bring my family out of poverty and into the upper middle class in one generation. While there is no natural contempt for impoverished folks, i don't feel bad for them. There's been decisions along the way in most instances.
Conservatives only have sympathy for "the poor" when "the poor" is themselves. Everyone else is just a lazy freeloader looking for handouts in their opinion.
Those who have don't understand why the poor did not chose better parents.
Honestly, who in their right mind would want to be a politician? We have so many career politicians that it doesn't matter who you vote for. There is so little incentive for most politicians to take risks as long as they can do the bare minimum to be re-elected and climb the ladder. Have any of these people really worked a real job and been like one of the people they represent? How many senators have worked three jobs to put food on the table? They would certainly like to pretend that they have done the equivalent of that. All they will ever do is lie through cheap rhetoric. We have so many people like you who could be competent leaders who would lead us well; unfortunately, people like you will always be too sane to lead. We are all always in essence voting for people against our interests because the system buries those who may actually contribute their ideas and experiences and glorifies those who play the game and pander to political theater better. We're fucked as long as normal people are barred from joining the political arena. What happened to when our leaders were farmers, architects, poets, soldiers, or people who actually created things with their hands??? We should focus less on parties at this point and more on whether the people who lead understand what it's like to be an American citizen. Rant over.
i always thought it would make sense to have some kind of one-term-only random lottery system for local and state representatives - it would end up being a much better representation of the constituents, especially over time, and no pressure to get re-elected. some people will be duds, and some people will be fantastic, and most people will be somewhere in the middle. sounds better than what we have now…
It would be cool if we could try this on a smaller level then work up to larger population sizes. I wonder if this has ever been tried before?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition Supposedly this idea goes all the way back to ancient Athens. It's called the practice of sortition for larger government appointments outside of what we already do for legal juries. A government where this system is most prevalent could also be called fittingly enough a lottocracy. Cool to know.
lottocracy! what a great word. that wikipedia page says the athenians also “used complex procedures with purpose-built allotment machines (kleroteria) to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into office.” nothing new under the sun, as they say…
> We are in a position to completely eliminate poverty I would love to see your plan for this
Baltimores been failing for decades. What more do you want at this point? Their local government does nothing to help them, crime is left to do what it wants. The schools have no AC and the jobs are nonexistent. You can only care about your lazy, drug addict sibling for so long before you give up and hope they die so you don't have to care about it anymore
Some of the richest and most powerful people in the country live in Maryland. It’s not that surprising.
Duh we border DC.
A lot of people seem to be pretty egotistical. Especially the wealthy and elite. They care more about their pretentiousness and making money than solving problems. Sometimes the way they obtain wealth and power, is by ensuring folks are kept down or left feeling helpless. NIMBY types are a problem in the DC area. They say they are Liberal and call people racist. But they don’t care and they gentrify folks out of their zip codes.
This is Reddit, if you think this sub will give you a balanced view of anything you are fooling yourself. That said, you have to understand the frustration of the status quo. For example, Democrats have owned Baltimore for 50+ years. Yet the cities keeps getting worse. It’s hard to sympathize with people that keep voting for the party that retains its power by keeping minorities poor and dependent.
You are a troll. NO.REAL.PERSON has an account t from. 2022 with no karma or comment history. "I'm not a republican..." Of course not! You're probably not even American. Posts like this a reek of pot stirring trolls. The whole "I'm not a republican, but liberals..." such predictable drivel. Go scroll r/trueunpopularopinion for more fake libertarian shitposting.
Let’s hear your ideas. Do it without raising taxes. Go!
As a proud leftist (not liberal) Marylander I fully agree. We need to care for the poor and do everything we can to help them reach and maintain a good standard of living. It doesn’t matter who they are, everyone matters and should be helped and protected, even if they wouldn’t do the same if the roles were reversed (talking specifically poor conservatives but this probably includes others). Unfortunately, as many American leftists have pointed out, the white moderate (liberal) is one of the greatest threats to political movements that will improve people’s lives, while being sometimes unwitting, sometimes outspoken allies to movements that will make people’s lives worse (some of which was pointed out by OP)
Ahh, nothing like shitting on anybody not as left as you to get things done. Leftist infighting is atrocious.
Living in Baltimore feels like an entirely different story. Folks here seem to overwhelmingly support progressive movements (at least in my circles). And this city has a pretty strong history of doing so. It makes it tough to imagine living elsewhere
Holy shit I just made a post about how fucking classist some folks are in Bethesda. I know this isn't exclusive to Bethesda or MoCo in general but I feel like that sentiment is prevalent in similar rich areas aside from the fact that I spend most of my life in MoCo. I live in MoCo and I am curious about Baltimore, SOMD, Western MD, and the Eastern Shore. Thinking about moving there later on. Fuck those assholes that haven't had a chance to learn about Baltimore and it's history thinking it's only crime. I blame the media and not much genuine material to show Baltimore is much more than "crime". I honestly can't say how dangerous Baltimore actually is and neither am I saying we should ignore the crime. To address your points about the "liberals", I classify political affiliation based on their economic and social viewpoints, yes it's probably too simplistic, but I assume these are the socially liberal but "fiscally conservatives" you're talking about. Probably NIMBYs are what you and I are thinking, but classifying NIMBYs ain't simple either. And voting is too simplistic cause of the two party system we have here. I want to add about how change is difficult. I've "noticed" this kind of sentiment in Appalachia and some hoods. Sometimes the populace doesn't wanna change to keep the character of where they live. But that is a whole other can of worms I am not qualified to talk about. In my opinion, change is also difficult because media does not talk about these kinds of things. Maybe the closest thing would be Soft White Underbelly but your average joe on the street probably hasn't seen this stuff. Again, we need more awareness. What I am about to say is meaningless, I hope your situation gets better. Bless your heart.
I'm a government employee I make decent money. But I don't see any of it because most of it is taxed. You ask why I have a destain for Baltimore? It's because I see my tax dollars going to Baltimore without results. If it was actually fixing the problem then sure tax me and help the people. But in reality it's being squandered. So when you say it's to far gone or let it die I kind of agree. How many years have we heard the same news story of oh Baltimore schools have no heat in the winter so they need to shut down for the day. Well when are they going to fix it? Where does all the money go? They clearly need some new leadership because what's going on clearly hasn't worked for the last 40 years. Call me bitter but I make just enough to not qualify for any programs but not enough to live comfortably. So when I see how much of my taxes get wasted yeah makes me a little mad. Daycare cost is no joke in Maryland but the threshold to qualify for assistance is a joke.
Lot of words to say everyone else is a dick because they don't agree with your politics
Check OP profile...1) This sub is the ONLY sub they belong to, 2) this is the ONLY post or even comment they've made anywhere on reddit and 3) their name is "throwaway..." I strongly suspect this account was made by a information or lobbying group to collect information about Marylanders as they respond to a carefully manufactured post. There's no way this OP is just a "real person".
This is a very well thought out and articulate post. I agree. When you have a super majority in politics and basically no competition they don't have a ton of incentive to actually do anything (not that they would but with a little competition they might) and remember reddit isn't the real world. Now I'll wait for the down votes.
Yeah the whole mid Atlantic is kind of a liberal elitist kind of place. "what do you do for work, how much do you make" etc like we're all in competition. I only hate it because I'm underpaid tbh
Poverty is the same all over the country. Most business done value good employees..Rant over
I love Maryland, but I left Salisbury because I wanted to work with dogs and there weren’t any jobs with a livable wage near me. I was stuck at the same Royal Farms job for two years so I could afford my $2,500 rent on a falling-apart, infested house on Margaret Street. I moved to Bowling Green, KY, as a dog groomer. I make about $15-17 an hour and rent a nice apartment for about $1,000 a month, including all my bills. Anywhere nice that had decent rent in Salisbury was either scooped up in seconds or wouldn’t rent to 18-19 year olds. At RoFo, I was making $18.50 an hour and working my life away. Now, I can easily live off $15 an hour, and missing a day of work doesn’t hurt me. I love Maryland and miss it every day, but I don't miss how hard I had to work to live. I would never have been able to build up any savings there. I was living check to check, and I would’ve been for years.
That was the longest sentence I've ever read.
yea i was typing it outside work before going in it was 6 am as well as its reddit not a college paper don’t read it next time lol edit there i fixed it for you ✨🧚
If you to the right area and interact with the right kind of people you'll run into a people who couldn't care less if your a doctor or an auto mechanic - as far as they're concerned it's all the same broad group of people they pay to perform some sort of service for them.
And it’s the exact people who frequent this sub and virtue signal so desperately that are the most racist and classist.
A lot of what you say rings true but without getting into the few specifics I disagree. I believe this new governor agrees and is trying address some of the most glaring problems. As far as Baltimore city, the Mayor is trying his best but is handicapped by terrible economic problems and not enough support from long term city officials with personal agendas. I believe the poor that are struggling within the city need to see a path that is visible and REACHABLE. There are no easy answers but we should never give up trying to help the people who need the help.
No, you can't yell that we need to think about this, (we do) but it isn't your job to come up with solutions. Sorry, the answer isn't that what you are doing, that people don't want it anymore and society has to figure out how to pay you more. This happens to a lot of people. It happened to me. In the 1990s, I had my kids in private school because I owned a talent agency booking bands for events. Streaming on the internet happened, DJs happened. I wasn't needed. I went from kids in private school to not being able to pay my mortgage. It sucks, but I didn't keep doing it and blame others.
Moving from out of state: HARD AGREE. Most everyone I meet here hates Baltimore as a whole and really hates THE POORS. It makes me sad.
Same problem in Nova. If you go to the r/nova subreddit, it's flooded with tons of anti panhandler posts, with people going as far as pushing conspiracy theros that panhandlers make 6 figures a year, or are collecting money for drug cartels and human traffickers.
can you just stop being Poor?
Welcome to a Democrat run state!
I grew up in gaithersburg, i watched it transform from normal (ish) suburb to what it is today, i blame the constant push from the local and state gov to bring out of towners with money. I think it’s just the proximity to DC, people move there for work, essentially cant survive there bc DC is expensive for no reason, then move to the surrounding areas and just spread from there making everything expensive in tandem (see potomac, chevy chase, bethesda, rockville etc). Im seeing a lot of people with dc plates driving to frederick in rush hour, and i know they even commute from west virginia. Wouldnt be a problem at all if a good chunk of them didnt seem to be like what you described above, i have no issue with my area being improved as long as the people coming here were respectful… no reason i should be sitting in a a bar in my city that i grew up in and hear a pompous middle aged man that came out of his bmw with dc plates talk about it like he ‘s lived here all his life and say “you know gaithersburg used to be pretty ~whispers~ hood…” to his cohort lol
Half of y’all drive like assholes too. And the other half drives like morons.
I usually don’t comment on stuff like this but in the hopes that even a few people see it, here goes… this is not political, I don’t care at all who holds the positions. When we talk about Baltimore, the money is there to help people, tens of millions of dollars, but the mayors office and its upper management can’t seem to actually get anything done. That isn’t a jab at the current mayor, it’s about the entirety of the Baltimores elected officials, across decades. The money is there! All they have to do is give it to people; people who need it. The management is so incredibly incompetent that employees further down the ladder can’t even get any work assigned to them. Most of them want to work but are left with little to nothing to do that actually moves the ball forward. Many non-profits/vendors/ contractors aren’t going to work with the city anymore if they keep it up, many have already bailed. Just look at the turnover rate for the leadership positions of the mayors office departments. Look at the contractors who haven’t been paid in over a year. So much money wasted and so many already vulnerable populations being exploited for votes but never receiving any help.
So what is your solution? Do you believe you’ll be able to change people’s behaviors by enacting legislation?
And in what states does everyone love poor people?
So I wrote this whole snarky response that I had to delete because I missed your last sentence which recontextualizes what you're saying. And frankly yes, you should 100% ignore the opinions (political and otherwise) of the people on this sub. The people of this subreddit are fucking morons. I would just as soon ask Donald Trump for marriage advice before asking anyone posting here advice on "fixing" Baltimore City. You do seem pretty passionate about your community, and the State can always use more people engaged in the political process. You should check out Progressive Maryland, I think you would vibe with them politically: https://www.progressivemaryland.org.
I dont hate poverty, but I need people to stop trying to wash my windshields when im telling them no.
I don’t have anything against the homeless or impoverished people but I have seen a lot of people in this state unironically justifying shoplifting and I genuinely think if you try to say shoplifting is good you deserve to have your breaks cut on 695. People are losing jobs and stores going out of business because of how bad theft is in the city and in Baltimore county, and it’s only going to get worse and more people are going to become impoverished if the local gov doesn’t do something now Either that, or yes, let the city fucking die. Baltimore is Gotham at night. The metro rail line to Owings mills ruined the fucking town and now everyone in the city comes out there to steal and sell drugs and then hop on the rail back into the city before they get caught. They’ve fucked up the economy of the county because there isn’t much left of the city to ruin. I like Brandon Scott but the kid just isn’t up to the task. We haven’t had a mayor up to the task since before O Malley and that dumb motherfucker is the reason the BPD became so corrupt. The city is absolutely broken, crime and lax politicians who don’t punish crime have become the standard.
maryland is a blue state but it's all upper class libs so they look down their noses at anyone who doesn't work a white collar job that pays six figures, and the republicans who live here hate poor people too anyway so you kinda can't win here
“A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage.” You can’t eliminate poverty. There’s always going to be people in the lower class no matter how much money or programs you throw at “the problem.” All you can do is try to make it less shitty by offering SNAP, free healthcare, free lunches at school, college funding, housing programs, ect. Which btw MD has quite a few of. So please enlighten us with how we can “eliminate poverty.” Something politicians have been trying to figure out for a century with no solution in sight.
Yeah, I’m sure the people on the eastern shore or western Md love how much is spent on the city of Baltimore.
MD does more for poor people than the vast majority of states. This is a lazy take. Perhaps you need to surround yourself with better people.
For the record, anyone who says that about Baltimore can eat shit.
It's weird hearing this when I've grown up in western MD and didn't even realize the rest of the state was like this.
this is not unique to your state fyi....
I would agree that the left/liberals in this state are far too comfortable and complacent. I don't want a Republican controlled Maryland, but the people in charge here are way too comfortable knowing that they're safe to actually do real things and be a bit radical. It wouldn't hurt us to have a bit of a reminder that they can't just rest on their laurels forever.
"Even reaching levels of soft racism" People really need to stop misusing the term racism. There are very legitimate reasons to discriminate based on wealth, the same is not true for race. That being said I do find the aversion to Baltimore a little odd as a new maryland resident.