Anyone here from the Branson area?

My brother lives in Blue Eye and we're (my wife, 2 kids, and I) are thinking of following them out there.

I'd just like to get a liberal perspective on the area. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

And, yes, I know all about the Shepherd of the Hills :P and the country music :(

I'm in Overland Park Kansas which is fifty or so miles away. I can tell you this about Missouri from just across the state line:

Missouri is nominally Democrat, but that's been changing. I believe their legislature is predominantly Republican now. They do have a just-elected Republican Governor who's cutting Medicaid. The state has NEVER done a good job of financing education. The Kansas City, Missouri, was for years under court-ordered desegregation policies.

Because I live just a couple of miles from the border, in part of the greater Kansas City (Missouri) metropolitan area, I see my acquaintances who live on the Missouri side complain about how they can't afford to live in Kansas because our taxes are too high, and in the next breath notice how lousy their schools are and the fact that their roads don't get plowed very well in the winter. They want Kansans to help pay for a new major-league stadium. Personally, I think the teams themselves should always pay, but that obviously a topic for a completely different post.

The Branson area itself is located in the Ozarks, which is a pretty area. Branson itself is very much a tourist town, but obviously you'd have a range of places to consider living. If you don't mind crappy schools and religious fundamentalism (remember John Ashcroft is from Missouri) you'll like it there.

The devil has us by the throat here. We haven't any representation, not in the state government nor the federal. Our governor is all of 33 years old with just scads of experience. he is doing everything he can to kill every social program we have here, he's cutting healthcare, education, environment, you name it if business hates it then so does he.

The area you're thinking about is the epicenter of fundamentalism, branson is nothing but rah rah god mom and country, and in these days it's a dangerous place to be a democrat, let alone a liberal democrat.

I really wish I could tell you we have a great state and to come on out, maybe after this madness has passed, but, if you're looking to relocate. I would reccomend nw washington state as close to Canada as possible, especially if you have children.

There are lots of good people like you in Missouri. That is something :)

The thing that would keep me as far away from Branson as possible is the traffic. It's a 24/7 jam in that town.

I also consider SW MO to be the mega church capital of the world. You can't drive a mile down there without running into a huge brand new mega church. But I guess that might attract someone more religious.