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It is one of the fastest-growing areas in Florida; its popularity (it bills itself as "Florida's Friendliest Hometown") has given it the nicknames of "Disney World For Seniors" and "The Bubble" (the terms are used both affectionately and pejoratively, depending on one's view of retirement communities).

It is one of the fastest-growing areas in Florida; its popularity (it bills itself as "Florida's Friendliest Hometown") has given it the nicknames of "Disney World For Seniors" and "The Bubble" (the terms are used both affectionately and pejoratively, depending on one's view of retirement communities).

The Villages is a strongly conservative area – Morse himself was a major donor to the [[Republican Party]] and served one time as a Florida Elector to the [[Electoral College]] – and has become a popular point for conservative political rallies (especially as Florida is almost evenly divided politically, making it a swing state in national elections): in 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate [[Sarah Palin]] spoke to a crowd estimated at over 60,000.  Not surprisingly liberals decry the community and the concept of senior-only communities that aren't traditional assisted-living (and aren't predominantly liberal): after his neighbors relocated from New England to The Villages, author Andrew D. Blechman wrote an "expose" on the community <ref>'''[[Leisureville (book)|Leisureville: Adventures in a World Without Children]] (ISBN 978-0-8021-4418-8)</ref> which claimed to show its "hostility toward Democrats", "dislike of families" (comparing it to similar communities in Arizona, such as Youngtown - which lost its senior-only status due to legal issues - and the Sun City developments - where enmity exists between the Sun City residents and the larger community), and its "rampant underbelly of non-stop sex" (a popular urban legend is that The Villages has the highest per-capita rates of sexually transmitted disease in the country; however, it has actually seen an increase in STD transmission).

The Villages is a strongly conservative area – Morse himself was a major donor to the [[Republican Party]] and served one time as a Florida Elector to the [[Electoral College]] – and has become a popular point for conservative political rallies (especially as Florida is almost evenly divided politically, making it a swing state in national elections): in 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate [[Sarah Palin]] spoke to a crowd estimated at over 60,000.  Not surprisingly liberals decry the community and the concept of senior-only communities that aren't traditional assisted-living (and aren't predominantly liberal): after his neighbors relocated from New England to The Villages, author Andrew D. Blechman wrote an "expose" on the community <ref>'''[[Leisureville (book)|Leisureville: Adventures in a World Without Children]] (ISBN 978-0-8021-4418-8)</ref> which claimed to show its "hostility toward Democrats", "dislike of families" (comparing it to similar communities in Arizona, such as Youngtown - which lost its senior-only status due to legal issues - and the Sun City developments - where enmity exists between the Sun City residents and the larger community), and its "rampant underbelly of non-stop sex" (a popular urban legend is that The Villages has the highest per-capita rates of sexually transmitted disease in the country).

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==References==