Massachusetts liberal

A Massachusetts Liberal is a typically ultra-liberal in or from Massachusetts, in many ways the most liberal state in the United States. It is the only state where it is a crime, with a mandatory prison sentence of at least one year, to transport a lawfully owned gun for a lawful purpose in an automobile without a special permit. Out-of-state drivers traveling to hunting or gun competitions in the Northeast have to choose between going hours out of their way to avoid Massachusetts, or spending hours attempting to obtain a permit.

Massachusetts is also the only state that has same-sex marriage. Massachusetts is home of Northampton, the "lesbian capital of the world". Massachusetts, particularly the Boston area, is also the home of many ultra-liberal professors who adhere to professor values. Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country at 2.4 divorces per 1,000 people per annum, according to the Barna Research Group, however this is due to the fact that Massachusetts has the lowest marriage rate, with many couples simply choosing to cohabitate.

Two of the most liberal senators in the entire U.S. Senate, Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry, represent Massachusetts.

Though small in number, Massachusetts liberals have produced 2 out of the last 6 non-incumbent Democratic presidential nominees, and almost produced a two more when Ted Kennedy nearly unseated President Jimmy Carter in the Democratic primary in 1980 and Paul Tsongas nearly defeated Bill Clinton in 1992.

In 1988, Massachusetts liberals produced Michael Dukakis as the Democratic presidential nominee against a relatively weak candidate George H.W. Bush, who then made an issue of Dukakis's liberal views and beat him easily in the general election.

In 2004, John Kerry lost by nearly three million votes nationwide in the 2004 election against George W. Bush, yet Kerry won Massachusetts by a margin of about 62-38%.

Massachusetts was the only state in which a majority voted for George McGovern instead of Richard Nixon in the United States presidential election of 1972; even McGovern's home state of South Dakota rejected him, yet Massachusetts liberals thought he was just fine.