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You do know that Jackson County votes Democratic, no? That's largely because of the Kansas Citians, although I don't think Independence is all that conservative either.
The main difference, politically speaking, between Kansas City and St. Louis and the coastal metropolises is that the coastal suburbs have become purple, or even blue, while those of the large Central Plains cities are pinkish at minimum.
They may not be loads of Bernie Bros (though I met a really cool Sanders delegate from Lawrence at the 2016 Democratic National Convention here) or AOC acolytes in Kansas City and environs, but the core city is pretty liberal. You want a conservative core city in the Midwest, head for OKC.
And to one of kcmo's points, OKC's streetcar is further along in its development than KC's, and it didn't face the hostility from parts of the city that KC's has.
Correct. The suburbs around DC are blue, purple is about as red as they get.
But even so, conservatives in this area are a totally different breed than conservatives in the Midwest. For example, Maryland governor Hogan is a republican but he would be a far left liberal in most of the Midwest.
I have some friends that are conservatives in the DC area, but compared to the conservatives I know back in MO and KS, they would be "snowflakes". A coworker just told me the other day while we were talking politics at lunch, that he used to always vote republican but that the republicans now represent nothing but "uneducated rednecks and racists" and he will be voting democratic till things change. The conservatives I know here are all about fiscal responsibility etc. The conservatives back in the midwest are all about guns and church and isolating America from the rest of the world and they remind me of it every single day via facebook posts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl
Thing is, I live in a region of the country that is chock-full of cool places, and my recent visits Back Home tell me that KC has indeed gotten cool. Certainly cooler than the city I left in 1976.
Just with a Midwestern accent.
I think KC is pretty awesome and has gotten "cool". But I also think it's "cool" sphere of influence is pretty local. It's not like Nashville or Denver who have a national cool factor. I mean, that's fine, so what if nobody knows about KC, but you still gotta try to compete and that's all these people do. KC should be a great place to hold a convention with its central location, affordability and amenities.
The irony is that far too many people have a “monolithic” view of a the East or West coast. There is certainly a huge area that isn’t a populated metro area or not as expensive. I have lived in many areas, and would much prefer to be closer to the coast, and will make that happen down the road.
I was in Wichita recently where I was actually in a bit of culture shock with all the mega churches. A person I met for some business asked how I was able to survive "out there". The guy honestly thinks the east coast is some unlivable war zone full of transvestites. I was just like, it's just normal people living normal lives. Most live pretty well actually. I thought to my self, how do you live here where all you have is churches and walmarts? I really felt like the guy was brainwashed or something.
You are right though, the east and west coast are not all huge urban cities. That's one of nice things about it. You have mountains, oceans and some really nice smaller towns too. You get up in new england, and the smaller towns are really nice, sort of European small town nice. Most small towns in America are kind of ghetto.
A dear friend of mine - a Kentucky native who worked for most of the time I've known him as a reporter in Washington, employed by The Kansas City Star's parent company and thus familiar with the city from several visits there on business* - just sent me a very lively video that Kansas City's tourism-promotion people have just produced.
I'm following my own original post up because I omitted the explanation of the asterisk, which gets to one of Kansas City's enduring Big Issues:
*However, when he came back with me, he thanked me for showing him a side of the city he'd never seen before. He's half-Vietnamese, half-Caucasian (and identifies with his Vietnamese side; he's very much attuned to how Others get treated by the dominant, who are getting less so), and on his previous trips to the city, he'd visited (or stayed with) white friends and acquaintances who lived on that side of Troost. I took him around the blocks, streets and haunts I remembered on my side - all of which had either deteriorated or been replaced by new development (like the shopping center that sits on the site of old St. Joseph's Hospital at Linwood Boulevard and Prospect Avenue) - and I think it was an eye-opener for him.
But it is interesting to note that Kansas City has now elected its third black mayor, and all three have been East Siders; the second, Sly James, lived in my neighborhood, and had Mom not sent me to schools across town, we might have passed each other in the halls of the overcrowded neighborhood grade school I would have attended. Yet East Siders remain dissatisfied with the attention (or lack thereof?) they get from City Hall. Doesn't seem that way to me, though the failure of the Jazz Festival dismays me. But that wasn't City Hall's fault - that was someone else's.
I was in Wichita recently where I was actually in a bit of culture shock with all the mega churches. A person I met for some business asked how I was able to survive "out there". The guy honestly thinks the east coast is some unlivable war zone full of transvestites. I was just like, it's just normal people living normal lives. Most live pretty well actually. I thought to my self, how do you live here where all you have is churches and walmarts? I really felt like the guy was brainwashed or something.
You are right though, the east and west coast are not all huge urban cities. That's one of nice things about it. You have mountains, oceans and some really nice smaller towns too. You get up in new england, and the smaller towns are really nice, sort of European small town nice. Most small towns in America are kind of ghetto.
I prefer a well kept smaller town with great natural features, you'll pay a certain price for that, and CrownVic will ignore my post because it doesn't fit his narrative. I could move to Moultonboro, NH by Lake Winnipesaukee and buy a house for $250K and have property taxes of $1,900 a year. For that, I get an awesome quality of life, hospital 25-30 minutes away, a good amount of local stores and some restaurants, enough trails to sink a ship, lakes nearby, mountains everywhere, and the coast an hour drive away. I think the cost of real estate is actually undervalued for properties that don't have lakefront in my opinion.
I prefer a well kept smaller town with great natural features, you'll pay a certain price for that, and CrownVic will ignore my post because it doesn't fit his narrative. I could move to Moultonboro, NH by Lake Winnipesaukee and buy a house for $250K and have property taxes of $1,900 a year. For that, I get an awesome quality of life, hospital 25-30 minutes away, a good amount of local stores and some restaurants, enough trails to sink a ship, lakes nearby, mountains everywhere, and the coast an hour drive away. I think the cost of real estate is actually undervalued for properties that don't have lakefront in my opinion.
Respectfully, GS, I ignored your post because it had nothing to do with what I said. Nor does the above. It is a whole new topic.
My narrative? My narrative is the real world, as opposed to the alternate reality that today's left lives in and is hell bent upon obliterating the Midwest with. But, as I've always said, Kansas City knows better.
Respectfully, GS, I ignored your post because it had nothing to do with what I said. Nor does the above. It is a whole new topic.
My narrative? My narrative is the real world, as opposed to the alternate reality that today's left lives in and is hell bent upon obliterating the Midwest with. But, as I've always said, Kansas City knows better.
I have plenty of local connections in Kansas City, it is just more inconvenient to visit more than a few times a year anymore. The Midwest is a slow growth aging region of the country, and most people are fine with that. The states seeing in-migration and stronger overall job growth will mostly be in the Sunbelt and western states going forward in time anyway.
On the other hand, I don't think this is a universal sentiment. Certainly the marketing campaign communicates a message opposite to this one.
And when I was growing up in Kansas City, I do recall a tone of defensiveness to local talk whenever the East Coast came up. (I don't think it was as bad when it came to California, for it seemed to me that a lot of Californians had relatives back here - I remember seeing California license plates swell in number on the streets of the city in the summer.)
But if this attitude has grown since then, fine. We can remain in the middle of the urban hierarchy - the Big City to those in the hinterlands around us and the place some of our best and brightest leave for brighter lights and bigger cities. Sure that's a good thing all around?
It is probably more universal than you might think. California license plates? Those days ended long ago. People are fleeing California due to the mess created there. Your last paragraph is why we like it here and not being with the smug people who currently live on the East or West Coast. That smugness seems to be universal of the coasts.
It is probably more universal than you might think. California license plates? Those days ended long ago. People are fleeing California due to the mess created there. Your last paragraph is why we like it here and not being with the smug people who currently live on the East or West Coast. That smugness seems to be universal of the coasts.
Broad brushing sure goes quite the distance these days it would appear.
Correct. The suburbs around DC are blue, purple is about as red as they get.
But even so, conservatives in this area are a totally different breed than conservatives in the Midwest. For example, Maryland governor Hogan is a republican but he would be a far left liberal in most of the Midwest.
I have some friends that are conservatives in the DC area, but compared to the conservatives I know back in MO and KS, they would be "snowflakes". A coworker just told me the other day while we were talking politics at lunch, that he used to always vote republican but that the republicans now represent nothing but "uneducated rednecks and racists" and he will be voting democratic till things change. The conservatives I know here are all about fiscal responsibility etc. The conservatives back in the midwest are all about guns and church and isolating America from the rest of the world and they remind me of it every single day via facebook posts.
I think KC is pretty awesome and has gotten "cool". But I also think it's "cool" sphere of influence is pretty local. It's not like Nashville or Denver who have a national cool factor. I mean, that's fine, so what if nobody knows about KC, but you still gotta try to compete and that's all these people do. KC should be a great place to hold a convention with its central location, affordability and amenities.
My wife is from Johnson County and wants to move back to the KC area. Politics is a big reason why I am reluctant to do it. Yes we live in Arizona which is a historically "red" state however with all of the transplants that have relocated here from California and Illinois as well as the increasing Latin American population Arizona is becoming more of a purple state (and many expect it to be a swing state in the 2020 election).
Kansas and Missouri are deeply in the "red" category and will not elect anyone other than Trump and a bunch of gun loving, abortion hating, education hating politicians to statewide and national offices (even if their metropolitan areas are pink and purple). The only reason Kansas has a Democratic governor is because the Republican candidate was one of the most disgusting human beings ever to run for office and had Colyer won the Republican primaries he would have easily won the governorship.
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My narrative is the real world, as opposed to the alternate reality that today's left lives in and is hell bent upon obliterating the Midwest with. But, as I've always said, Kansas City knows better.
