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I was wondering why Omaha is so much more moderate politically then Lincoln.
It seems like Lincoln is alot like the rural areas in Nebraska. Very, very conservative on social issues. I would venture to guess that Lincolnites are the most socially conservative people in the country, especially the 20 and 30
somethings. Actually conservative isnt even the word for Lincoln's social political beliefs, its more extremeist and fringe then conservative.
The average Lincolnite politically loves high local taxes (they love tax increases). The average Lincolnite is vehemently anti-gay, anti-choice on abortion rights. They also believe in marriage is solely for the purpose of pro-creation and people have a duty to have many, many babies. Another example of the fiscal leftism/social extreme conservative way of Lincoln is the high-schools here subsidise women who have lots of babies before they graduate with child care because they feel like a women might as well start her reproductive duties early. Just a strange, strange place politically probubly even more unique then some of the beliefs people hold in rural Utah
Whats ironic about Lincoln politics is that the average Lincolnite is very, very socially conservative but they have no problem with very poor people have many babies. In fact Lincoln encourages very poor people who are struggling to have babies, very ironic political structure with Lincoln being so fiscally far to the left and so socially conservative.
Omaha on the other hand is very moderate politically. People tend to be moderate socially and fiscally in Omaha. Omaha for the most part is a normal midwestern place politically.
Omahans seem to have logical mainstream political beliefs, while Lincolnites have extreme fringe political beliefs on both fiscal and social issues unlike anywhere else in the country.
Lincoln tries to be a very, very far-left city on fiscal issues while being rabidly socially conservative and it doesnt seem to be working out very well and causes lots of problems. Huge deficits, massive school spending while the city infrastructure rots, people having babies in massive numbers they arent able to take care of so the foster care rate is very high.
This might be your most dishonest one yet. No facts whatsoever, just a bunch of stereotyping and insults of an entire population.
First of all, the last two mayors elected in Lincoln have been Democrats! Plus,up until Tuesday's election, the city council was 4-3 democrat over republican. Now its 4-3 republican over democrat. Yeah, sounds horribly conservative! (sarchasm)
The average Lincolnite politically loves high local taxes (they love tax increases).
Do you know how ridiculous that sounds??
The average Lincolnite is vehemently anti-gay, anti-choice on abortion rights. They also believe in marriage is solely for the purpose of pro-creation and people have a duty to have many, many babies
Where do you get this stuff?? You have no knowledge of the average Lincolnites personal feelings! There are over 250,000 people in Lincoln...you can't honestly make the assumptions you are making. And quit with the "many many" babies line. Its ridiculous, untrue, and demeaning.
Another example of the fiscal leftism/social extreme conservative way of Lincoln is the high-schools here subsidise women who have lots of babies before they graduate with child care because they feel like a women might as well start her reproductive duties early.
Are you kidding?! This absolutely counters your premise that Lincoln is conservative. They offer daycare so these mothers, typically on welfare, can get an education and be productive members of society!! The added tax revenue they will generate by being productive members of society will far outweigh the added cost of daycare. THIS IS A LIBERAL POLICY (BOTH SOCIALLY AND FISCALLY)...THE CONSERVATIVES WERE VERY UPSET BY IT. Seriously! Your stance on it is decidedly conservative...do you not recognize that?
In fact Lincoln encourages very poor people who are struggling to have babies, very ironic political structure with Lincoln being so fiscally far to the left and so socially conservative
How about some evidence? Exactly how is city government encouraging poor people to have babies?? Before you answer I would add that "welfare" is a state and federally ran, so Lincoln has nothing to do with it.
people having babies in massive numbers they arent able to take care of so the foster care rate is very high.
That is just a complete and total lie! Good grief, you've lost all credibility.
Honestly, you just sound like a very bitter person. For some reason you hate Lincoln, and your accusations are completely unfounded and irrational. All you spew is hatred for all of Lincoln. You know that brings up an ironic point. You accuse ALL Lincolnites of being stereotypically anti-gay...who is being stereotypical??
Last edited by mattpoulsen; 05-04-2007 at 11:37 PM..
I have to say Lincolnites do enjoy and love high property taxes. The reality of it is if they didnt love high property taxes they would have elected politicians who tax perhaps 400-500 dollars (like in El Paso County, Colorado) per 100,000 dollar home value instead of nearly 2,000 dollars. If they didnt love high property taxes they would have elected politicians who set low property taxes.
Then again just in the last couple of weeks the bizzare Lincoln political establishment has increase primary education taxes by over 10 million dollars and if that wasnt enough the gullible, no common sense Lincoln voters passed a multi-million dollar sewer related tax increase. I guess Lincoln politicians are so out of touch with reality that they feel that what are usually general fund budget items like fixing infrastructure should now be seperate. Its so bizzare and just shows the strange operation Lincoln is I guess they emulate what cities on the brink do with bond issues to cover what should be payed for out of the general fund revenue budget. I have to laugh at who would want to be mayor of such a troubled city with a very out of touch electorate then again the electorate loves tax increases very much.
The many babies description is very accurate for Lincoln I see lots of large families when ever I go out anywhere here. Cant even go out to eat or go to the store without seeing women with several babies with large carts full of sugar, carbs and very few fruits or veggies (usually potatoes only). But then again I guess the rationale of Lincolnites is that imposing a conservative, religious agenda of encouraging people to get married young and have lots of babies before they even have life-skills to eat a balanced diet is okay.
This place is something else after 9 months here I just have to laugh at the way Lancaster County, Nebraska and Lincoln's residents operate. Luckily, the environment changes instantly once one crosses into Cass County and Douglas County where people tend to be more in the mainstream. Lincoln is just a very weird place even by Nebraska standards.
I think the Lincoln Public Schools should ashamed that they are encouraging high-schoolers to start having babies. Its just very strange and bizzare I told people back in Colorado Springs what Lincoln does and they laughed. Its so far out of the mainstream that the public school system would encourage women to get pregnant by subsidising iresponsible behavior.
Well, one of the hot topics in the state has been foster care reform but then it seems like when you have the Lincoln Public schools encouraging women to have babies in their teens that alot of babies are going to end up in foster care. Then again it seems like Lincoln seems to like these radical political experiments.
Its a shame that Lincolnites despite having a state flagship university seem to have zero common sense or have the ability to put two and two together.
Lincoln encourages people to have lots of babies and raise property taxes by not having as much 55+ only zoning or high-density zoning as other places. They dont realize that all these family sized houses are going to have lots of babies in them and that raises property taxes. Of course it seems like alot of the people who run this city dont remember basic economics.
If they were serious about not raising property taxes the zoning board would approve more high-density construction then it does now.
MattDen might have some valid points regarding Lincoln. The total percentage of the population that is under the age of 5 rose dramatically to 7.1% as of 2005. This compares to a total population under the age of 18 of only 22.6%. So if you projected out those 7.1% over the coming years I would predict that the total percent of the population of Lancaster County that is under 18 will rise quite dramatically. Non-farm employment has increased in the county between 2000-2004 compared with many rural counties that lot jobs. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd
Also, Nebraska has even passed Kansas with a higher percentage of its total population under the age of 5. This is amazing considering that Kansas has several counties that have 30-35% of their populations under the age of 18. These counties are that have higher percentages are usually meat packing and ag industry towns (which contain high percentages of Hispanics) as well as a military base town which is Fort Riley.
The many babies description is very accurate for Lincoln I see lots of large families when ever I go out anywhere here. Cant even go out to eat or go to the store without seeing women with several babies with large carts full of sugar, carbs and very few fruits or veggies (usually potatoes only). But then again I guess the rationale of Lincolnites is that imposing a conservative, religious agenda of encouraging people to get married young and have lots of babies before they even have life-skills to eat a balanced diet is okay.
How about showing some statistics? You live there for 9 months, in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city (Northbottoms), and claim that this baby factory poverty description is a "general" one. It is absolutely inaccurate!
I think the Lincoln Public Schools should ashamed that they are encouraging high-schoolers to start having babies. Its just very strange and bizzare I told people back in Colorado Springs what Lincoln does and they laughed. Its so far out of the mainstream that the public school system would encourage women to get pregnant by subsidising iresponsible behavior.
What are you talking about? The LPS is trying to help the young people, who were unfortunate enough to get pregant in highschool, try not to slip through the cracks and fall into the cycle of the welfare system. Do you think this is something pioneered by the LPS?? Please! This is done across the U.S.!! The ironic thing is you cited at evidence as their extreme conservatism...I just laughed! Its extreme liberalism...plain and simple. The conservatives in the city of Lincoln were enraged by this policy...they certainly didn't support it.
The bottom line is there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO difference between the people in Omaha and the people in Lincoln. Period. I have lived in Lincoln for 10 years and spend a very large amount of time in Omaha. You have lived in Lincoln for 9 months and live in one of the poorest and run down eye sore neighborhoods in Lincoln. There are many poor people in that neighboorhood, but that is not indicative at all of Lincoln. Maybe if you would quit drawing generalizations through observations of the poorest area of Lincoln you would understand the actual climate in Lincoln.
This whole thread is ridiculous and is your way of insulting and demeaning the entire population of Lincoln. I take EXTREME offense to what you are saying. The "average" Lincolnite family is a middleclass family with 2 or 3 kids living in a middle class house. Quit claiming the average Lincolnite is on welfare with 6 kids, living in a shack, and eating potatoes every meal. Its just a ridiculous suggestion.
Plains10,
MattDen might have some valid points regarding Lincoln. The total percentage of the population that is under the age of 5 rose dramatically to 7.1% as of 2005. This compares to a total population under the age of 18 of only 22.6%. So if you projected out those 7.1% over the coming years I would predict that the total percent of the population of Lancaster County that is under 18 will rise quite dramatically.
Rose dramatically from what? Its 7.1% now, but what was it in 2000? The national average in the U.S. is 6.8% and the Nebraska average is 7.0% That is not a significant difference at all!! I would also add that Colorado's "under 5" number is 7.3%!!
Besides, this statistic says nothing to the economic environment concerning Lincolnites. Its indicative of being filled with young families...not welfare babies.
Anyway, I am not stereotyping all of Lincoln they have many exceptions to the rule. They do have nice middle-class family neighborhoods but Lincoln has an unusually high amount of people in alot of its neighborhoods who live in small shacks and trailer-parks and have lots of babies. I have never seen anything like it before actually.
The fact I live blocks from a 20,000 student college campus and its alot of large families speaks volumes on Lincoln. Most colleges such as Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Colorado-Boulder along with the University of Minnesota are mainly college students and people in their 20s who are single living in the neighborhoods adjacent to the university. With Lincoln the large family areas start just outside of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. And the thing with Lincoln the absoluteist high concentration of very large families doesnt level off much until one leaves the Lincoln city limits.
I am sure the Colorado rate of 7.3% might be because of the San Luis Valley and Weld County. The city of Denver has been closing primary schools for years. Colorado Springs just closed a school down because of low enrollment and Pueblo has a very low birth-rate because its an aging city. Alot of the South-central Colorado have lots of women having lots of babies that they cant take care of but in Colorado at least the attitude of the majority of people like that is we dont want them there. In Nebraska they seem to embrace it by things such as the LPS baby-care for women who have made very, very bad choices.
On the other hand, Lincoln had to pass 250 million dollar bond issue last year just to keep up with the surging out-of control birth-rate. The public schools in Lincoln cant even keep up with the amount of babies people have here thats why they have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of schools for capital projects. And if the 250 million dollar bond issue wasnt enough to keep up with demand, the Lincoln Public school board passed a tax increase another 10+ million dollars just a few weeks ago because enrollment projections are surging to astronomical levels for a city of this size.
7.1% is rather high considering that so many counties in this state are aging so a few counties like Lancaster, Dawson and Hall county have to make up for it by having lots and lots of babies.
I remember seeing what the school enrollment was in proportion to the population in Lexington and was completely shocked. It was around 25% which is incredible. Many cities are below 10% on public school enrollment as a percentage of the population.
I intend on looking up some more school enrollments as a pecentage of population, I remember being startled by how high enrollment is in Lincoln compared to larger cities like Pittsburgh, PA and Toledo, OH. Lincoln is also closing in Minneapolis 33,000 vs. 36,000 Minneapolis
Lincoln actually has higher public school enrollment then Pittsburgh which is a larger city which is amazing when you think of it.
Matt, you may be right about everything you say about Lincoln, but do not compare the population of Lincoln and the population of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has an aging population both in the city and the suburbs. My old high school in Beaver Falls is a shadow of its former self. Midland in Beaver County shut down its high school and buses its students to Ohio. People my age (50s) left when the steel industry crashed and our children were born elsewhere. They are closing schools left and right there, or operating them at a loss because the high taxes there allow them to do that in some cases.
You may think you are proving a point by comparing with Pittsburgh, but you are comparing a very stagnant city that lost more people in the last two years than any other city except New Orleans to a city with apparently a very high birth rate.
Compare Lincoln to a similarly sized city such as Aurora, CO or Akron, Ohio or Ft. Wayne, Indiana just to name a few. You will have a lot more credibility.
The many babies description is very accurate for Lincoln I see lots of large families when ever I go out anywhere here. Cant even go out to eat or go to the store without seeing women with several babies with large carts full of sugar, carbs and very few fruits or veggies (usually potatoes only). But then again I guess the rationale of Lincolnites is that imposing a conservative, religious agenda of encouraging people to get married young and have lots of babies before they even have life-skills to eat a balanced diet is okay.
How about showing some statistics? You live there for 9 months, in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city (Northbottoms), and claim that this baby factory poverty description is a "general" one. It is absolutely inaccurate!
I think the Lincoln Public Schools should ashamed that they are encouraging high-schoolers to start having babies. Its just very strange and bizzare I told people back in Colorado Springs what Lincoln does and they laughed. Its so far out of the mainstream that the public school system would encourage women to get pregnant by subsidising iresponsible behavior.
What are you talking about? The LPS is trying to help the young people, who were unfortunate enough to get pregant in highschool, try not to slip through the cracks and fall into the cycle of the welfare system. Do you think this is something pioneered by the LPS?? Please! This is done across the U.S.!! The ironic thing is you cited at evidence as their extreme conservatism...I just laughed! Its extreme liberalism...plain and simple. The conservatives in the city of Lincoln were enraged by this policy...they certainly didn't support it.
The bottom line is there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO difference between the people in Omaha and the people in Lincoln. Period. I have lived in Lincoln for 10 years and spend a very large amount of time in Omaha. You have lived in Lincoln for 9 months and live in one of the poorest and run down eye sore neighborhoods in Lincoln. There are many poor people in that neighboorhood, but that is not indicative at all of Lincoln. Maybe if you would quit drawing generalizations through observations of the poorest area of Lincoln you would understand the actual climate in Lincoln.
This whole thread is ridiculous and is your way of insulting and demeaning the entire population of Lincoln. I take EXTREME offense to what you are saying. The "average" Lincolnite family is a middleclass family with 2 or 3 kids living in a middle class house. Quit claiming the average Lincolnite is on welfare with 6 kids, living in a shack, and eating potatoes every meal. Its just a ridiculous suggestion.
Plains10,
MattDen might have some valid points regarding Lincoln. The total percentage of the population that is under the age of 5 rose dramatically to 7.1% as of 2005. This compares to a total population under the age of 18 of only 22.6%. So if you projected out those 7.1% over the coming years I would predict that the total percent of the population of Lancaster County that is under 18 will rise quite dramatically.
Rose dramatically from what? Its 7.1% now, but what was it in 2000? The national average in the U.S. is 6.8% and the Nebraska average is 7.0% That is not a significant difference at all!! I would also add that Colorado's "under 5" number is 7.3%!!
Besides, this statistic says nothing to the economic environment concerning Lincolnites. Its indicative of being filled with young families...not welfare babies.
The 6.8% number is an average for all US states. Most states in the West are much higher than the 6.8% figure thus increasing the average for the entire country. States like Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, and Arizona skew the averages.
If you do the math and project out the 7.1% number over the next 13 years at the current rate you will find that the total percentage under 18 will increase to over 24.5%. This compares with the current percentage of 22.6% of the population under 18 as of 2005. A couple of percent difference is big when you have a large urban county like Lincoln. Also Omaha's under 5 number is 7.9% as of 2005. The census states that their is currently 25.8% of the population that is under 18. If you project the higher 7.9% rate out over the next 13 years the total percent under 18 would increase to 27.6%. Once again a couple of percentage points increase is a significant jump when you are talking about a large urban county. Sarpy County also currently has 28.1% of the population under 18. If you project the current 8.2% under 5 rate over the next 13 years the percentage of the population will increase to 28.7% under 18. This tells me that their continues to be a shift toward even more of the population living in urban areas and the total numbers of persons under 18 is increasing dramatically because of higher birth rates in urban Nebraska counties. The total percentages of the population under 5 and under 18 when projected out would more than likely be well above the national average, especially for Douglas and Sarpy counties.
If you compare Nebraska to Kansas you will find that people are leaving the rural areas even faster in Kansas than in some areas of rural Nebraska. Kansas also has a smaller percentage of its population that is under 18 in most of the rural counties as well. Both states have a lot of out-migration of College graduates who seek good paying jobs elsewhere. I have experienced this out-migration myself when I lived on the high plains. Large numbers of younger kids go to the big state universities, graduate, and leave the rural areas in the dust. Now, you see a brain drain in the rural counties of talented younger people and a dramatic aging of the population of those more rural counties that most young people have left. Its sort of like a vicious cycle of constant decline for the rural counties.
Of course, the total percentages of the population under 18 and other categories do not include in-migration or out-migration of the population. It is based on the current percentages that the Census Bureau gives as of 2005.
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Census Data facts about Lancaster County Nebraska
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