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An interesting article in The Atlantic points out that "virtually every major city (100,000-plus population) in the United States of America has a different outlook from the less populous areas that are closest to it. "
Below an electoral map showing that democrats dominate in cities and republicans in non-cities. What do you think?
I believe it was in the election with Bush and Kerry, Bush won 39 of the 44 counties in Washington state but handily lost the state due to the overwheliming support in King, Snohomish, Pierce, Clark....the most populated counties.
Not exactly sure why this is the case...among possible reasons are cities tend to attract people that are more liberal such as minority groups, gays, pleasure seekers, single women...and people that aren't in these groupls are still affected by the liberal think groups that are prevalent in the cities including teh liberal media that predominates in the cities.
Definitely the former: liberals move to cities. They talk on and on about "diversity" of culture, of people, of activities, etc. in the cities - but they are sorely lacking in one thing: diversity of ideas.
Even more so than liberals who complain about how people move to gated suburbs to avoid city crime, race, etc., liberals cluster in like-minded areas more so than any conservatives I'm aware of. Even the most conservative areas won't vote more than 80% conservative. I could name area after area that is 95% or more liberal, however.
Definitely the former: liberals move to cities. They talk on and on about "diversity" of culture, of people, of activities, etc. in the cities - but they are sorely lacking in one thing: diversity of ideas.
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Liberals are more educated than cons. Jobs that attract higher educated persons are located in metro areas, not in west Texas. End of story as far as liberals moving to places.
Now, as for Democrats (while all republicans are conservatives, not all democrats are especially liberal), since lots of US cities have high minority populations, obviously the Dems would be well reperesented there.
I mean, come on: 88% of Mitt's votes came from whites. Obviously not going to see a lot of cities like Baltimore voting rep.
Definitely the former: liberals move to cities. They talk on and on about "diversity" of culture, of people, of activities, etc. in the cities - but they are sorely lacking in one thing: diversity of ideas.
Even more so than liberals who complain about how people move to gated suburbs to avoid city crime, race, etc., liberals cluster in like-minded areas more so than any conservatives I'm aware of. Even the most conservative areas won't vote more than 80% conservative. I could name area after area that is 95% or more liberal, however.
I think it might be oversimplifying to say that a place that voted 80% for Obama is 80% liberal though. New York voted overwhelmingly for Obama, but they still elected Michael Bloomberg as their mayor.
I think cities are, by nature of their reason for existing, liberal. If we really wanted to, everyone could have stayed a farmer and not have to worry about the family who lives 2 miles away. But once you move into a city, you have to compromise with those around you to have a common goal or else the city won't grow.
I feel like the question is comparing a political reasoning to a more abstract reasoning.
Liberals are more educated than cons. Jobs that attract higher educated persons are located in metro areas, not in west Texas. End of story as far as liberals moving to places.
Now, as for Democrats (while all republicans are conservatives, not all democrats are especially liberal), since lots of US cities have high minority populations, obviously the Dems would be well reperesented there.
I mean, come on: 88% of Mitt's votes came from whites. Obviously not going to see a lot of cities like Baltimore voting rep.
That is painting with a very broad brush.
"All Republicans are conservatives"? Really? I tend to vote Republican as I am fiscally conservative and socially realtively liberal. Most of my views are relatively libertarian in nature. Frankly, I disagree almost entirely with the hard core Christian influenced social views of hard core conservatives, but as a fiscal conservative who doesn't get to keep an ounce of my paycheck until 10am on Wed (never do the math on when you get to keep your first $ each week, it is disturbing) I pick and choose how I vote.
As for liberals being more educated, I find this incredibly misleading and while this most likely is statistically true, it proves my long time belief that as a group highly educated people tend to treat real life like an academic execise, which it just isn't. And that is coming from someone who falls into the "highly educated" group.
I think the cities make people more liberal than they otherwise would be because it opens up the EXPERIENCE of multiple races, religions, sexual orientations, etc. that may not exist, or may not exist to a large extent, in rural areas. It's easy to sit back in rural America and make detached judgmenets about who shouldn't get equal rights or who should either make it in life or just fail on their own with no help, etc. when all you know about "those" people is what you conclude in your own mind without ever having to live in a place where there is diversity and where you're pushed to get along with people who are not just like you.
If you're in rural America, money for the arts is a total waste. If you're in urban America, the arts are readily available and you are more likely to go participate and that EXPERIENCE, as with any type of experience had in life, has an impact on one's outlook on life. You become more willing to figure out where in the mix arts should be rather than outright dismiss it as unimportant or irrelevant or a waste.
If you're in rural America, you are less likely to have an industrial plant in your back yard, so your idea of environmental protection may simply have no real world experience but instead may have been created in a vacuum, ie. by just talking about it with people like you. When you live near industrial plants or in cities that have one on the other side of town, all of a sudden you are more likely to think what IF that plant released certain chemicals, etc. and therefore you're more likely to see the value in environmental protection, more likely to want reasonable governmental protections than to say the EPA should be abolished or something to that effect.
If you're in rural America and somebody gets financially down on their luck, it's easy for that small community to come together and help each other without help from "big government." But if you're in the city and you see the extent to which masses can be down on their luck, you realize that a few people coming together can help but won't come close to meeting the need. It takes larger scale help to solve larger scale problems. But you don't have any upfront experience with that concept in rural America.
Bottom line, cities bring a perspective and a diversity and a life experience that simply cannot be found in rural America. So the thought process becomes more what is in the best interest of my city and my kids growing up in this city than it is I'm out here in my rural home and so I can just sit back and care about what impacts me and people like me and about government staying out of my way, and when I talk to people my ideas never get challenged because I'm only talking to people who agree with me. The city frames an "our shared experience" whereas the rural frames a "my isolated experience." And so even people who are conservative get impacted by life's vast experiences when they move to the city and live there for a while.
Cities make you more liberal than you otherwise would be.
MantaRay - From your paradigm I can understand that viewpoint. Flip it around and think about it from the rural perspective.
"Bottom line, cities bring a perspective and a diversity and a life experience that simply cannot be found in rural America. "
That can easily be flipped around and be stated that rural America can bring perspective and a diversity of life experience that simply cannot be found in the city as well. Isn't the exact definition of diversity supported by mixed experiences regardless of where they are in fact experienced?
I could argue in a rural community someone may learn true self sufficiency and self motivation as no one may be there to support you until you show some investment of energy and motivation. That experience is vastly different than an urban environment with shelters etc.
Also, where in the city can someone really learn about self sustaining food culture? A classroom? BS, go do it, live it, respect it. Obviously those are just some examples.....
Your post seems to embody some of the passive righteousness of thought and world view that tends to be a conversation stopper when it comes to the views of rural Americans. The assumption in your post appears to be that everyone in the bread basket should place the same value on funding of the arts and "programs" utilized predominately in urban environments and if they don't, they are just closed minded Neanderthals. That is a very elitist view of the world, don't you think?
I think living in a city makes you more liberal and liberals tend to be drawn to cities - in particular socially liberal.
Fiscally I don't think it really makes as much of a difference - I know lots of city-dwelling fiscal conservatives, quite a few who are socially moderate to liberal. Though maybe if you see homeless and others that rely on entitlements on a day-to-day basis it makes you more likely to vote in favor of said entitlements, because you actually see where the money goes. When you live in Farmland, Nebraska it might feel like your money is disappearing, going to who-knows-where. Not to say people in rural environments don't also use a lot of government entitlements and subsidies - for conservatives who do it is a bit of a shameful reliance: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us...anted=all&_r=0
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