Is Atlanta still one of America's most conservative Major cities? (Boston: loans, taxes)

[neil0311]

The City of Atlanta is still more conservative than Chicago, Seattle, DC, Boston, NY, or SF, but in comparison with the surrounding suburbs and rural areas of Georgia, Atlanta is pretty liberal.

[thedudewiththeplan]

I agree, the city itself is somewhat liberal (for the south anyway) while the suburbs are mostly very conservative.

[AcidSnake]

Just what heck do people consider "liberal" or "conservative"? I bet folks on here don't even know themselves. Just throw around words just because you hear them on FOX, CNN or Neil Boortz or something like that. Personally to me if it is measure by the amount of govenment that grows or the type of government intrusion into peoples lives, then both ideologies to me are a failure.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Conservative= Believe in Capitalism

Liberal= Believe in "Redistribution of wealth"

[AcidSnake]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

Conservative= Believe in Capitalism

Liberal= Believe in "Redistribution of wealth"

I don't think it's cut dry as you make it out to be. Also, is money and wealth allocation ONLY factor that determines who is "conservative" and who is "liberal"? If so then those ideologies still do not have much of a leg to stand on in my opinion. I need more info.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

Conservative= Believe in Capitalism

Liberal= Believe in "Redistribution of wealth"

These days, it seems more like this:

Conservative: Regulation be damned, let's abuse the system. If it's wrong, the invisible hand will correct it.

Liberal: Uh... Maybe some actual enforcement of The Law is in order here.

Of course, there are also social and religious aspects to Liberalism and Conservativism, which is why I tend to refer to myself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative within certain parameters.

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by neil0311

The City of Atlanta is still more conservative than Chicago, Seattle, DC, Boston, NY, or SF, but in comparison with the surrounding suburbs and rural areas of Georgia, Atlanta is pretty liberal.

I disagree.

I don't think it's real useful to use terms like 'liberal' and 'conservative' to make comparisons with places in such varied regions as Chicago, Boston, Seattle. There are always some fundamental differences between what it means to be 'liberal' or progressive in places like Pacific NW, Midwest big city, Northeast, and the South, etc.

But even if we accept a definition of liberal as 'votes/supports the core Democratic party platform' I don't think I'd buy the statement that the city is significantly less liberal than a city like Chicago. But in any case you have to take the metro area as a whole, and up until recently you could make the argument that it was bluer (more supportive of Republican program) than other cities, but that appears to be changing fast.

[AcidSnake]

Maybe I should try to tackle this question of mines from a different angle: If any of y'all were to pick someone within, say the last 10 years in the U.S. as the top representatives of the "liberal" and "conservative" ideologies, who would it be? What about notable people in Georgia?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

Maybe I should try to tackle this question of mines from a different angle: If any of y'all were to pick someone within, say the last 10 years in the U.S. as the top representatives of the "liberal" and "conservative" ideologies, who would it be? What about notable people in Georgia?

Coming from MN, I think the late Paul Wellstone was a very good example of a "liberal" politican. I like him and respected him even though I disagreed with his policies rather strongly at times.

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Coming from MN, I think the late Paul Wellstone was a very good example of a "liberal" politican. I like him and respected him even though I disagreed with his policies rather strongly at times.

I definitely second that.

Bill Clinton also comes to mind. And his wife. (I could have reversed that. )

Jimmy Carter is another name.

For conservatives, Richard Shelby seems to be making quite a name as a representative of that position, especially since the financial crisis. His drawling voice is frequently heard nowadays on NPR speaking on the subject.