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It seems to be the case. Cities are almost always where the Liberal populations reside, while more rural areas seem to be home to the Right Wing.
Do you think that an individual's political preferences also play a part in that person's residential preferences?
In the country, you have more individual liberty. I can shoot off my guns in the yard til the cows come home and nobody can tell me otherwise. Free of zoning restrictions, your property is truly yours to do as you please, so long as you pay the property taxes, which tend to be a lot lower than in cities.
This is why I like living in the country, because I can do what I want and there's nobody to tell me I can't. To me, this seems to suit a conservative political ideology as well.
Somebody want to chime in about city dwelling as well and maybe why a Liberal would prefer living in a city as opposed to the country. What about people who are the opposite of my hypothesis? Any conservatives here who actually prefer city life or liberals who prefer rural living?
Somebody want to chime in about city dwelling as well and maybe why a Liberal would prefer living in a city as opposed to the country. What about people who are the opposite of my hypothesis? Any conservatives here who actually prefer city life or liberals who prefer rural living?
Cities are centers of culture and education. Living in one exposes one to many different cultures and ways of thinking. You also have the chance to experience working mass transit, social/societal commons-type programs (including things like city parks, museums, art galleries; not just welfare-type civics).
I believe that living in the city changes your politics, and not the other way around. I know many people who converted from being countryside conservatives to city-dwelling liberals only AFTER they moved to a big city, went to a large university, or made some similar geographical change.
I wonder if any city liberals move to the countryside and switch to conservatism?
Think about cause and effect. Your question should be:
"Why does urban life foster liberalism, and rural life foster conservatism?"
Answer: Because people in the city are more likely to observe and be disgusted by the inhumanity and immorality of a me-first screw-you conservative ethic, or to be victims of it.
Personally, I think that conservatives tend to lean more libertarian - which is basically a desire to be left alone to do our thing. Then, of necessity, the more people there are in a small geographic area, the more laws and ordinances there will be just to get people to be at peace with each other.
I'm glad that, though I live in the middle of a city, my house sits on a full acre and it is very private.
Think about cause and effect. Your question should be:
"Why does urban life foster liberalism, and rural life foster conservatism?"
But how do we know that that is the cause? Are an individual's politics truly shaped by where he lives, or is he more likely to choose to live in one place or another based on his politics? Perhaps for the majority, politics does not even enter the equation.
But how do we know that that is the cause? Are an individual's politics truly shaped by where he lives, or is he more likely to choose to live in one place or another based on his politics? Perhaps for the majority, politics does not even enter the equation.
Most people do not choose their place to live based on criteria related to this premise. They live where they live, and their views are colored by their life experiences at that place.
Think about cause and effect. Your question should be:
"Why does urban life foster liberalism, and rural life foster conservatism?"
Answer: Because people in the city are more likely to observe and be disgusted by the inhumanity and immorality of a me-first screw-you conservative ethic, or to be victims of it.
That's ridiculous. People in the city are more apt to participate in it!
It's farmers that will go help their neighbor harvest his crops, while their urban counterparts are breaking into their neighbor's garages and stealing tools. Or worse.
This is why I like living in the country, because I can do what I want and there's nobody to tell me I can't. To me, this seems to suit a conservative political ideology as well.
I think you answered your own question with this line. That mentality - "I'm going to do what I please and no one is going to tell me otherwise" - doesn't lend itself to congenial relationships with people in close proximity.
IMHO, this doesn't have much to do with liberal/conservative political ideologies; it has everything to do with respecting others. A true conservative can, and many do, live just fine in the largest of our cities because a basic tenet of conservatism is that everyone should be free to do as they please as long as it doesn't intrude upon the rights of others.
The OP's "shooting my gun till the cows come home" would definitely intrude upon my right to quietly use and enjoy my property in the city if done next door to me regardless of which way either of us votes.
Last edited by enigmaingr; 12-17-2009 at 09:54 AM..
Perhaps rural conservatives become proud of their perceived individuality. In my opinion, as an ex-Republican, I find their political reliance on self-control and good behavior to be a childish fantasy. Unfortunately, that's not how the basically greedy human animal behaves if left to his own devices or decisions! Of course out in the Montana countryside, it's harder for others to see his infractions.
BTW, those rural Montanans (and I love the place, BTW) have forever changed the ecology, for the worse, with their roving herds of out-of-place herbivores, raised for what again? Oh yeah; profit uber all else.
Now, I clearly see the need for a knowledgeable governing body imposed on many aspects of human activity. Else, the profit-oriented hog farmer will allow his growing business to swamp the local stream with contaminant, but "Hey!" he says, "It's my ranch! Git offa it, or else I'll shoot yah!".
So much for thoughtful altruism, huh?
I guess I'm a sort of libertarian-social conservative hybrid. And gun owner, BTW [actually, in my retirement, I'm a gunsmith!] Hey; hybrids are in the news these days as the answer to everything, right? That'll be me!
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Ahhh Altruism. A dream for a few of us.
