[IowaHawk]

Contrast:America’s 25 Most Conservative Cities, with 2000-2004 population growth (cities >100,000):

1 Provo Utah
2 Lubbock Texas +4.1%
3 Abilene Texas (-1.0)%
4 Hialeah Florida (-0.8)%
5 Plano Texas +10.5%
6 Colorado Springs Colorado +2.3%
7 Gilbert Arizona +42.6%
8 Bakersfield California +16.8%
9 Lafayette Louisiana +0.1%
10 Orange California +3.1%
11 Escondido California +1.3%
12 Allentown Pennsylvania +0.1%
13 Mesa Arizona +10.0%
14 Arlington Texas +8.0%
15 Peoria Arizona +21.6%
16 Cape Coral Florida +25.1%
17 Garden Grove California +1.3%
18 Simi Valley California +6.8%
19 Corona California +16.1%
20 Clearwater Florida (-0.3)%
21 West Valley City Utah +3.5%
22 Oklahoma City Oklahoma +4.3%
23 Overland Park Kansas +8.9%
24 Anchorage Alaska +4.8%
25 Huntington Beach California +3.0%

Conclusion: where ever you find conservatives, people will flock.

[Vigilanteman]

One problem with growth rates is the locust factor. Liberals, after turning the inner cities into hellholes, start moving out to the closer, nicer suburbs. Unfortunately, they bring their same attitudes and voting behavior with them. Gradually, the suburbs are turned into hell-holes as well.

I've spent about 1/3rd of my adult life in Asia. Go to Tokyo, Singapore or Osaka and the central cities are some of the nicest places there-- Ginza in Tokyo, Orchard Road in Singapore and Umeda in Osaka are all prime examples of attractive city centers.

Compare it with the central cities in America. Here in Pittsburgh, you have an attractive downtown skyline, but places you don't even want to park just a few steps away. Ditto for LA-- Little Tokyo downtown is nice, but a block away there is rubble-strewn vacant lots, druggies and winos living out of shoppoing carts. Ditto for almost any American city and for every one run by Liberals.

Why can Asia do it but America can't? You need look no further than who is running the cities. Tokyo's mayor for instance, is probably more conservative than Japan as a whole-- with congestion far more than anything in the United States. I used to walk home from the railroad station in Japan through acres of high rise housing projects. The loudest noise you could hear was some kid practicing the piano 3 or 4 floors up. According to the Jesse Jackson theory of urban crowding and poor housing, these places should've been havens of crime and dispair. Yet, most of the residents went to work, minded their business and pushed their kids to study and do well in school.

In other words, conservative values make a city (or suburb or village or rural area) livable; liberal values turn it into a hell-hole.