Why do urban centers vote Democrat, and rural Republican?

11-03 | M. Peach

[M. Peach]

I thought I had all the answers regarding politics until my one of my teen aged sons asked me (and yes, I'm proud to say both of them are conservative) why large cities tend to vote Democrat, and rural areas - or mostly the rest of the country, Republican?

Can I get some opinions out there?

[Truthsearcher]

Lifestyle, people who live in urban areas are part of a cog, they are interdepent, their life is about being part of the collective, they cannot survive independently. The are comfortable with the collectivism, interdependency, and fear being alone. Individualism to them is meaningless so therefore they don't value it. (They claim they do but even their supposed acts of "self expression" end up being terribly conformist).

Whereas rural people tend live independent lives, they are comfortable being on their own, and they value individualism greatly.

[MichiganCheese]

My thoughts exactly.

[PattonReincarnated]

LOL! You forgot to mention that damned rap music.

We might have to commission a study on this topic. Is rap music an effect of lead poisoning or is rap music a cause of brain damage? If it is the latter it may poke a hole in my thesis or at a minimum I may have to expand the causes of brain damage.

Disclosure Statement: For those who lack a dry sense of humor I am only joking.

[BunnySlippers]

I'm in one, I should know.

[BunnySlippers]

I'm in one, I should know.

So why are you so clueless?

[Nowhere Man]

Very interesting analysis, BUMP

[faithincowboys]

Here is my rationale:

This is my definition of a normal American-- "Somewhat moderate, not a surrogate voter for the Democrat party machine."

This isn't a racist statement, this is a real statement. I regret the fact that the monolithic African American vote is a symptom of group pathology not ideology.

[showme_the_Glory]

It is high crime areas.......union areas

[cynicom]

Urban centers are populated by filthy rich and the just plain filthy. For quite different reasons and agendas, they vote en masse for democrats.

[Age of Reason]

(deep breath)

I've been saying this for years on these forums.

Densely populated areas pretty much require liberal thinking, even to the point of welcoming big government.

Live an unnatural existence, and you will come to think unnatural thoughts.

How much government do you think we would need--how much taxes--how many laws, how many police, if it were just you and five or six of your neighbors living in all of America?

I do believe government increases exponentially with density of population.

And that such growth of government is necessary with evey increase in population density--i.e,, it is not a question of whether densely populated areas should have big government: the only question is how big.

In dense populations, you get accustomed to taking turns, deferring your judgment to that of the government, and to sharing space, time, noise, smells, shoving.

It was no accident that what came to be America was born in North America during the 18th century--the colonists had a huge continent to exploit--and if some government didn't like it, they could always move away and take what they needed from nature (and/or native populations)--that is what freedom is: self-reliance.

Having experienced such freedom, it was natural for the colonists to tell Britain to shove it.

I do not think America would ever have happened if The Thirteen Colonies had had a population of 300 million people living an industrialized urban existence in 1776.

[Ciexyz]

AFSCME keeps their unionized workers in line.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Democrats have successfully fine-tuned a system of scaring black voters to the polls with under-the-radar flyers, recorded phone calls and other messages basically telling them they will be lynched if they vote Republican. They have brainwashed a large portion of their community into believing that all Republicans are racists who want a return of Jim Crow laws, segregated schools, and even slavery. This time around it was "don't let them take your vote away again." They also round up all the street drunks, homeless people, people in halfway houses, etc. and give them free cigarettes and McDonald's coupons in return for a Democratic vote. They station union thugs at the urban polling places to chase away any Republican poll watchers or stray Republican voters. They get votes cast for dead people and people who have moved away. They recruit cronies to run the polling places who are loyal to the machine and will keep their mouths shut while they do all these shenanigans.

In Philadelphia, they have put polling places in taverns, funeral homes, barbershops, private homes, and even union halls. They allow all sorts of electioneering inside the polls in violation of the law. They make sure everyone knows "how they are supposed to vote." It is no accident that the city voted 81% for Kerry.

[Nowhere Man]

The 19th century brought the shift from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy. In this shift, people massed in cities that provided easy access to labor, skills, resources and markets that drove the industrial economy. The influx of people to cities in search of jobs required the creation of large quantities of new housing. The vast majority of this housing was built at the turn of the last century and used lead-based paint. Quite simply, many children growing up in cities grew up eating lead-based paint when they were teething. Additionally, the industries in the urban centers produced toxic waste and pollution. The combination of lead-based paint, toxic waste and pollution lead to a vast proportion of urban populations being brain damaged.

Hmmm, interesting take. The idea of lead leading to the downfall of Rome has been bandied about, they used lead to make utensils, bowls, and even plumbing. If you take a look at the periodic table of the elements, the symbol for lead is "Pb" meaning "plumbum" (IIRC, I need a Latin scholar here) which is Latin for lead, I learned that in junior high almost 25 years ago. The world "plumber" derives from that since again, lead was used for pipes in Rome and even later eras. Maybe you're on to something.

[annyokie]

Sure. LOL

[Malleus Dei]

I'll give you a clue: it's related to a word that starts with R and the word isn't "religion."

[Syncro]

The Democrat appeasers and the Race-Baiting-Black-Hating Poverty Pimps like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the cause of the brain damage.

Which produces in all their numbed minions a love for the ghetto.

So they glorify it with Rap Music(?).

And try to bring the White kids down to their level of thirdworldness so they can live in luxury with their $1000 suits which they buy with the shakedown money they get from Corporations because it is easier to pay the blackmail (yes blackmail) than fight the lies of Racists Political Hacks.

The worst racists are the above mentioned Poverty Pimps.

[hawgwalker]

A Theory,
Urban folk are like a school of bait fish. As long as they stay in the school they are safe. They tolerate crime as a nuisance and are only picked off when they stray from the school. In cities only the criminals are armed. In the country we treat crime as more than a nuisance as we're more apt to call the police to take care of the body after we defend our self and family than to tolerate it. For us terrorism is more than a nuisance; we know that its likely that more densely populated urban areas will be targeted but we also know that it will be our sons an daughters that will put their lives on the line to clean up the mess.

City dwellers go out every day knowing that crime is rampant but the odds are it will effect someone else and as long as they stay with the school life will be good.

[Radix]

The truth. Union members and "African American" voters.

That is not exactly un-so, but the problem is really more about affluence. People flock to urban areas because of needs, financial and else (such as health care.)

Affluent people are essentially dependent for their affluence on the toil of others.

There are shared interests in keeping certain paradigms in place. Unfortunately, for many inner city persons the education possibilities are lacking. Hillary (for example) and the Dems are such blatant liars concerning education that it simply makes me want to hurl when I see them speak of such matters. They are liars of the highest order.

The Democrats are as always only interested in maintaining the plantation! They are the benevolent massas and they own the media machine for the time being.

Urban voters are delusional. They think that perpetuating the welfare state is in their best interests. A concern and even a cursory consideration of and for posterity would logicaly shatter that sort of myth.

Big Government is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to Western Civilization. This is why the (currently Muslim) hordes are wreaking destruction upon our way of life. The effects are quite noticeable in Europe already, but the tidal wave of immigration and government largesse and social programs are soon to be unmistakable in the USA as well.

[ladyinred]

It's the water.

[Ramcat]

If you really want to get a feel for big city politics read "Plunkett of Tammany Hall".

I really don't think it's that much of a racial thing as I do fraternal thing.

I read that..."When George Plunkett dies in 1924 he was eulogized this way;" He understood that in politics honesty doesn't matter, efficiency doesn't matter, progressive vision doesn't matter. What does matter is the chance for a better job, a better price of wheat, better business conditions. Plunkett's legacy is to that practicality."