Posted on 11/03/2004 6:23:56 PM PST by 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?
There are more people in cities that have become dependent on government hand-outs. People in rural areas tend to be more self-sufficient.
Just look at the election map. Blue equals high welfare, high crime America. Red is the real hope and ambition of the true America.
I second redwing9's response. that sort of stuff is what ruins conservative's good name!
There aren't the large disparities between the income of blacks and whites in small towns (or even suburbs) like there are in big cities.
I'm sure each town has its own personality. I lived in Dallas several years also. It was fine when I was single. Hubby and I met there and will do anything to AVOID raising our children there. But we liked it when we were single.
Three reasons...
1. Welfare
2. Birds of a feather, and all that
3. More homeless shelters
And, NO, I'm not ashamed of myself for saying that.
:O)
P
"Based on that, the only conclusion that I can come to is that liberalism and social pathology go together like flies on crap."
Speaking of crap, I'm reminded of the incident when two flies landed on a piece of crap. One lifts his leg and passes gas - the other says, "Hey- do you mind? I'm eating here!"
You will no longer wonder.
Wouldn't work because the districts are based on population, not geographical size. New York City for example has tiny little districts geographically, but each one is packed with people. Your plan wouldn't weaken urban centers at all.
To each his own. We spent years looking forward to the day where we could get our children out of the sticks. Different mindsets I guess.
"urban collectivism versus rural individualism"
I'll take this one. I've lived both places - and it was quite an adjustment to realize that the government didn't have to provide everything for me - garbage collection, police protection, schooling etc.
Then I learned I could do it better. And keep my taxes lower, and keep some semblence of privacy from the government over my life.
People in the NE are TAUGHT to rely on the government. The idea of taking charge for themselves is alien. It's a culture thing. They need to experience it to realize the superiority of individualism.
Independent, self-sufficneitn people tend not to need to high price of cities. Dependent, insufficient people pay the premium for cities, and make good socialists.
Excellent question.
Without a doubt, cities have become 'machine Democrat'
locations WHERE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY JUST DOES NOT OPERATE.
Just as the GOP didnt operate in the South for 100 years.
there are a few pillars of the Democrat party now:
- while Liberals and academics
- single women
- minority voters
- poor and lower-class and welfare/dependent voters
(including dependent elderly)
in the past, Democrats had ethnic immigrant advantages in the big cities. this goes back all the way to the days of Tammany Hall. The immigrant strength is slowly seeping away as they become "Reagan democrats" and now "values voters" or simply middle-class republicans.
Aside from the clear minority concentrations, there
is not a clear reason why cities are so lopsided ie 90% to 10%. it's absurd. It would be a GREAT question to ask:
Do MARRIED WHITES in cities vote more Democratic than
suburban/rural married white voters?
What are the values differences? what are the economic differences? (ie are they more in dependency on govt)?
I dont know the answer, but there is a lot of 'history' that goes into voting patterns... communities continue to reflect the voting patterns of previous decades.
"Now that I've grown up, paid taxes and have spent 5 years away from public schools, I've simply seen liberalism for the crock that it is."
LOL ... I love that answer.
(I have a friend who is afraid to vote Republican because he thinks the union will find out he did. This is a grown man - and I'm not so sure he's not crazy. I've read stories about how unions check the voter rolls to make sure their members have registered with the "proper" party.)
Ahh, that's right- Thanks for the correction. My mind must've been looking at the state County maps, but thinking "congressional districts." D'oh. :)
Yeah, but the suburbs in the northeast vote Democratic as well, albeit in not as large numbers as the cities.
Urban centers have more government dependents. They are also populated by more "sophisticated" people, and I mean that sarcastically. They tend to be more secular and less values-oriented. Not to say that there are no Christians in the city, or no heathens in the country. I'm talking broad principles here.
It's like a crowded lifeboat,
Everything in the boat becomes community property, people are forced to share and take turns, and to submit every action to the rule of the captain.
To say that people in a life boat tend to act like commies because they are wrong-headed, is silly.
Same with densely populated cities.
And that is why population growth from immigration threatens America's freedom: the more people, the less freedom.
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