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| Fifth Column |
| City Folk |
| 2005-06-03 |
| a new, more aggressive politics in what has begun to be referred to as an "urban archipelago" of major metropolitan centers, aging industrial cities and college towns that represent progressive blue islands in what appears on electoral maps to be a red sea of conservatism. These are crowded islands, with enough voters to influence politics far beyond their borders, and they remain bastions of American liberalism: Every American city with a population of more than 500,000 voted for John Kerry in 2004, as did about half the cities with populations between 50,000 and 500,000. In virtually every state that backed the Democratic presidential nominee last year--even traditional Democratic strongholds like Illinois, New Jersey and Michigan--it was only thanks to overwhelming majorities in urban areas that Kerry prevailed. At a time when the federal government is dominated by right-wing Republicans, and when liberal state governments are rare, cities are electing a new generation of progressives [...] Part of a longish piece from "The Nation" in which the author talks about the lefties' wet dream of cities shaping the future, thanks to the large populations and the ability of the government to use local laws to enforce the "public interest." It's wishful thinking, though. Read the whole thing, if'n ya wanna laugh. |
| Posted by:growler |
| #4 At a time when the federal government is dominated by right-wing Republicans, and when liberal state governments are rare, cities are electing a new generation of progressives.. They misspelled "idiots". |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-06-03 16:00 |
| #3 Nichols reads like he not only drinks the Kool Aid, but also sleeps in a Sensory Deprivation tank filled with it... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-06-03 13:02 |
| #2 Asinine. A city today is more or less meaningless in economic and social terms. If you're going to aggregate urban voters, the meaningful unit of analysis is metro areas (MSMAs), not cities. If you look at MSMAs, the big shift continues to be from the cities to the suburbs, and from the suburbs to the exurbs. ie, from areas controlled for the most part by the Dem machine to centrist or right-of-center suburban up-for-grabs districts. Also, even if you look only at cities, the fastest growing major cities are in the red states: Phoenix ( soon to overtake Philadelphia for the # 5 spot, after Houston). San Antonio. Orlando. The Dems are becoming the urban metrosexual party focused solely on gays, gazillionaires, public sector union hacks, academics and 20-something DU'ers. Brilliant. Meanwhile, Ken Mehlman is workign furiously to develop the GOP's large and growing share of the hispanic and african-american votes. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-06-03 13:00 |
| #1 The solution is for the Federal govt to stop sending massive $$ subsidies to the cities, which have large public payrolls and services usually paid for by more rural citizens. |
| Posted by: too true 2005-06-03 12:47 |