why are the best cities in america filled with liberals?
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Interesting question. I'm from Seattle and it's a pretty good city considering some of the major companies here, but this place is just filled with liberals. We haven't had a Republican governor since 1980 (longest in America). Interested to hear what people think about the OP.
How do you define "best cities"?
Well you are inherently biased. I would think that a majority of Americans think that NYC is a cool city but a hell hole to live in. So you have to have a quantifiable definition of greatest cities.
As to why liberals live in these places.
1. These cities tend to be places of government concentration. 2. These cities tend to be places of high taxation. 3. These cities tend to be places of high diversity.
Some people prefer that something else (government) dictates their life and money. Others don't.
Richard Florida (Well-known urban studies economist / Rotman Professor) does what I think is pretty good work on the topic. Check out "The Rise of the Creative Class"
The higher population density lends itself to more rules given the heightened need for coordination. Hence even 'conservatively minded' folks realizing the chaos that would ensue if police, subways, utilities, political uniformity, and some semblance of social cohesion broke down. No one cares if you do 120MPH on a highway or blast your modified AR-15 into the woods in Montana, but it's not feasible to do that in NYC without killing yourself or someone else...there's just too many other people. The rules are there so protect people from themselves and each other. The other part of it is that people's lives are much more directly connected in a big city: if one sector fails, it directly affects other businesses. Maybe not so much in a more rural setting, but other people's problems do become yours so you're motivated to not only think about yourself. Some people take advantage of that, and it's an issue for sure, but overall this way of doing things works far better.
Everything after that is basically politics. Someone says one thing, another guy takes the opposing view so he can get elected...even if it's a bad idea. NYC was once relatively libertarian and it was utter chaos, governed by mobs, crime, massive corruption, poverty, and filth: if you think NYC is bad now, look at before there was sanitation services..garbage was piled several feet high in the streets. So, pick your poison: you either have more gov't or you have more really bad social ills right in your face.
Liberals are in the best and worst cities because liberals are concentrated in urban centers. So liberals dominate both Portland, OR and Columbus, OH; Detroit, MI and San Francisco, CA. Not a huge mystery.
I think this is as close to a correct answer as anyone can come to on this topic. Lol @ mystery haha
Check out this pic. Shows you what places voted blue and which voted red in the 2012 election. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/countymaprb1024.png
I don't really give a shit about politics, but I will say that everywhere I would ever want to live is a blue area. NYC, Miami, NOLA, LA, Chicago, Boston, Austin, Dallas, ATL, Las Vegas - all blue areas.
Every single town you mentioned you'd want to live also has extreme poverty, slums and high murder rates and other violent crime, too. You can't generically say, "I want to live in Chicago." Well, where in Chicago? Both the really nice areas and the areas that resemble 3rd world countries are "blue." The fact that they are "blue" simply demonstrates that liberals tend to congregate in urban areas.
The reality is, you want to live in a rich, urban area, likely segregated from the poor.
I grew up in DC in the 1990s and Buenos Aires in the 2000s. I don't need to be segregated from the poor.
I need to be segregated from the middle class, suburban, fly-over cities/states that are cultural cesspools, with 1 AM last calls. High end or low end, that is my niche. But yes, preferably I would be living in a high end area. Why? That is where the best lounges/clubs are going to be, and that is where the flyest girls are going to be. But I don't have problem living with the poor - that's where I grew up. I don't need a likely closeted homosexual (because that is what all Republicans are) lecturing me on what my reality is.
You can have Zanesville, Ohio. Enjoy your fun Friday nights at Applebee's. I'll take Miami and Manhattan. We can trade pics on Saturday morning, and see who is waking up with hotter girls - you with your Applebee's waitress from the Rust Belt, or my Eastern European model that I picked up from 1Oak.
You necessarily want to live in a big city? I defend liberalism (somewhat) in cities, but going out to a nice rural area to work/live is not a bad idea at all. The people are nicer, the friendships are more real, things are cheaper, and you really do have a lot more freedom to just be yourself. And hell, there's nothing quite like building a huge ass bonfire in your backyard, breathing very clean air, enjoying the outdoors, throwing a three day long outdoor party, and shooting stuff for fun. You just can't do that stuff in a city. I'm playing devil's advocate here, but the city isn't all it's cracked up to be, hence why I live outside its borders.
I am willing to bet that those blue areas closely match areas with high minority concentrations (typically Dem voters).
Philly, Washington DC, Chicago, etc all have large low income and/or minority concentrations which sway votes. NYC had a Republican mayor for a long time.
Cities tend to be socially liberal because of so many different people living and interacting. Much more tolerant than small town USA. As for fiscally liberal, well that only lasts so long. Some cities can pull it off longer than others because of the draw the city has, but eventually they all run into issues.
This is basically true. I won't go so far as to say that rich, white Washingtonians are conservatives, but they are far less liberal than their minority neighbors. The fact that non-whites--particularly blacks--congregate in urban areas and vote overwhelmingly Democrat definitely colors (no pun intended) the degree of political disparity.
This. People don't want it to be a race issue, but it is. Why? Because race is tied into social status in many cases/areas.
I’ve been kicking around this thought for a while, but on average there doesn’t seem to be a huge partisan divide by how to run cities/towns fundamentally. You’ll have a few ideological differences, such as the degree of gun control, the tobacco tax rate, and at what age public school kids begin sex education, but by-and-large, city/county/town politics are fairly non-partisan. I live in a town of 44,000 people within a county of about 650,000 people. Our town elections are non-partisan—unless you’re a Marxist or a true, hardcore libertarian the primary ideological differences in local governance will be on the peripheral.
I think what you see in urban and suburban/rural elections is a knee jerk partisan vote—“Oh, I’m a Democrat and therefore I’ll vote for the Democrat on the ticket”; therefore, you get all Democrats (substitute the word “Democrats” for “Republicans”, too). Now you’ve got a town or county board that is nearly uniformly one party and there is no partisan grand standing—then politicians get down to approving setback exceptions for new home builds and figuring out trash collection, and the municipalities end up being surprisingly similar whether they are “red” or “blue”. This is demonstrated by the fact that there are virtually no municipal defaults among the thousands of municipalities. If there were truly a huge difference in how municipalities are run you’d see wildly different fiscal and economic performance as a norm rather than exception.
Do I want to visit NYC? Of course. Do I want to live in NYC? Not particularly, but I'd give it a try. Would I leave my city to move to NYC? Not for anything less than my dream job and a fat raise.
So the idea of a "best city" is so subjective it can't really be debated. I love my city, and a recent economist liveability index ranked it in the top 5 cities to live in. There is very little that would get me to leave. The mayor might be a little bit left leaning, but I stress the "little". And being an oil city, 90% of the people here are conservative to the bone. The ones that aren't are either unemployed or very quiet.
So this is just my opinion, but I simply disagree with the thesis.
Austin, Portland
Yeah, I don't know. I am perfectly fine being segregated from the poor and if clown shoe above represented the proles then I am affirmed in my decision.
^ not a liberal, just a wannabe snob. Some people decide to build their self concept around looking down on everyone. I'm not sure that's a political point of view. I think 'douchebag' is a better description.
LOL at the closeted gay republican quip though. Dems have their share of closeted folks, but for the most part they encourage them to be open about it. It's more often the conservatives that you read about in some hilarious article when they finally either just can't lie anymore or get caught doinking the wife's bi poolboytoy.
UFO,
I'm not a wannabe snob. I don't look down at people at all, in fact I'm a man of the people. I was homeless for a bit while I was growing up, so I know how it feels to be down and out. New Year's Day I went down to the local park and handed out sandwiches to the homeless down there. I've been lucky enough to turn my bad fortune around and make something of myself, and I feel an obligation to give back to those less fortunate than me.
I know my posts can come off as "douchebag", but that's not who I am in person. I just have no tolerance for people spouting off nonsense. It pollutes the minds of young guys who don't know better.
Your entire post reeks of "Hey I'm a huge douchebag" and every word you have said is you turning your nose up at others who disagree with you. Even the comment about handing out sandwiches. It screams "hey look at me I was nice to a smelly homeless person"
I would suggest you just shut your mouth and try not to be pointed out as a huge douche.
Out of curiosity, what "nonsense" was spouted off? Doesn't nonsense typically contradict reality? You literally admitted that you would live in the rich areas, segregated from the other parts of the city that weren't nice--then you proceeded to belittle non-urban dwellers for their lack of culture.
This conversation just gets stranger by the minute.
awaiting homepage status
Downvoted so quickly?
Well, I shouldn't be too surprised. All great men are ahead of their time. Demonized while they are alive, and canonized into immortality in the afterlife. Socrates, Jesus, MLK...I'm in good company.
That's one way to look at it
What is happening in this thread...?
@ME207 is now comparing himself to Jesus and MLK. I guess if hes like MLK the US government will assassinate him.
Given that the best "cities" tend to be attractive people from all backgrounds, melting pot and because of such interactions become liberal.
Why are you guys feeding the troll? Look at his post history. C'mon y'all.
As for this topic
[insert some incredibly biased statement that reveals my political affiliations]
I remember being all gung ho about moving to the big city at the beginning of college. Since then, I've had three summer internships in NY and by the third summer I was pretty tired of it. Like most of these places, NY is likely only going to be what you dream it to be if you're at the top of the food chain. I'd love to go back to NY for a year or two with my friends down the road when I'm more successful and have some money, but you're deluding yourself if you think you're gonna be killing it as an IB analyst or a PE associate when others who work much fewer hours and make way more money than you are a dime a dozen.
@"artofwar" I typed up a more thorough response but unfortunately lost it so I'll just make this more concise.
My main point is this: I'd be surprised if after a year on the job most still thought NYC was the greatest in the world. The "whole models and bottles" phenomena that used to be a recurring theme in newbie posts here is never going to happen for the junior guy. Let's put that aside for a minute and look at what normal people like to do: hang out with their friends, exercise and get some fresh air, travel, and party. "models and bottles" can only be done in a city like NYC, the rest can be done anywhere. I use "models and bottles" as a proxy for the greater theme of NYC: this alleged scent in the air of glamour and ambition, hopes and dreams, this undeniable vibe of excitement and success. I've concluded that this vibe is a sham unless you know were bred for finance and have no doubt in your mind that you are going to climb the ladder of a BB or HF -- for any other reason, you're probably just buying into the prepackaged image of big city life sold by the media and you may come to realize that a year later when you're making six figures, working 80+ hours a week, and sweating bullets on a 8:30AM subway packed nuts-to-butts in mid July sitting next to a summer intern. So I think everyone who has ever harbored big city dreams should definitely try it with an open mind, but to think realistically about your lifestyle wants and needs in the long-term (I would have scoffed at this notion a few years ago).
@"Whgm45": I think you took my post out of context. After spending three summers there, about 30 weeks altogether, I've concluded that NYC is not all it's cracked up to be. You can have fun anywhere. Let's pretend I needed some tips on how to have fun and decided to take your advice -- no more Eastern European models and meatpacking for me. Great! I could now do the same exact things I do for fun - drink at dive bars with my friends - in any other city in the country for a fraction of the cost and in a way less crowded environment all while making the same money!
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