I've known of people who build great, big McMansions way out in the country - then complain about tractor noise at the crack of dawn & the smell of manure wafting from their neighbor's property.

And, that's "urban" as in "black".

And decrease that with the statistic - 50% of eligible voters don't vote

So, these persons of 'low social graces' you describe probably aren't fucking things up as much as you might imagine

government. Your right they are a small percentage of people but they have 3/4 to 1 advantage in congressional districts.

and because they tend to be much more rightwing (yeah, yeah, there are exceptions, blah blah) our entire country gets screwed over because red district morons elect these lunatic Teabagger tyoes who make us all suffer. The past two weeks were a perfect example of that.

So the balance in the senate should be representative of Americans as a whole.

For example: North Dakota has 2 rural senators and New York has 2 urban senators. Also rural states don't get to send as many representatives as the urban states, so the house is fairly balanced between urban and rural.

It's only because of the gerrymandering that the republicans HAD a small majority in the house during this little tantrum.

We will see how it washes out over time, but I'll be shocked if they try this again in January. I expect that this woke up quite a few conservatives that are dependent on the government. There will also be republicans benefitting from Obamacare, so if they try it again they'll be screwed, if they don't they'll look wishy washy.

I think they went for the gusto and gambled poorly. A wise group of people would not have done what they have done. I don't think the rural people have exponentially more power. I think they're easier to manipulate.

North Dakota doesn't have anywhere near as many people as New York but each state gets two senators, so it still isn't really representative of the US as a whole.

Each state is represented equally in the senate, because they all have the same number of senators.

The house balances it out because it has representatives based on population. Every state has some rural population. I don't think rural folks are disproportionately represented.

It's a good system. It takes a while for changes to be made, but I believe it's fair. I don't know what could be done to make it more fair.

I live in a very rural area.. 80% of the people are conservative or lean right..we live one hour from two major cities-one to the East and one to the West..visit friends there moderate or lean left..like a different world.


But this is nothing new..the election charts of the last 40 years show urban people vote moderate or left leaning and rural voting conservative for the most part.

Rural people have their personal experience to evaluate these issues and when there is a gun tragedy in the city - those city folks should have known better. The little tramp wouldn't have gotten pregnant if she'd have waited til she was married like god commanded her.

They are able to simplify very complex issues into a sentence or two. Not all rural folk obviously, but enough to constitute a majority.

Oklahoma isn't purple.

There are purple states. there is also a distinct red state/blue state divide.

As mentioned many times on this thread, it really is more of a rural/urban divide rather than a state-by-state division. Some of his states I also don't agree with - putting NM as red and AZ as blue is counterintuitive, though I can understand why he may have done it. AZ is a unique state politically - its closest match is probably found in TX with some differences (Arizonans are sort of like Texans who just spend their Sundays bike riding instead of at church). I probably would have filled in NC as purple before coloring AZ but that's haggling, both are still basically red as far as government goes.

I live in rural Washington state. 2 Dem women senators; Dem governor for past couple terms... Considered very progressive - Seattle and all. But over here on the dry (East) side - as well as the rural enclaves outside Seattle metro - there is a very populist / tea party-ish contingent.

I have not been able to deduce why, as you postulate. I think it's called "provincialism," and it has something to do with tradition, the way it's always been done, the lack of diversity - as you indicate, the sense (even if false) of independence. We don't want none of those city slickers meddlin' in our stuff out here and tellin' us what not to do (i.e., shoot wolves, dump our garbage over the riverbank OR burn it, spray malathion over the salmon stream to keep down the skeeters!).

the vast eastern part of the state.

exactly the same dynamic!

What's really cool is finding pockets of progressivism out here in the rural area. Many times it is couched in terms that are apolitical (party affiliation). We have a fabulous strong locally sourced food movement here; strong land trust which is buying up community icons with donated funds; strong arts community. We were fortunate to land a patron saint of charitable giving (descendent of the KING TV media empire), which has helped make much of this possible.

Money certainly gives entre..

because you don't take them for granted like I do here in Portland.

30+ years ago when I moved here (from Burlington, VT - imagine!) I only planned to stay a short while to see what it was like to live in cowboy country. Well...I met my husband (a rock cowboy - ie, climber) and never left!

It has been extremely hard at times, but I've found my tribe. More challenging has been the good ol' boy network as to employment. I'm a paralegal and it's very challenging to find firms where I can stomach working. Not only employee policies, but hiding my freak flag, and contributing toward an agenda that is anathema to me. Fortunately, I've managed for the most part - including 9 years with legal aid providers!

BTW, proud of our 20-year old daughter who stood out as the lone progressive in her small high school. She had to put up with a fair amount of BS, including from teachers, but she never tried to hide who she is! She now goes to a liberal leaning university on the west side, and is pursuing her passion for environmental issues!!

Sounds like you've all made the best of it.

and don't assume just because somebody doesn't live within a hundred yards of a Starbucks they suffer from "low social graces".

The Atlanta-area is blue, but the state quickly turns red the further away you get from the city center.

The rural town where I'm from is crazy-conservative but I would guess that more than half the people there get some kind of assistance from the government.

They're not driven by economics or what would be best for them and their family. They get so hung up on god, guns, gays and abortion that they blindly follow the tea party pied pipers. And their fire-breathing religious leaders reinforce conservatism.

Urban counties are purple caused by mixing blue inner urban precincts (though some very high income precincts may be purple) with redder suburban parts of the counties. These counties are then encircled by a ring of red suburban and "subrural" counties and just get redder the farther you go from the larger cities.

The big exception are the border counties at the bottom of the state, usually the more rural they are the bluer they vote. It's enough of a difference that if you split the state in two by drawing a line from the SE corner of New Mexico and ran it across the state over to Beaumont it would have voted Democratic in '08, '12, and the Clinton years. Not by a whole lot - about like FL - but still a distinct contrast to the northern half of the state, where the only Democratic safe haven is in Dallas County.

I too was raised urban but now live in the 'burbs out of necessity, rather than choice.

That being said, I refuse to live anywhere further than an hour from a large city.

surrounding residential area.
We are on acreage within the city limits but out a bit from major thoroughfares.

The city purposely (and with the majority of land owners' approval) keeps our area looking rural, no sidewalks,
few street lights, not many parking rules and little conforming to easements and boundaries and such.
The only law I can think of is: no tall front fence blocking the home's view completely from the road, for emergency
purposes, I assume.

Seems like we are more of a Liberal community around here, but we have banded together to stop or show
concern about city plans encroaching on our lifestyle. But, we have, also, been worked up against our own
utility co-op at times so it is more point specific than over~all, I would say.
We all pretty much live on a hill above the rest of the residents and the view itself is sort of empowering.

The Tikkis

Sub-burbs are the in between - I live in the sub-burb and I think you can really tell the difference. The closer to the Urban areas the more normal further from the city more bagger territory.

Of course the right wing noise machine has code words so their viewers understand who the ahem "good guys" are. Rural = White Urban = Black.

I won't paint the broad brush because I know many people that live in rural areas and they are white but very blue on the politics. And I know many urban dwellers that are as red as baggers.

Its really the isolation that I think tends to make the people in rural areas lean more right. Many people have taken advantage of that and created all these uninformed voters. But some are and have been more then willing to follow the baggers down the path to the dark side. So while that case can be made for baggers it is still a mute point. They don't have to listen to hate radio, they can turn the channel on the tv but they don't.

Mix in on top of that the racism that never died after the civil war shake it bake it and you get the Stalinist-bagger.

Automobiles and mass media have made it so that rural people have plenty of access to socialization within towns and are informed about goings on in the cities.

although red and blue can be defined in different ways. If they elect one party in power on the state level, but vote for the other party in federal elections, which is it? Florida and West Virginia comes to mind.