A missing factor is race to the analysis of cities.
The dirt is not magic.
Can't fight demographics. Assuming Vox Day's 2033 estimate are accurate of the US break up, the region of Idaho will hopefully better enforce its borders before it's overrun by dysgenic cultures.
Also, should cities no longer be able to borrow money to fund its welfare programs, you may see a gradual emptying of the demographics that can't make ends meet.
The US Cities today are much different demographically than the same cities in the 1950s.
Some Data incorporating gender and race for voting patterns:
Reasonably nothing is rational in our politics. Nor can it be. Ellul: “If technique is total, if it is all-encompassing (that is, if the system of technique integrates into itself every phenomenon that arises), if it is “assimilative” (in the sense that all revolutionary movements are ultimately assimilated), then what can escape the system of technique? From a human outlook, we see nothing that does. We therefore need a transcendence in order to escape it. Only something that belongs to neither our history nor our world can do this. I mean, of course, something that does not “essentially” belong to them, because even the most distant planets are increasingly becoming part of our system.
We need a transcendence. When I say this, I am not being apologetic, I am not seeking to defend Christianity; that doesn’t matter to me in the least. Nor does this need prove the existence of God. I simply mean to say that only one of two things is possible.
One possibility is that technique becomes our destiny, a kind of growing fate that grows and takes over all human realities. No culture will escape, as we have seen in the Third World.
====
Since time out of mind human are to other humans The Other and viewed as less human than the perceptor. Conservatives change nothing of this formula. They cannot. They are subjects of Technique. Like Canute they bid the waves of time to obey. This is not a rising in defense of liberals who have similar issues. All too human issues. Instead it is a paen to recall the transcendental lost in the Civil War.
Democrats found a way to get their votes...its called mail in balloting...they send the ballots put early...along with vote for us ...and mail it early...etc etc...Trump lost the last election because of mail in votes...he waited far too long to start stumping...Buyden never left the basement...mail in votes were already cast before Trump even started singing his song.....mail in votes is a disaster for the u.s. city folk are too lazy to go in person. The right to vote is an honor and should be required in person unless your an invalid and can't get out...no other excuse is valid!....notice how the democrats are trying to expand mail in voting....an easy way to cheat.
Media also supported the Democrats by censoring or twisting information that might have changed the outcome of elections, even if they had been squeaky clean.
As the saying goes, "Size does matter." But not as much as some people think. You ask: "Is there something inherently left-wing about cities?"
I think it's more about Marxist/ Communist/ Socialist (MCS) policies than size. MCSism has been tried here, there, and everywhere. And has failed beyond the MCS's wildest dreams!
Once-great cities -- San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Chicago, and New York among them -- were great (yet big) because they were mostly conservative, well-managed, and implemented traditional American values of personal responsibility, respect for the law and neighbors, and less government control.
But all that changed! Now, all cities -- large and small -- in Idaho, the U.S., and worldwide, are experiencing intentional destruction by MCS politicians and bureaucrats who snooker careless, demoralized, lazy, or ignorant voters with promises of infinite handouts and easy living, no rules, low standards, zero consequences for crime, and hate for the "other side." These promises ultimately lead to "crime and grime" misery for all.
After living in cities large and small, I see that it's the mindset of the people and the management they elect or hire that matter. Not so much the number of people (though more people do add complexity and require smarter managers).
The benefit of a smaller town or city is that one has more opportunity to influence the future of the place as it grows. But if people just "hope for the best," all cities -- regardless of size -- end up like those mentioned earlier. Cities are like gardens; they must be carefully tended, or they'll sprout weeds and ruin.
You are right: The conservative tendency to write cities off just may be turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy as we flee to smaller towns. These ARE questions we must confront lest Boise and Idaho go the way of Chicago and Illinois. We're well on that road and we must stop and tend our garden NOW, before it's too late.
Voters and citizens must not give up. They must push past the censorship. They must talk with their neighbors. And they must work together locally so all can thrive globally. Remember, wolves in sheep's clothing are still wolves. Don't be eaten by wolves.
Very insightful article about the impact of cities on our elections. I was ready to read more. As a conservative activist in North Idaho, I tend to write off the entire south of the state along with all the big cities. We have strategies up here with which we hope to win our entire state and perhaps even win a conservative nation in our lifetime. While we have our struggles, I tend to hold a very positive long-term vision. Historically, a frontier territory has always represented the ultimate escape from the abuse of political power. Throughout human history, perhaps up until only about 150 years ago, the most daring and freedom loving people could trade the comforts and mandates of their large societies for the challenge of survival, and the risks of piracy, in frontier territory. And someday in the future, after Elon Musk gets his way and humanity becomes an interplanetary species, particularly after the unimaginable wealth that could result from robotic labor and AI, many families may once again (and from then on, forever!) have the option to escape abusive governments by relocating to frontier territory on other planets or in distant orbits. We should realize that we live today in a very anomalous landlocked period in all of human history! We survive today in a “small room” with all the crazies and authoritarians of the earth. We face threats of greater monopoly power in our lifetime, particularly if a single planetary government ever takes hold. But we must keep our dreams alive for our posterity who will live in a day when the frontier reopens forever.
Something that stuck with me from reading "The Forgotten Man" was that FDR explicitly said that the closing of the western frontier meant that we would have to alter our perceptions of freedom and our relationship with the government. It's an interesting idea — I'm not sure I agree, but that philosophy has guided our governments for the past century.
A missing factor is race to the analysis of cities.
The dirt is not magic.
Can't fight demographics. Assuming Vox Day's 2033 estimate are accurate of the US break up, the region of Idaho will hopefully better enforce its borders before it's overrun by dysgenic cultures.
Also, should cities no longer be able to borrow money to fund its welfare programs, you may see a gradual emptying of the demographics that can't make ends meet.
The US Cities today are much different demographically than the same cities in the 1950s.
Some Data incorporating gender and race for voting patterns:
* https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/buzzfeedpolitics/what-the-2012-election-would-have-looked-like-with
* https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-if-only-men-voted-only-women-only-nonwhite-voters/
* https://brilliantmaps.com/if-only-x-voted/
Reasonably nothing is rational in our politics. Nor can it be. Ellul: “If technique is total, if it is all-encompassing (that is, if the system of technique integrates into itself every phenomenon that arises), if it is “assimilative” (in the sense that all revolutionary movements are ultimately assimilated), then what can escape the system of technique? From a human outlook, we see nothing that does. We therefore need a transcendence in order to escape it. Only something that belongs to neither our history nor our world can do this. I mean, of course, something that does not “essentially” belong to them, because even the most distant planets are increasingly becoming part of our system.
We need a transcendence. When I say this, I am not being apologetic, I am not seeking to defend Christianity; that doesn’t matter to me in the least. Nor does this need prove the existence of God. I simply mean to say that only one of two things is possible.
One possibility is that technique becomes our destiny, a kind of growing fate that grows and takes over all human realities. No culture will escape, as we have seen in the Third World.
====
Since time out of mind human are to other humans The Other and viewed as less human than the perceptor. Conservatives change nothing of this formula. They cannot. They are subjects of Technique. Like Canute they bid the waves of time to obey. This is not a rising in defense of liberals who have similar issues. All too human issues. Instead it is a paen to recall the transcendental lost in the Civil War.
Democrats found a way to get their votes...its called mail in balloting...they send the ballots put early...along with vote for us ...and mail it early...etc etc...Trump lost the last election because of mail in votes...he waited far too long to start stumping...Buyden never left the basement...mail in votes were already cast before Trump even started singing his song.....mail in votes is a disaster for the u.s. city folk are too lazy to go in person. The right to vote is an honor and should be required in person unless your an invalid and can't get out...no other excuse is valid!....notice how the democrats are trying to expand mail in voting....an easy way to cheat.
Media also supported the Democrats by censoring or twisting information that might have changed the outcome of elections, even if they had been squeaky clean.
As the saying goes, "Size does matter." But not as much as some people think. You ask: "Is there something inherently left-wing about cities?"
I think it's more about Marxist/ Communist/ Socialist (MCS) policies than size. MCSism has been tried here, there, and everywhere. And has failed beyond the MCS's wildest dreams!
Once-great cities -- San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Chicago, and New York among them -- were great (yet big) because they were mostly conservative, well-managed, and implemented traditional American values of personal responsibility, respect for the law and neighbors, and less government control.
But all that changed! Now, all cities -- large and small -- in Idaho, the U.S., and worldwide, are experiencing intentional destruction by MCS politicians and bureaucrats who snooker careless, demoralized, lazy, or ignorant voters with promises of infinite handouts and easy living, no rules, low standards, zero consequences for crime, and hate for the "other side." These promises ultimately lead to "crime and grime" misery for all.
After living in cities large and small, I see that it's the mindset of the people and the management they elect or hire that matter. Not so much the number of people (though more people do add complexity and require smarter managers).
The benefit of a smaller town or city is that one has more opportunity to influence the future of the place as it grows. But if people just "hope for the best," all cities -- regardless of size -- end up like those mentioned earlier. Cities are like gardens; they must be carefully tended, or they'll sprout weeds and ruin.
You are right: The conservative tendency to write cities off just may be turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy as we flee to smaller towns. These ARE questions we must confront lest Boise and Idaho go the way of Chicago and Illinois. We're well on that road and we must stop and tend our garden NOW, before it's too late.
Voters and citizens must not give up. They must push past the censorship. They must talk with their neighbors. And they must work together locally so all can thrive globally. Remember, wolves in sheep's clothing are still wolves. Don't be eaten by wolves.
Very insightful article about the impact of cities on our elections. I was ready to read more. As a conservative activist in North Idaho, I tend to write off the entire south of the state along with all the big cities. We have strategies up here with which we hope to win our entire state and perhaps even win a conservative nation in our lifetime. While we have our struggles, I tend to hold a very positive long-term vision. Historically, a frontier territory has always represented the ultimate escape from the abuse of political power. Throughout human history, perhaps up until only about 150 years ago, the most daring and freedom loving people could trade the comforts and mandates of their large societies for the challenge of survival, and the risks of piracy, in frontier territory. And someday in the future, after Elon Musk gets his way and humanity becomes an interplanetary species, particularly after the unimaginable wealth that could result from robotic labor and AI, many families may once again (and from then on, forever!) have the option to escape abusive governments by relocating to frontier territory on other planets or in distant orbits. We should realize that we live today in a very anomalous landlocked period in all of human history! We survive today in a “small room” with all the crazies and authoritarians of the earth. We face threats of greater monopoly power in our lifetime, particularly if a single planetary government ever takes hold. But we must keep our dreams alive for our posterity who will live in a day when the frontier reopens forever.
Something that stuck with me from reading "The Forgotten Man" was that FDR explicitly said that the closing of the western frontier meant that we would have to alter our perceptions of freedom and our relationship with the government. It's an interesting idea — I'm not sure I agree, but that philosophy has guided our governments for the past century.
Thanks for posting that! I never heard it before. An ominous message from FDR, and I fear that he was right.
Related: Can Our Cities Be Saved? By Jeffrey A. Tucker (Epoch Times): https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/can-our-cities-be-saved-5485929?utm_source=ref_share&utm_campaign=copy