C
chicago
Guest
This insightful question has been entirely overlooked on this thread.
Politically speaking, we need to understand that politics is largely about control and that state legislatures intentionally draw districts to preserve the power bases of each party. Cities are Democratic, Suburbs Republican, rural could go either way depending upon the history of how the communities developed and what the political culture is. And, so, each area merely votes the way it is preassigned and determined, for the most part. This enables the two party system to keep a stranglehold upon real democracy in order to solidify each power base’s control over the people, the debate, and the governmental system.
In terms of what is distinct, I think that it is the problems which are unique to urbanity from those which are unique to rural areas. And, then, suburban concerns are yet distinct from both. A lot of this has to do with the inherant challenges (but also benefits) which exist in being “big” or “small”. A metropolis will be the center of commerce, transportation, business, arts, learning at the highest of levels. But due to the massive scale on which it must operate, and the widely diverse population which it attracts and must foster, the challenges which it faces are grand. In a bedroom suburban community, which is smaller and where the population is likely more homogenous and at a higher median income level, the problems of a community are not quite so intense and can be more easily dealt with at a merely local level. This population, then, may resent having to help subsidize the needs of the greater metroplois, preferring just to be left alone to live their own life, while taking care of their own problems and thinking that everyone else ought to just do the same. In a rural area, there are concerns about farming, individual protection (since you don’t have a police car which will respond within minutes), and maybe small town values. Again, the “big, bad city” (and perhaps it’s surrounding suburban metropolis, also) may be resented as nothing more than the overgrown and corrupt bully, representing a different way of life and a drain on the tax roles.
In the long run, then, most of the problems which exist in the red/blue divide are really about the perpetual struggle between (and attempt for reaching an appropriate balance) the law of subsidiarity and the law of solidarity; with each side fighting to have it’s own very real concerns and interests taken more seriously.
