September 23rd, 2008
2008 Election(s): Urban rural divide
By Shawn Micallef // 5 Comments
An essay in the Globe and Mail by John Duffy ran a few weeks ago but is worth reading if you didn't see it as it explores the way the urban rural split has become the dominant political factor in both Canada and the United States. Perhaps more explicit down south, where big city mayor Rudy Giuliani (inexplicably) sneered at the very idea of cities ("San Francisssssssssco") during his GOP convention speech and Sarah Palin talked of growing "good people" in small towns, we can see on Canadian electoral maps that cities vote differently up here as well. Read the rest here.
In the U.S. and Canadian elections now under way, the traditionally dominant political factors are giving way to a politics in which wedge issues such as John McCain's "drill, baby, drill" and Stéphane Dion's Green Shift program are pitting city folk against high-consumption, low-density rural voters.
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Each country seems to be dismantling its traditional electoral structure — in the U.S., one built around race, and in Canada, organized around regionalism. In both countries, the major parties are now fighting their election campaigns primarily along the same urban-rural battle line. For the first time, something like a single North American election is happening. This new politics is likely to be with us for a long time to come.
"Sci-Fi New Urban Rural Interface" by Jonathan . Larocca.
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Rudy's tenure was one of constant fighting turmoil, not the picture that people think. If he could have run again, and there was no 911 he would have lost.
It does strike me as typical Republican double talk that at the convention he derides elites and left wingers sounding like he is dissing the city he was mayor of.
Rather than saying NY is left wing, I would say that it is Democratic compared to other areas of the US; and that within the Democratic realm it is more left than say the Democrats of Montana.
Americans get the government they deserve, or at least the red states do. Too bad the world gets the gov't they deserve.
In Canada, guess that's true of urbane places, verses where the Reform Party gets its seats.
The US is an intensely conservative country, and though the cities are less so, they are more conservative than they appear -- even NYC. Rudy was followed by Bloomberg, who seems while progressive on some social issues, is still a conservative at heart.
There are very few truely "liberal" places in America. Maybe college towns, but even San Francisco is more on the centre than appears (from up here).
The photo used for this piece is amazing, great work.
In response to Shawn's comment - Liberalism as an ideology stems from the desire for personal freedom, something which is very strong in the US, particularly in rural areas. Of course, this is also where conservatism reigns supreme.
I still don't understand how Rudy Guiliani was mayor of New York. I thought New York was very left wing (relative to the U.S.)? Am I wrong, or have I watched too many Woody Allen movies? Or are New York mayors somehow completely unrepresentative of the city's people?
Comment by Alexander Arvelo McQuaig
September 23, 2008 | 12:47 pm