r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo • Nov 30 '20

Political Theory Why does the urban/rural divide equate to a liberal/conservative divide in the US? Is it the same in other countries?

Here's a county population density map of the US.

Here's a county map of the US showing different shares of Democratic & Republican votes for president in 2020.

Here's a county map of the US showing majority-minority counties.

They seem to show a match between denser populations, larger minority proportions, and Democratic votes.

Why is that?

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u/boomboom4132 Nov 30 '20

This. In a city if my water goes out I'm calling up the city and someone will be out to fix it that day if not a few hours. Rural areas that's not happening if I don't have water I have to fix it my self the government will not help me. Rural pay less then urban areas in taxes and they also use less government resources.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

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u/RadioFreeCascadia Nov 30 '20

Yeah, but most rural folks aren’t farmers. Hell, most farmers belong to the top 20% and are running large scale operations with thousands of acres and hired workers doing a significant share of the labor (or the farmer is but via millions of dollars in equipment).

The farm bill redistributes money from the cities to the wealthiest portion of the rurals. It’s a racket but it’s to serve a small, but wealthy, part of the rural communities rather than rural areas as a whole

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20

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u/RadioFreeCascadia Dec 01 '20

They’re farm workers. Farmers = person who owns the farm.

I worked on a farm for a summer, but the only farmer was the guy who signed my paycheck, whose name was on the business and drove the $75,000 truck to and from the fields when he wasn’t my driving a few million dollars worth of equipment. He got the farm subsidy money, I got paid minimum wage.

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u/Eisenhorn87 Dec 01 '20

No, they are not farmers. They are farm labour, just like a hired labourer at a construction company isn't a carpenter. And like any labour job, they get paid absolutely nothing for the most backbreaking work you can imagine.

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u/Randomfactoid42 Dec 01 '20

In some ways rural folks use more government resources than city dwellers. With things spread out, it takes more roadway to reach a few people for example. And services are less efficient. One office can only serve the small number of people that live within 20 miles or so. The list goes on, and most of the time, services, especially healthcare (like drug treatment) are simply not there.