I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I have a theory.
Let’s say that the majority of liberal types are urban folks, I could be wrong but I don’t think so. I don’t mean just big cities like NYC, Boston, LA, etc but also decent sized towns. It then follows that the majority of conservative types are country people, small villages and rural areas.
Do you think city folks turn liberal because of a culture of dependency?
Face it, you simply can’t live in a larger town without depending on others. This is not to say you can live on a farm without some measure of dependency, but to live in town means you rely on someone else for essentially all your needs and everything you want or need is at your fingertips. If you live in a rural area you might have to drive yourself many miles to acquire needed goods and services and there are times – snowstorms, power outages and the like – where you have to fend for yourself.
I wonder if the culture of dependency leads urban people to decide dependency is best for everyone. You know the old, “If I need it, it’s obvious others would too.” As much as I dislike Jefferson and Madison for their hijinks at the beginning of the 19th century their concept of the United States as a coalition of self-sufficient landholders is the best way to avoid the dependency issue. We’re not supposed to ask the government for anything except the security to do what we wish. We contribute to the government in order to provide for common needs we cannot provide for individually – things like roads, schools and national defense. Everything else is our responsibility individually or in shifting coalitions – welfare, personal income, child rearing.
Wouldn’t that be a much simpler way to live? Why do we need the government lecturing us on what sort of car seat to buy our kid? We can’t do our own damn research? Talk to friends and neighbors to get an opinion? Why on earth should the government be dictating that people can no longer smoke in bars? The patrons can choose not to visit a smoky place, the employees can choose not to accept employment in a smoky place. So much for individual responsibilty, instead we’re dependent on the big G to molly-coddle us from cradle to the grave.
It’s a big problem, we’ve been dealing with the exodus to the cities since the early part of the 19th century and we haven’t gotten it sorted out yet. Why can’t everyone just admit and understand that what’s good for them isn’t necessarily good for everyone else? Central planning doesn’t work, Stalin proved that. I don’t demand much of people, just the basics. Understand and abide by some basic societal/moral code and then let everyone else be.
Is that so hard?