America has 50 states. but the concept of states is starting to transform into what could be called “urban clusters”.
The most prosperous parts of America is the Northeast Corridor, from New England down through the Middle Atlantic, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington DC.
The second most prosperous area is the Pacific Coast, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
The third leading area is the Great Lakes cluster, including Chicago as its center, but also Minneapolis Milwaukee, Detroit and St Louis.
After that, we have Central and South Florida, and the Texas cluster from Dallas Fort Worth down to Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, and Atlanta Georgia-Charlotte North Carolina as the fourth urban cluster.
The fifth distinct area is the Mountain West centered around Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.
Then there are the two other areas, far more rural and poor, with the Southeast–including Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee–being left behind, and still resisting social and economic change.
And finally the Great Plains and Upper West—the largest area geographically in the nation, the most backward and least populated area, very rural, an area where young people leave, as they see little economic opportunity for the long term–an area including much of Iowa along with North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho.
Notice that politically, the first three urban clusters are heavily more progressive and Democratic.
The fourth and fifth urban clusters are much more competitive between the Democrats and Republicans, and the progressive-conservative division is hotly contested, and will continue to be.
The sixth and seventh areas are reliably Republican and conservative, but have less clout in population and influence.
So the nation is clearly moving toward a more progressive stance for the long run, although large areas of the nation in land area resist that change with fury!
Harriet Tubman will be replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/04/20/3771269/harriet-tubman-20/
I’ve been watching the Supergirl series on CBS. We’re possibly on the verge of electing our nation’s first female president. As a coincidence, the president on the series is a female.
Bernie is saying that poor people don’t vote.
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/bernie-sanders-poor-people-don-t-vote-s-just-fact-n561051
Uhhhh…wan’t that what the “political revolution†was supposed to be about? Plus, it’s not really true.
We should look at some factors that influence voting: some states do not have early voting, which makes it difficult for some people to vote because they have to get to work or have other obligations on that one day; some states do not have absentee ballots; some registration deadlines are set far ahead of the primary voting dates; some cities/states closed a number of voting places, thus creating a strain on voter turnout; some states are shifting to voter ID’s. “Poor people” are greatly affected by some of these factors, but I am not sure that saying ‘Poor people don’t vote…that’s just a fact’ is the actuality.
Pragmatic Progressive, you have a good list of reasons that cut down voting dramatically!
Poor people not voting is not the problem…….it is a symptom.
Voter suppression is one of the problems.
Transience in poor communities is one of the problems.
Survival is a problem in poor communities.
The first step in solving a problem is not confusing problems with symptoms.
Bernie’s response is also wrong given the reality that poor people that are voting don’t appear to be choosing him.
I think a few of the best ways to improve voter turnout would be to first of all, have a national primary voting day, in which every state votes for who they want to be the nominee on the same day. Secondly, having closed primaries obviously impacts voter turnout. In many states, Independents and others not registered with one of the two major parties (including myself in Florida) are not allowed to vote in the primary. I understand the political parties are private organizations and have a right to make their own rules, but I’m just pointing out that this influences voter turnout.
But the best way to encourage more voter turnout would be to declare the voting day for President (the Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years) a National Holiday. I believe that the Professor has written about this before and I agree that this would have a major impact on increasing voter turnout. Of course there would be unintended consequences to private businesses so I would imagine that could be a reason it will never be declared so.
Mike, I agree with what you say 100 percent!
Also, there’s the issue of caucuses. They’re not fair nor representative.
Rational Lefty, I totally agree with you on caucuses, and think only primaries should be allowed!