Staggering Democrat/Republican Segregation
Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 12 months ago to Politics
I find this map staggering. My neighborhood voted 85% for President Obama, but this shows a huge number of neighborhoods voting >95% for him and vast areas voting for Romney by >70%.
I know part of it is race. African Americans are more Democratic, and the Democratic candidate was African American. Beyond that, though, I think this map shows how successful the partisan segregation is. People I come into contact with almost exclusively claim to be Democrat, but actually seem libertarian. By that I mean, they're not into guns, but they express no desire to deny people their right to guns. They're not into muscle cars and SUVs, but they don't talk about banning them as ideologues on the radio do. They want to get along with people and be, well, normal. I like to think most people are like that, with the exception of those who make their living as talking heads and politicians.
It's frustrating that people are segregating so much. It wouldn't be frustrating if I believed one party were even slightly more inclined to limit the size and intrusiveness of gov't. It's really unfortunate that without any conscious conspiracy, we're living separated, choosing between gov't harassing pot smokers or gun owners.
I understand like minds cluster, but >95% is just staggering.
I know part of it is race. African Americans are more Democratic, and the Democratic candidate was African American. Beyond that, though, I think this map shows how successful the partisan segregation is. People I come into contact with almost exclusively claim to be Democrat, but actually seem libertarian. By that I mean, they're not into guns, but they express no desire to deny people their right to guns. They're not into muscle cars and SUVs, but they don't talk about banning them as ideologues on the radio do. They want to get along with people and be, well, normal. I like to think most people are like that, with the exception of those who make their living as talking heads and politicians.
It's frustrating that people are segregating so much. It wouldn't be frustrating if I believed one party were even slightly more inclined to limit the size and intrusiveness of gov't. It's really unfortunate that without any conscious conspiracy, we're living separated, choosing between gov't harassing pot smokers or gun owners.
I understand like minds cluster, but >95% is just staggering.
Another statistical fact from the book is that people segregate by politics more at the top of the education and income pyramid. While "bowling alone" is now a new problem, apparently, it at least was true that on a bowling team, you could find people of differing politics still enjoying each other's company. Reading clubs are not like that.
The Big Sort has a website (of course):
http://www.thebigsort.com/home.php
I do not consent (by voting) to this rigged system.
If I had any trust in the system I would have supported Ron Paul, but since he was not reliable (blackmailable) in the view of the looters he had no chance of being the nominee.
I voted for some no-name party when I lived near Tampa and there was no Democrat, Green, or Libertarian running. I lived in the FL 10th (now the FL 13th), and CW Bill Young was the only one who had a chance. He was a good person, but I disagreed on policy issues. So I voted for someone in the Natural Law Party who I knew wouldn't win.
I wonder if you wrote in Captain Kangaroo if they'd register your protest vote.