An Urban's Rural View

The Widening Urban-Rural Divide

Urban C Lehner
By  Urban C Lehner , Editor Emeritus
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Over the decades, countless millions of Americans from the country have moved to the city. A smaller but still uncountable number have moved the other way. These stirrings of the pot of humanity helped homogenize the nation, breaking down the differences between urban and rural.

But not entirely. For some, the urban-rural divide still yawns as wide as the Milky Way. There are city dwellers who find the countryside's nighttime silence more terrifying than ISIS; without sirens wailing in the background they can't sleep. There are country folk who cringe in claustrophobia in a "big city" of 500 people and a single traffic light.

And when it comes to politics, the urban-rural gap, like the universe, is expanding. In the last Congress nearly 80% of rural Americans were represented by a Republican (http://tiny.cc/…). Democrats represent most cities.

The next Congress will be the same, except more so. Commenting on the recent election, Dan Glickman, who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Bill Clinton, noted "the astonishing fact" that "there are very few Democrats representing primarily rural districts left in the entire country." (http://tiny.cc/…)

This map (http://tiny.cc/…) tells the story. Except for Minnesota, where Democrats hold five of eight congressional seats, the blue is mostly bunched up on the coasts. As Glickman put it, "The reasons may be cultural or economic but whatever they are, they reflect the feeling that in many cases Democrats have become the exclusively urban party."

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To be sure, the concept of "rural" is as wobbly as Jell-O. Uncle Sam has at least 15 different definitions of the word, according to the Washington Post (http://tiny.cc/…).

Consider the three places I divide my year between. One, Washington, DC, is unmistakably urban. One, Lost River, West Virginia, is indisputably rural.

But what about Newport, Oregon, the coastal town where I spend summers? Its population (10,000 -- probably double that in the tourist season) makes it rural by some of the definitions, urban by others.

Oregon, like many states, has a vast but sparsely populated rural area that votes red. Its cities and coastal counties vote blue. In that sense, certainly, Newport is urban.

It's a shame the country has come to this, a shame you can define a place by how it votes. We need not all advocate the same solutions, but it's hard for a country to make economic progress when we can't even agree in defining the problems.

And Glickman has it right: Whatever farmers' personal political preferences, the widening urban-rural political divide is bad news for agriculture in particular. To have a voice in Washington, agriculture needs support from both sides of the aisle. It needs an urban-rural coalition.

A famous politician once said there's no red America, there's no blue America, there's only a purple America. Unfortunately, he has increasingly been proved wrong. We're still waiting for leaders from both parties who can color us purple.

Urban Lehner

urbanity@hotmail.com

(CZ)

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Freeport IL
12/2/2014 | 9:01 AM CST
It may be just the progression of getting older, but political lines now seem to be drawn with walls â?“ not lines in the sand. Maybe it is just the few that hang on the words of talk show hosts that have their views cast in cement. Some say it is better; no decision is better than a compromise. One has to wonder. Freeport, IL
Roger Cooper
12/2/2014 | 8:24 AM CST
Some days I don't care much for either party! But it sometimes takes one to check and balance the other. That part of this system is a good thing!
Bonnie Dukowitz
11/23/2014 | 5:18 AM CST
Could one tend to believe the problem is due to all groups assuming government subsidies and entitlements are the base of the economy?
Curt Zingula
11/21/2014 | 7:51 AM CST
Speaking for myself, I don't want to be purple. Give an inch, they'll take a mile.