It’s a problem because of free movement. I live in GA which us now gloriously purple. Do you know the biggest problem GA has right now? The homesteading movement. A lot of urbanites are spreading from cities. My county (which I just move to lol) was so close to flipping blue they split it in two. And that doesn’t matter because I’ve seen democrat leaning people from the city movement even further past me deeper into rural GA.
To me, this is why they’re fighting municipal broadband. I actually fucking hate cities. I’ve lived in the heart or Atlanta, of DC and more. I hate it. I’d rather a real small town (not bullshit suburbs). I can live here because the town has city sponsored fiber internet. It has made the whole ass area a magnet for tech people. Locals hate it. The city loves that sweet, sweet tax money. And it’s like a virus prompting neighboring cities to give it a whirl. But you get just a drop of city folk to move and suddenly a whole district is blue.
That’s why this widening divide is a horrible problem. I know a lot of people like me, liberal city haters who are chained to cities for jobs. Some people move because they can, but a lot more people are moving because they have to. My sister lives in bumfuck, GA because that’s where she can afford rent and that is a stealth problem for the GOP IMO. Kids are going to show up and gentrify their small towns as broadcast rolls out and remote work is more common
Sometimes I see people saying raising a family in a city sucks and oof, man, my experience growing up in the suburbs was a nightmare. Can’t go anywhere. Nothing to do. Can’t even see friends unless I can convince my parents to drive me.
People I knew growing up in the city had freedom. I was always so jealous.
Maybe it’s different if your nearest city is some car hell hole instead of New York.
Apologies for the tangent
There’s a middle ground. I’m in a true small city of 10K and I love it. The city is all of 10 miles square. It has all the basics movie theater, most chains, etc. The city isn’t walkable, but it is bikeable and I’ve found that to be good enough. I grew up in a city like this and I wanted that for my kid. We still drive into the local metro maybe once a month, but I don’t ever need to go into the metro for basics.
But I’m not talking about moving fuck all no where. I’m talking about expanding the range impact of cities. We got this way because people all moved to cities. If people spread like a wave away from cities, then the power impact decreases. My town is went from a Christian stronghold where you couldn’t drink and everything was closed on Sunday to a place where a Republicans have to battle for local spots and most highly religious laws have been repealed.
Im halfway between 2 major cities. One is the major metro and the other a mid-size city. It used to be very red going 30 minutes away from either, but now we have a sea of purple. And areas are only getting bluer.
Everywhere in GA outside of like 4 cities is bumbfuck, but being I proximity of cities and growing small towns into midsized cities is the way to win. When I was a kid my hometown was bumfuck, GA. Now it’s a major city (for GA. I mean it’s sub-1 million by a lot) and solidly blue when it used to be very red.
We won’t see an AOC type for a long time, but a moderate republican (not a Manchin type) is a way better platform than any republican.
