Invitation: Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State lecture

[Torie]

A University of Chicago Professor is giving a lecture on the above topic on Oct 26 in Beverly Hills. The event starts at 1 pm. A further description is in quotes below. Any SoCal denizens here who interested are invited as my guests. After we will go somewhere to eat, drink and be merry, also on my tab. Any who are interested, should PM me. I have a couple of seats available in my gas guzzling Lexus to ferry folks up from OC (Ronnie?, Sbane?). 

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On other matter of note. I have attended several of these Harper Lectures put on by my University, and the speakers are chosen for their ability to speak well, the better to induce us to give and give generously. The speakers are dynamic and interesting and provocative! And by the way, I intend to buy the Shor's book today if I can find it, to see if I can find something to trip him up! That of course is job one. Make the speaker sweat in the Q and A.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

This is something I'd love to listen to. Maybe he'll come to my university one day.

[Torie]

Here are some comments on the book from Amazon from the pundits, which I just ordered:



Editorial Reviews
Review
The aim of this book, Mr. Gelman tells us, is to debunk the media's oversimplified account of what happened in red and blue states in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Writing in the same spirit as Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Mr. Gelman sets out to 'correct' the received wisdom. . . . This is the Freakonomics-style analysis that every candidate and campaign consultant should read.
(Robert Sommer New York Observer )

According to Gelman, much of the analysts' glib assessments is misguided and does little to advance our understanding of why Americans have voted as they have. He crunched U.S. survey and election data as far back as 1952 . . . and discovered that the economic status of individuals and the economic conditions of each state as a whole lead to two different conclusions: on the one hand, the less wealthy a voter is, the more likely the voter is to cast a ballot for a Democrat; the better-off the voter, the more likely he or she is to vote Republican. Yet states with a higher average income are more likely to support a Democratic presidential candidate. . . . This is a fascinating, well-written, and thoroughly researched work that deserves a wide audience. Highly recommended for all libraries.
(Thomas J. Baldino Library Journal )

Commentators on both the left (Thomas Frank) and the right (David Brooks) have theorized about why working-class Kansas farmers and latte-sipping Maryland suburbanites vote against their economic interests. Gelman says, 'Both sides on this argument are trying too hard to explain something that's simply not true.' The real paradox, he says, is that while rich states lean Democratic, rich people generally vote Republican; while poor states lean Republican, poor people generally vote Democratic.
(Alan Cooperman Washington Post Book World )

Andrew Gelman has turned his eagle-eyed research on the American voter into an excellent book, Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State. If you ever doubted the value of empirical research, this book will change your mind. It's full of novel, data-driven results.
(an Caplan, author of "The Myth of the Rational Voter )

If you're interested in understanding the state of the art in the geography and demographics of American public opinion as we head down the final stretch of the presidential race (and who isn't!), this is a book you shouldn't miss.
(l Wilkinson, The Fly Bottle )

Review
This impressive social science analysis stands much political punditry on its head. So far as voting goes, the question is less why poor Americans are victims of false consciousness than why affluent Americans in wealthy states are traitors to their class.
(Morris P. Fiorina, author of "Culture War?: The Myth of a Polarized America" )

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The concept of a working class farmer is amusing.

[Torie]

The concept of a working class farmer is amusing.

It depends on the size of the mortgage, and whether the farmer is a fee simple owner or tenant. The folks on my mother's and aunt's farm in Iowa that they have not seen in 20 years, but get some nice government subsidies, and a nice bump in land prices to the ethanol heist, are tenants. If one owns an Iowa farm with a section of cropland (640 acres), without a mortgage, it is worth about 3 million dollars these days. Not bad.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The concept of a working class farmer is amusing.

Indeed.  Farmers are in a class of their own.  When I think working class, traditionally I think factory workers... and now days I think the people cleaning your hotel room or fixing your fridge... but I separate this from the middle class, because I think working class says more about what you do and middle class says more about what you have.

[Хahar 🤔]

The concept of a working class farmer is amusing.

There used to be some safe Labor rural seats in Queensland, though I think those are all LNP now.

Anyway, looks like an interesting lecture. Of course, I'm nowhere near Orange County.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There used to be some safe Labor rural seats in Queensland, though I think those are all LNP now.

That had nothing to do with farmers! 'twere because of agricultural workers of various sorts (shearers being the stereotype) and Labor's decline out there is firmly linked to the decline of the rural working class (and the same goes for Labour in Norfolk and Somerset).

[opebo]

The concept of a working class farmer is amusing.

There are still a few farmers that might fit this type here in Thailand, though even here the type disappearing rapidly as their progeny move to the city to join the urban working class.  But I agree there is no such thing remaining in the US or UK.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The concept of a working class farmer is amusing.

There are still a few farmers that might fit this type here in Thailand, though even here the type disappearing rapidly as their progeny move to the city to join the urban working class.  But I agree there is no such thing remaining in the US or UK.

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of family farms here... and while many supplement their incomes with other work, it is a culture and a part of our economy that at least the DFL has strived to preserve.... because they are the base of our communities and without them, "main street" fails.

[memphis]

Not this red state/blue state sh!t again..... Seriously, this is such a stupid explaination of American politcs. Any honest discussion of regional differences would concern itself primarily with urban/rural divide.