NYT: California's Far North Deplores 'Tyranny' of the Urban Majority

[PragmaticPopulist]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/us/california-far-north-identity-conservative.html

While I can sympathize with Northern Californians for feeling ignored by the state's urban centers, I  don't totally get why they continue to feel ignore even as they're getting most of the state's aid.

[JerryArkansas]

Oh boo hoo, the poor northern white folk feel ignored and people have to feel sorry for them.  I'll start caring when they start publishing stuff about the African Americans in Rural Alabama and Mississippi who are ignored, or the Hispanics in Southern Texas.

[Virginiá]

I was talking to peeps about this in IRC last night. While I can feel their pain as a partisan minority, some of the things presented in this article as ridiculous:

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Since when are legislatures required to do this? Personally I think CA could use a slightly bigger legislature, but I hardly think it is something you can sue over. As TimTurner pointed out, this won't really solve their issues either.

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This one cuts the cake. Practically the entire US political system from the top down is structured to benefit rural voters over urban voters, and they want more? Good grief.

[krazen1211]

These fine folks should file to have their districts protected by the Voting Rights Act.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

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This one cuts the cake. Practically the entire US political system from the top down is structured to benefit rural voters over urban voters, and they want more? Good grief.

Unless SCOTUS overturns Reynolds v. Sims, they can't get away from districts based on population. At most they could seek to have one Senator all to themselves instead of being split among three Senate districts.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Yeah, this is well-known in-state, as is their agitation for a state of Jefferson. I can empathize with their cause, especially considering that Sacramento will never do a thing for them.

     Also, I never thought I would see myself agreeing with wolfentoad. People struggling are people struggling regardless of their skin color, and rural areas across America are struggling greatly. Blithely dismissing their problems is a big part of the reason we have President Trump now.

[ProudModerate2]

Here we go again.
Another silly push by Northern California and Southern Oregon to secede and form their own State : Jefferson (State of Jefferson).

[Cashew]

Do these same people deplore the tyranny of the senate? No? No sympathy from me then.

[hueylong]

Oh wow, an article detailing the plight of people in rural areas. Really needed another one of those. 

[Kringla Heimsins]

The best way to ensure that everyone is fairly represented remains a proportionally elected lower House. Strangely, Conservatives never want that. They always want to be over-represented, as this article illustrates once more.

By the way, the Map makes pretty clear that the Far-North counties are not the poorest areas of the State at all.

[MarkD]

They should consider themselves lucky that those tyrannous liberals of muh big cities are nice enough to   not gerrymander their districts into oblivion like virtually every Republican state does.

They already can thank the voters statewide for preventing gerrymandering by the state legislature. Several years ago the voters amended the state constitution to take redistricting away from the state legislature and put in the hands of an independent redistrict commission.
http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/faq.html

And there's no such thing as "gerrymandering into oblivion." Gerrymander uses the techniques of "stacking," "cracking," and "packing." It results in such things as having a ratio of 12 R to 4 D in a state where it could have been 8 R to 8 D, but there is no way to consign any voters into oblivion. I understand your anger, but anger often pushes people into saying irrational things.

[JerryArkansas]

Oh boo hoo, the poor northern white folk feel ignored and people have to feel sorry for them.  I'll start caring when they start publishing stuff about the African Americans in Rural Alabama and Mississippi who are ignored, or the Hispanics in Southern Texas.

So you don't care if people who endure the horrors of poverty as long as they're white? Are you a f-cking sociopath?

Or I rather not have article after article on these "noble folks" while huge minority populations are ignored and pushed under a rug by both the right and white liberals.

[ApatheticAustrian]

i need more features like that out of wyoming, texas, kansas and alabama.

[Mr. Smith]

It's not "The Far North", it's the Dixie North, which is not the same as the Coastal North.

The needs of the Weed Twosome and Lake County are simply not the same as those of Gold Country or Cascadia. The needs of Northern Sonoma are not the same as those of Oroville.

Oh and don't forget that there is bellwether Butte to reckon with

I have little doubt if Sanders vs Trump had happened, you'd see these Coastal-Rural counties go much greater for Democrats than the disastrous result in Lake County, and the JFK/McGovern/Carter/Reagan/Bush counties would still be whining.

Don't b&*ch about CA-1 when CA-2 and 5 are just as much in that area.

[JA]

Rural areas and their voters have, historically, been highly favored in the districting process and the attention they receive from elected officials. Even suburban areas have been disproportionately favored. It's unfortunate that these rural communities in Northern California are suffering, but that's a widespread problem all across America. Nobody seems to know how to solve it, aside from urging them to relocate to urban areas (which is a suggestion with which I agree) or providing them with fantastical myths about all those outdated jobs coming back (they never will).

The big fight today is between the growing, economically powerful, and increasingly influential urban areas against the socially decaying, economically depressed, and shrinking exurban and rural areas of America.

[Yank2133]

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Yup.

We are literally being held hostage by these people.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Oh boo hoo, the poor northern white folk feel ignored and people have to feel sorry for them.  I'll start caring when they start publishing stuff about the African Americans in Rural Alabama and Mississippi who are ignored, or the Hispanics in Southern Texas.

So you don't care if people who endure the horrors of poverty as long as they're white? Are you a f-cking sociopath?

Or I rather not have article after article on these "noble folks" while huge minority populations are ignored and pushed under a rug by both the right and white liberals.

So you have a beef with the media?  Why are you taking it out on poor white people?

[Antonio the Sixth]

I f**king hate how this f**king urban-rural divide has become the cornerstone of US politics - as evidenced by some replies in this very thread.

Any political coalition that's based mainly on urban or mainly on rural interests as such is a terrible coalition that has no right to exist.

[JerryArkansas]

Oh boo hoo, the poor northern white folk feel ignored and people have to feel sorry for them.  I'll start caring when they start publishing stuff about the African Americans in Rural Alabama and Mississippi who are ignored, or the Hispanics in Southern Texas.

So you don't care if people who endure the horrors of poverty as long as they're white? Are you a f-cking sociopath?

Or I rather not have article after article on these "noble folks" while huge minority populations are ignored and pushed under a rug by both the right and white liberals.

So you have a beef with the media?  Why are you taking it out on poor white people?

I'm not taking it out on them first of all, I'm just tired of seeing them put on some pedestal by everyone while others are just kicked around and ignored.

And this isn't just a thing with the media, many people are doing this, trying to understand these people, but not giving two sh**ts about the concerns of rural POC.

[TDAS04]

Living in a dense, urban area shouldn't make an individual's vote less valuable than that of an individual living in wide-open spaces (ironic for me to say that living in South Dakota).

[Dr. Arch]

I can't with this country right now. I just can't. -sigh-

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I was talking to peeps about this in IRC last night. While I can feel their pain as a partisan minority, some of the things presented in this article as ridiculous:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Since when are legislatures required to do this? Personally I think CA could use a slightly bigger legislature, but I hardly think it is something you can sue over. As TimTurner pointed out, this won't really solve their issues either.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This one cuts the cake. Practically the entire US political system from the top down is structured to benefit rural voters over urban voters, and they want more? Good grief.

It's drawn to benefit people in low population states, not rural voters in large states. Upstate NY has been bleeding jobs and population like crazy, but no one cares because it's not a separate state.

[JA]

I f**king hate how this f**king urban-rural divide has become the cornerstone of US politics - as evidenced by some replies in this very thread.

Any political coalition that's based mainly on urban or mainly on rural interests as such is a terrible coalition that has no right to exist.

Anything to avoid making it class based, which would cut across such lines. As it stands, rural areas do tend to have greater Congressional power and influence, yet despite that their actual concerns are still largely ignored while their communities decay. The main problem facing America's rural areas is piss poor infrastructure; it's the main difference between American and European rural areas (the former of which is performing considerably worse than the latter). I do believe rural residents should relocate to urban areas if they can (both for economic and environmental purposes), but they shouldn't be ignored either because Republicsns just care about their votes to push their wealthy agenda and Democrats dismiss them for their voting habits and culture.

[Nichlemn]

I was talking to peeps about this in IRC last night. While I can feel their pain as a partisan minority, some of the things presented in this article as ridiculous:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Since when are legislatures required to do this? Personally I think CA could use a slightly bigger legislature, but I hardly think it is something you can sue over. As TimTurner pointed out, this won't really solve their issues either.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This one cuts the cake. Practically the entire US political system from the top down is structured to benefit rural voters over urban voters, and they want more? Good grief.

It's drawn to benefit people in low population states, not rural voters in large states. Upstate NY has been bleeding jobs and population like crazy, but no one cares because it's not a separate state.

This. I mean, I don't support further malapportionment, but you can hardly point and say "But Wyoming is overrepresented in the US Senate!" as something rural Californians should care about. They're just as underrepresented in the Senate as urban Californians, and have proportionate representation in the state assembly, but unlike urban Californians don't see the state government controlled by the party of their choice. I can at least understand their grievances.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I was talking to peeps about this in IRC last night. While I can feel their pain as a partisan minority, some of the things presented in this article as ridiculous:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Since when are legislatures required to do this? Personally I think CA could use a slightly bigger legislature, but I hardly think it is something you can sue over. As TimTurner pointed out, this won't really solve their issues either.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This one cuts the cake. Practically the entire US political system from the top down is structured to benefit rural voters over urban voters, and they want more? Good grief.

It's drawn to benefit people in low population states, not rural voters in large states. Upstate NY has been bleeding jobs and population like crazy, but no one cares because it's not a separate state.

This. I mean, I don't support further malapportionment, but you can hardly point and say "But Wyoming is overrepresented in the US Senate!" as something rural Californians should care about. They're just as underrepresented in the Senate as urban Californians, and have proportionate representation in the state assembly, but unlike urban Californians don't see the state government controlled by the party of their choice. I can at least understand their grievances.

     Not to mention that Wyoming has zero representation in the California state government. It sounds silly to say that, but people are conceiving of this in the wrong terms. Making it about the federal government is highly disingenuous when the issue at stake is the state government. These people are upset with being ignored, and half the posts in this thread are deflection based on "they share superficial similarities with these other people who are not being ignored!" That is not a response.