City And Country: The Dividing Line

“And I want a bigger office. And I want a new car. And I want the city to pay for it all!” – Robocop

Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.

We’ve lived in Modern Mayberry for a dozen years now.  It’s a small town, and The Mrs. has roots here that go back generations.  We never expected to move here after I got arrested for driving on the sidewalk – I told the officer it wasn’t my fault – it was hard to see with all of those people on my hood.

The Wilder Family moved here from Houston.  The Houston metropolitan area is amazingly (for us) large.  From where we lived on the southern end, we could drive through nothing but dense city for over 90 minutes at highway speeds.

In Houston, speed limits are nothing more than a suggestion – I regularly saw people driving at 90 mph in 50 mph zones.  As we all know, speeding doesn’t kill anyone:  it’s stopping suddenly.

Driving really fast without being pulled over is one advantage of living in the city.  The real advantage of living in a big city is that’s where most of the high-paying jobs are.  Of course, along with high pay comes high rent and high cost of living, too.  Thankfully it’s not like living in Norway, since I don’t think I could a-fiord living there.

The move to Modern Mayberry was very welcome for us.  Houston is huge and impersonal.  Although it had tons of restaurants and other attractions, most of them were more trouble than they were worth to go and visit.  Driving to a restaurant meant a 30-minute trip and a 30-minute wait for a table on a Friday night.  Heck, I heard that even the Houston libraries were crowded – I heard they were fully booked.

Not worth our time.

The schools were likewise large and impersonal.  The nearest high school had over 2,000 students.  Although I’m sure that it allows them to field a great football team, I can’t imagine the social pressures in a school that large – my high school had 500-600 kids, and I had to pay people to be friends with me.  You could call it clique bait.  But that school was large enough to offer a large number of activities, but not so large that you couldn’t participate in them.

If you repeat your first year, does that make you a refreshman?

Where I grew up there was much more than that.  There was a sense of community.  If you misbehaved in public and were observed by an adult that knew your parents, you could be sure that they’d either correct you right then and there, or they’d let your folks know.  If they let your folks know, well, that was worse.  Parents in my hometown back then didn’t take the side of their kids.

No need to tell you I got spanked a lot.  Me, I don’t believe in spanking Pugsley when he’s bad.  Instead, I send him to school wearing crocs and anime t-shirts.

There was a sense of public participation in the small towns, too.  Pa Wilder was president of the school board for a time, and both he and Ma Wilder participated in a variety of civic organizations over the years.  Try that in a city where the campaigns to get on the school board cost $16 million or so (Los Angeles).

Having lived in both large and small towns, the small town experience is far superior in almost every respect, especially for raising kids.  The other thing I’ve noticed is that almost every small town I’ve ever been in has supported values on the Right, and rejected Leftist values.

We also tried to avoid the Illuminaughty.

Cities are the exact opposite in 2021.  Of the top 20 cities by population, 18 have Leftist mayors, and (generally) the larger the city, the more Leftist it is.  You can even tell that many of the riots were held in Leftist cities because they stopped after four days.  I mean, you can’t expect a Leftist to work all week.

Sure, not all cities are Leftist, and not all rural areas are on the Right, but it’s close enough to make that generalization.

This has consequences.  Around the country, rural areas that are strongly on the Right find themselves overruled by just a few counties that have large populations of people who are strongly Leftist.  There are, of course, reasons for this:

  • Cities are Anonymous – When you live in a city with hundreds of thousands of other people, you’re effectively anonymous. This anonymity encourages people to be tools  What does it matter?  You won’t see that clerk at the store ever again.  When people aren’t polite to each other, the demand for a government solution builds.  Much of the root of Leftism in cities is just poor manners.
  • Cities Require Services – New York City has a line where you can complain about everything because, in a city like New York, the local government controls everything. And complaining means that it’s someone else’s problem.

A group of Karens is called a complaint.

  • Cities are Demographically Different – Certain ethnic and racial groups statistically vote Leftist more than others, and these groups often congregate in cities.
  • Cities Reduce Options For Individual Control – I can know, on a first-name basis, every elected leader in Modern Mayberry. I could walk into the County offices and talk to the elected leadership there, too.  And not some flunky – I can talk straight to the elected official.  Try that in New York.  I mean if you’re under 24 you might get to see the governor, but . . . .

The divide between City and Country is bad, and getting worse.

I have been planning this post for several weeks, so it was a nice coincidence when Vox Day (LINK) pointed to an article that indicated that a Minnesota state lawmaker was trying to get the counties west of Minneapolis to be allowed to leave Minnesota and join up with South Dakota (LINK), which would be the first time people voluntarily went to South Dakota.

The divide between values is so bad that the Right just wants to leave – and the big fight will be over who has to keep the Minnesota Vikings®.  Seriously, though, I strongly doubt that the Leftists at the state or Federal level will approve the request, even if the people are tired of St. Paul’s Leftist ambitions.

People on the Left?

They simply cannot allow anyone to leave – the people belong to the state, after all.  Remember, the Berlin Wall wasn’t put up to keep people from out.  Allowing reliably red South Dakota to have more population and importance is not in their plans, besides, summer in South Dakota might fall on a weekend this year.  Regardless, the Leftists in St. Paul won’t give up the power, and the Leftists in D.C. want to gerrymander the nation so that they can create a permanent lock on all of the major branches of government.

What was David Bowie’s favorite song about the fall of the Berlin Wall?  Under Prussia.

I do know that, despite my jokes, a lot of really wonderful people live in cities.  I’ve lived in large(ish) cities as well.  Once a year or so, The Mrs. and I visit a big city.  The main reason?

To remind us why we live in Modern Mayberry.

Will we spend the rest of our lives in Modern Mayberry?  Maybe, maybe not – when Pugsley clears high school, who knows what the world will bring our direction.  One thing I’ve learned over time is to not make absolute statements.

I’m certain that’s a good idea.

Author: John

Nobel-Prize Winning, MacArthur Genius Grant Near Recipient writing to you regularly about Fitness, Wealth, and Wisdom - How to be happy and how to be healthy. Oh, and rich.

33 thoughts on “City And Country: The Dividing Line”

  1. Born and raised in Houston. Left over 30 odd years for a Navy and prison career. Came back , looked around and said “this sucks” . Moved over 100 miles away to a town of hundreds. I can say I won’t voluntarily go back to living in an urban shit hole.

    1. Understood and agreed. I suppose I’ll visit a big city sometime this year. Can’t imagine when, though.

  3. They will never let us leave. They need us for tax revenue and to fix stuff and grow their food and most of all because they need us to be the villain in their kabuki theater. Without us, and let’s be real we are talking about White people, they might have to face the facts about who is committing all of the crime and that an economy based on financial manipulation isn’t really sustainable.

    2. We’ve done about as much retreating as we can. There aren’t many places left to go. It’s past time we coalesced in those places and said “no farther.” Time to tribe up locally.

      1. I have mentioned this elsewhere, but if you are fleeing a leftard state for righttopia, consider moving to the outskirts of one of their cities.

        Then, knowing you have the backing of the deep Sanity crowd packing the rest of the state go full gander-sauce on the nearby city. Ask yourself, “How did the migrants from the crazy pinko-ville areas subvert our towns?” Go and do the same, but super-vert the cities.

        What have you got to lose?

  4. I was raised to believe that large cities are hives of scum and villainy. I can’t say I’ve changed my mind about them since.

    A huge part of the problem stems from when the Warren Court (hack, ptui!) ruled that states can’t have an urban/rural split in their legislatures, unlike the federal government. Because having a state constitution that mirrors the federal constitution is unconstitutional. Because reasons.

    1. “Warren Court”

      Gotta love those Republican-appointed justices that screw conservatives. Hopefully in the 70+ years since the Warren court we’ll figure out… nope.

    2. Exactly. And the result every state is the same- Portland/Salem /Eugene rules OR. Seattle/Olympia rules WA. Denver rules CO. Etc, etc.
      Because of the Warren court. . Baker vs Carr. Reynolds vs Simms.
      one person, one vote, toss out the concept of representatives being elected on a popular vote, and senators on a county vote. So all the power goes to the cities, and the rural counties are left without representation. Matters not that 95 percent of rural counties may not like some proposed legislation, too bad, so sad.
      Of all the decisions made by the USSC, these are the ones I would like to see overturned.

    3. Yup. Thought that was a pretty bad ruling, but the Equal Protection Clause is a pretty badly written Amendment, which has destroyed a lot of the integrity of the Constitution.

  5. Drive 90 or the GTFO to the breakdown line is a beautiful feature of Texas!
    The controllers want six mega cities with a population of 66 million mommygov dependents.
    Nothing grows in the city and everything is transported in (vaccine papers please comrade) by truck shipping or train.
    Red State is slowly being blobbed by CPUSA Capital City as shootings are up drastically in spite of the gun free zone signs and the unity is just not there as some comrades feel a little more equal in the lippy why you in here whitey cracker zone.
    Beautiful farmland on edge of suburbia is now wall to wall particle board apartments, subdivision sectors, stripmall parking lot eyesore, and it is sad to see ducks and geese cue up at a stadium sized parking abomination that used to be their watering hole.
    Chiquitastan residents are too busy vaping or fakebooking to slow down and the replacements view it as lunch.
    At least we will all be equal with UBI, vaccine passports, living on a sustenance in the comrade’s hovel with a mule driven Zil or Trabant out front and after all isn’t the glorious indispensable equality of results for all comrades the only thing that matters? Forward! Yes we can, Si se puede!

    1. We all thought (hoped?) we’d be living Mad Max, instead we’ll be living in Judge Dredd.

  6. I’ve lived in larger cities, suburbs, and small towns. By far, the small town is my favorite.
    Even where I currently live, I find that my social life – such as it is – is limited to activities at my church, people I used to work with, and those in my neighborhood. And, family (who are living some distance away).
    We are planning to move closer to the family members. However, we will not be living close to a city. Within a 1/2 hour drive, we can buy a few acres in a quiet area, far from the chaos of the nearest cities.
    My son is in the process of getting his house ready to sell, and moving to a similar location.
    The inconveniences of rural life for aging people is more than offset by the safety factor.

    1. It really is. And I’ve seen that a lot of older folks are in the area here – they want nothing to do with the cities.

    2. Cities user to have these… Small town subsections. Pockets of neighbors with usually a small green area and a fountain and the “everyone knows everyone” feel of the town. Businesses were nearby homes, even though the “homes” were stacked up farther than out.

      How do I know? The Cat Club books, and the Ruth Chew stories. I grew up reading stories about these City-neighborhoods in places like Boston and New York. My mom also told me stories about when her family lived in Rio before they came to the U.S.

      Are they still there? Have they been utterly quashed? I think both the establishment Left and Right have been very busy in cutting the collective (and metaphorical) throats of these places.

      But never forget Mr. Burges 5th Rule: After they wear it like a skin suit, it rots and starts crawling with maggots, and they convince everyone that it was always rotten.

  7. “I send him to school wearing crocs and anime t-shirts.”

    Is there a reason you don’t want to pass on your DNA? Why don’t you get him interested in computer games and give him the covid “vaccine” while you are at it?

    I grew up near Madison, WI and my theory is that big cities are liberal in large part due to corrupt voting. This was long before the current voting brouhahah. Mtown is only ~50% of the counties population, with the rest of the county being very rural and very red. Hating on “Madison liberals” is a favorite pastime. Madison itself has a lot of blue collar workers that are very red. Yet somehow Dane county always votes deep blue…

    1. Heh heh. I kid. He’s also at the stage where he pretends he doesn’t have parents. “Why no, I was raised by wolves.”

  8. Small towns are great. I once visited one, and spent two weeks there one late afternoon.

    But it was truly memorable.
    I confess that before that point, I’d never met the guy whose job was to go around and light both of the streetlamps in a place that far away, but I’d never even heard of the guy who had to go around and roll up all the sidewalks every night.
    They only had one police officer after sunset, and he also doubled as the local veterinary tech, since 90% of his job was to go around untipping all the cows bored kids would push over after the Dairy Queen closed.

    I met the town doc, who didn’t bother keeping medical records, since most of the time, friends of friends of patients would have filled him in on everyone’s condition before they came in to see him. Usually at the counter in the General Store, or in the produce aisle at the local fruit stand on Saturdays.

    The mayor was between checkers games at the cracker barrel, and he did tell me they’d had a motorcycle gang come into town once to cause trouble, but that somehow, the signs pointing to the county road all got switched with the ones the pointed to the edge of the abandoned quarry, and for some reason, the gate was open, and that gang seemed to have gone off the face of the earth.

    I’d recall more, but about then they brought the spare tire for the bus in the Cannonball Express, so I had to regretfully leave Hooterville and return to the big city before I could experience any more of it. Rod Serling may even have been standing at the side of the road monologuing towards a camera when I left; it was so long ago I can’t clearly recall.

    Big cities are more fun, because I won’t have to drive far to begin subverting the paradigm when things get really spicy.

    BTW, I made these while I was there, because I couldn’t help myself.

    https://i.imgur.com/27CzxEY.png
    https://i.imgur.com/7HZHj3e.png

    Sadly, I’m sure you’ll find some use for them.
    Enjoy.

    1. That first line reminds me of something Groucho would say – you get high Marx for that one.

      You’re right about there not being much spicy around here. A Liberal hereabouts is someone who fires a warning shot.

    2. The mayor was between checkers games at the cracker barrel

      Our mayor had been getting yammering from the greeenies at council meetings how it was all eco-whatsit to use goats to keep the brambles down on outlying public property. So to settle the argument, he rented/borrowed a bunch of goats from a local guy (at his own expense) and with the help of some other folks ran a test.

      Turned out to be … Excrement. So that idea went by the wayside.

      There’s this thing that happens when the folks you govern can show up, pissed off at your front door? I think it’s called “responsible government”.

      When was the last time a local brought you coffee and chocolate because you (1) worked for the gummint and (2) Were awesome?

      Or that time when the locals (who also worked for The Big Corporation) fed the local gummint the info on Big Corps’ plans and they ended up building what we wanted, where we wanted it because they were outmanoevered by the hicks at every turn.

      But everyone knows your business, and N00bs are the ones whose grandparents weren’t born here. And real culture: museums and opera and grand art and marrying a hot stewardess from another country, and the kind of YUUUGE creative synergy that shows up as an emergent property of oh, 50K+ humanity… Doesn’t happen here.

      Or not until enough ignoramuses migrate in and think they can have their cake and eat it too.

      TANSTAAFL.

  9. The largest town I lived in had a population of just under 35,000, and had its share of drugs and crime in the urban area. The town I live in now is 40 square miles, about 1200 residences, and 4300+ citizens. Quiet and crime is usually theft of stuff left outside to be stolen by stupid kids. A home invasion or other violent crime would end very badly for the bad guy, since per capita gun ownership here is high.

    1. Yeah, same here. Modern Mayberry is bigger than that, but we have no publicly available elevators or escalators in the town.

      I guess that’s my uplifting story.

  10. Dear Remus repeated often, ‘Avoid crowds’. I would like to think that, had we met, we would have been friends.

    I was raised in the country, tried the city for a time, but found it so vexatious to the spirit, so denigrating, that it was always a relief to return to the sanity of the land.
    We have since resolved to never again set foot in the urbanity, unless the need is real and present (specialist medical attention, for example). There is nothing but downside and attractions are slim-to-none.

    So many threat axes, so few options. Colour me biased, but the need is real.

    1. Exactly. I had a few email exchanges with Remus. It was very nice.

      Yup. No plan on doing anything that would take me anywhere near a city here, either.

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