America should belong to her cities

I've certainly posted about it before, but I still doubt most people recognize how big a deal urbanization is, economically and politically, around the world but also in the U.S.

For instance, consider the complexity and difficulty of being the Governor of Nevada (pop. 3 million), Kansas (2.9 million), New Mexico (2 million), Nebraska (1.9 million), Idaho (1.7 million), North and South Dakota (1.7 million, combined), Wyoming (586,000), versus the job of being Mayor of New York City (8.6 million - 24 million in the metro area), Los Angeles (4 million - 18.7 million in the metro area), Chicago (2.7 million - 9.4 million in the metro area), Houston, (2.3 million - 6.5 million in the metro area), Philadelphia (1.6 million - 6 million metro), Phoenix (1.6 million - 4.2 million metro), San Antonio (1.5 million - 2.2 metro), or San Diego (1.4 million - 3.1 million metro).

So any one of these cities is larger than a handful of U.S. states.

The annual GDP of the New York and Los Angeles metro areas is about $1 trillion each! Compare that to VP Mike Pence's home state of Indiana, with a GDP in 2016 of $3.5 billion. There's really no comparison.

On top of that, consider that as many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City. Over 200 languages in Los Angeles.

Consider all the diverse people packed together in cities who have to find a way to get along with one another. Tolerance of multiculturalism in these cities isn't a liberal fetish -- it's a matter of survival, a fact of life.

Moreover, every major U.S. city votes Democratic in national elections. We don't have a Red/Blue state divide; we have an urban/rural divide. Even in the Red state of Texas, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio voted overwhelmingly for Hillary in 2016. It wasn't even close.

The U.S. is becoming two different countries: urban and rural. This is not what our Founding Fathers or the Federalist Papers anticipated. Even in rural/Red states, we have urban centers who vote solidly Democratic. That matters in Presidential and governors races, but not in state or federal congressional races.

Hence, the people representing the fewest and most rural have outsized, un-representative influence over our politics at the state and federal level.

I predict that liberals and Democrats will become the new Federalists, preaching the government closest to the people should have the most power, because cities are where all the people are, and the most diverse, well-educated, innovative and liberal people are. Also the wealthiest. The math and demographics are unassailable. America belongs to her cities. Or ought to.

Chicago charter schools not even in top 40

So this is what Obama's faux liberal buddy Rahm Emanuel has been fighting teachers' unions for, total mediocrity?

UPDATE: (HT to The Exiled for both of these) It looks like South Carolina's public schools also outperform the state's charter schools.  I'll keep an eye out for more states, and/or national figures....

Today's lesson: charters do not outperform unionized schools 

By Ben Joravsky 

October 3, 2012 | Chicago Reader

URL: http://www.chicagoreader.com/gyrobase/chicagos-unionized-public-schools-outperform-charter-schools/Content?oid=7559748&showFullText=true

Chicago teachers strike 'hurting the kids'?

Hurting the Kids

By Corey Robin | September 18, 2012

Though the final contract has not yet been hammered out, here are just some of the things the Chicago Teachers Union have won with their seven-day strike [pdf]:

• Almost 600 new art, music, and gym teachers
• Guaranteed textbooks in the first day of class
• $1.5 million for new special education teachers
• $.5 million for reductions in class size
• More than twice as much money for classroom supplies

No question: they’re hurting the kids.

WSJ: The Real Chicago Way?

Privatization run amok. Anybody surprised? You shouldn't be.

Check it out:

It was not until months later that Chicagoans discovered what a lousy deal it was. The inspector general's report estimates that the private investors paid a little more than half the amount that the system would have generated had the city held onto the meters itself.

One alderman, described at length in the Chicago Reader last May, figures that the parking system might be worth four times what the investors paid. "The taxpayers had been hosed," the Reader concluded.

Meanwhile, the cost of parking increased dramatically, as the new parking-meter proprietor sought to maximize its return. Meters broke down from the unaccustomed load of quarters. Tickets were handed out with abandon. Chicagoans were furious.

The Real Chicago Way
A privatization scheme that's a loser for taxpayers

By Thomas Frank
December 8, 2009 | Wall Street Journal

URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703558004574584232074750544.html