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USA is divided into 4 factions: * Texas * California * New York * Florida The rest of the states align with one of those but ultimately they're the ones ma

USA is divided into 4 factions: * Texas * California * New York * Florida The rest of the states align with one of those but ultimately they're the ones making the laws and providing the income for everyone.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> rest of the states align with one of those What? There are definitely political belts in American state legislatures. But to say the Midwest follows New York or Texas is laughable.
- VWWHFSfQ 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > Good sampling of ignorant people to try stuff out on Got it, those twelve states and the fifth largest metropolitan area in America are all crazies. What about the Rockies and Southwest? Is Wyoming more California or Texas? What about Utah and Nevada? Are you arguing Massachusetts and Maine align their politics with New York’s? I get the desire for simplifying state politics. But the attractor model is only explanatory ex post facto (or for specific issues); the set of issues being legislated at this level are too varied, volatile and particular to knit into long-standing regional political structures.
  - nmeagent 4y ago
    Chicago, the third-largest metro area in the US, is a midwestern city. Insinuating that Chicago is somehow part of or defers to one of these 'factions' and is not a 600-pound gorilla of an entity unto itself is frankly hilarious.
eyelidlessness 4y ago
I’m cautiously curious which, erm, quadrant(?) the following fall into: Virginia, Montana, Maryland, New Mexico, Minnesota, Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina, Iowa. Despite having a more than vague sense of the cultural spectra you’re describing, I can’t imagine placing any of these states on that plot without being hilariously wrong.
- pyuser583 4y ago
  Why exactly is Minnesota so different from Iowa?
  - eyelidlessness 4y ago
    I didn’t mean to suggest any two states I mentioned are necessarily different from each other (or similar to each other, either). That said I did find Iowa felt pretty distinct from Minnesota when I lived in the latter, largely because MSP felt like it had more urban gravity than any place I visited in Iowa, and MSP had a strong cultural affinity with Chicago which I didn’t get a whiff of in Iowa. They’re probably more alike than any other two states I mentioned, but they felt worlds apart even so.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    It is usually just a ratio of urban to rural voting population, which is a proxy for some combination of ratio of young to old voting population, or ratio of white to non white voting population, or ratio of university educated to non university educated voting population. Minnesota’s urban population is much higher than Iowa’s, so state level politics are more dictated by voters who are some combination of younger/non white/university educated, whereas in Iowa, it is the opposite.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

> rest of the states align with one of those What? There are definitely political belts in American state legislatures. But to say the Midwest follows New York or Texas is laughable.

VWWHFSfQ 4y ago
[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > Good sampling of ignorant people to try stuff out on Got it, those twelve states and the fifth largest metropolitan area in America are all crazies. What about the Rockies and Southwest? Is Wyoming more California or Texas? What about Utah and Nevada? Are you arguing Massachusetts and Maine align their politics with New York’s? I get the desire for simplifying state politics. But the attractor model is only explanatory ex post facto (or for specific issues); the set of issues being legislated at this level are too varied, volatile and particular to knit into long-standing regional political structures.
- nmeagent 4y ago
  Chicago, the third-largest metro area in the US, is a midwestern city. Insinuating that Chicago is somehow part of or defers to one of these 'factions' and is not a 600-pound gorilla of an entity unto itself is frankly hilarious.

eyelidlessness 4y ago

I’m cautiously curious which, erm, quadrant(?) the following fall into: Virginia, Montana, Maryland, New Mexico, Minnesota, Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina, Iowa. Despite having a more than vague sense of the cultural spectra you’re describing, I can’t imagine placing any of these states on that plot without being hilariously wrong.

pyuser583 4y ago
Why exactly is Minnesota so different from Iowa?
- eyelidlessness 4y ago
  I didn’t mean to suggest any two states I mentioned are necessarily different from each other (or similar to each other, either). That said I did find Iowa felt pretty distinct from Minnesota when I lived in the latter, largely because MSP felt like it had more urban gravity than any place I visited in Iowa, and MSP had a strong cultural affinity with Chicago which I didn’t get a whiff of in Iowa. They’re probably more alike than any other two states I mentioned, but they felt worlds apart even so.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  It is usually just a ratio of urban to rural voting population, which is a proxy for some combination of ratio of young to old voting population, or ratio of white to non white voting population, or ratio of university educated to non university educated voting population. Minnesota’s urban population is much higher than Iowa’s, so state level politics are more dictated by voters who are some combination of younger/non white/university educated, whereas in Iowa, it is the opposite.