My Amazon Review of Jonathan Rodden's "Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban-Rural Political Divide"

The Geographic Roots of Political Polarization

Stanford political science professor and sometime Democratic Party consultant Jonathan Rodden has written an important book on how and why urban Democratic voters appear to be under-represented in Congress and state legislatures. At its very essence the median congressional/legislative district is more conservative than the median voter. This phenomenon is a result of urban liberals being geographically concentrated in overwhelmingly Democratic districts while more conservative rural and suburban voters are more geographically spread out in majority Republican districts. Thus the elimination of partisan gerrymandering would help, but not cure the fundamental disadvantage urban voters’ face.

Rodden’s data driven book goes back to the late 19^th Century where urban working class oriented parties established themselves around worker housing near major railroad lines and mines. He not only discusses the U.S., but he is international in his outlook with case studies from the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands. He notes that where there is proportional representation urban voters are not under-represented, but with community based winner take all districts, the urban voter is under-represented.

His solution to the problem in the U.S. is for urban Democrats to be more tolerant of the views of their country and suburban cousins and therefore allow “blue dogs” into their party. That was true in the 1970s and 80s, but far less so today. In fact there are little Robespierre’s seeking to eliminate those Democrats through the primary process who don’t hold to the current liberal orthodoxy.

My guess is that the logjam will be broken when the dominant Republican and Democratic parties break up into three parties which I would name a Trumpist Populist Party, an establishment Democratic Left Hamiltonian Party and a Social Democratic left party.

Rodden’s book is very dense with data and sometimes the read is a slog, but an interested reader trying to understand the polarization of American politics can do no worse than to read his book.

The full amazon URL appears at: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2NCFHO2516E4C/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv