Are our personal migrations partly to blame?

[jsmithsen]

Many of us are from middle America and have moved to Chicago or the coasts for personal opportunity.

As we have moved middle America has lost a large part of its "indigenous" Left. It has become older, more conservative, and (often strangely) open to arguments from the white South.

Those of us who are over 50 remember the effort we invested after the 60s to learn about the Labor and working class struggles of America, including middle American cities and towns. Those eras seem very distant today.

I am reminded of this as I hear the resentment from my former classmates from the Midwest toward those who "abandoned" it; in additional how overcrowded NYC is with people who will never feel completely welcome here. The young people moving from the midwest to NYC today will not find the same opportunities we found 20 or 30 years ago.

There are ecological arguments against sprawl and in favor of city living, but there is no reason these cities should only include the largest metropolises such as NYC, DC, and SF/Oakland.

At least on a personal level, should we begin making choices in favor of moving back or staying in middle America, where we have the choice?

[Radical Activist]

1. That's one reason for the political shift in regional politics.

It's also a decision of the progressive movement to abandon rural areas and much of middle America. Very few organizations do anything outside of major cities or the northeast and west coast.

I moved back to my hometown partly to make a difference there. But sacrificing the quality of life that comes with being in a major city is asking a lot. And it's disappointing to see how little support there is from national progressive groups. One answer is for national progressive groups to hire more people from rural middle American and stop limiting their activities to larger cities.

We're losing the game in rural America by forfeit because we don't show up to play.

[old mark]

2. I see some progressive activity here in the Reading, PA area, but I am

not surprised by it. We have had all types of political activity here for much of Reading's history, from Black Panthers to Nazis, often at the same time.

But the rural areas remain largely conservative due to "religion"...


mark

[Curmudgeoness]

3. You make it sound like the "personal migrations" were a choice.

In reality, it was a necessity for many people. There was no way to make a living in the depressed Midwest areas where we lived. So we moved, unwillingly for the most part. Most of us would have loved to have stayed near family and friends. It was a hard, but important, decision to migrate. Just as the wildebeest migrate, just as our ancestors migrate, just as people in Mexico are migrating today, it becomes a necessity. I doubt believe that we should blame ourselves for lack of opportunities. We did what had to be done.

[Nay]

4. Very true. 30 years ago Mr Nay and I had to move from the rural West

to the East Coast to have any hope of getting jobs. We love the West, but there were no jobs in rural areas.