I also was intrigued by Cox’s article on urban-versus-rural-versus-Democrat-versus-Republican. For Marc’s thoughts, click here. For Justin’s thoughts, click here. Here’s my plausible-but-not-proven stab at explaining the trend: Urban areas are the most dependent on other areas to survive.
Imagine the following: One Sunday night, impenetrable force-fields appear along the borders of every town in Rhode Island. Places like Foster and Hopkington would be able to set up some sort of subsistence-level society pretty quickly. Providence, on the other hand, would be in big trouble once the supplies at the grocery stores ran out.
I think, at some level, though maybe not a conscious one, urban dwellers are aware of this vulnerablity. That’s why they are more likely to vote for the party whose central message is “don’t worry, we’ll keep taking stuff from other people and giving it to you” than they are a party with a more principled message.