From the perspective of an outsider, it's the assumption that the Democratic Party has much to do with "left wing" politics that is faulty. Seriously, it's joked up in Canada that the US has no left-wing - just a hard right-wing party and a moderate centrist party. You can probably figure out which party is which.

Er, no, it's a hard-right party and a moderate-right party. The only time I hear reasonably centrist politics from Americans is when I talk to actual people on the street (and it very much depends on which street I'm visiting and if they know I'm Canadian or not).

[quote name='JTippetts' timestamp='1353998777' post='5004423']
The blue dots are almost a picture-perfect portrait of the urban areas. The red dots, conversely, outline the rural. The producers. This election, more than any election I have witnessed in the context of this place, struck fear into the hearts of the producers of this country. We had record voter turnouts, and record new-voter registrations, levels unheard of in any past election.

Are you joking?

Urban areas generate GDP while rural areas receive 20 billion plus in farm subsidies. If you believe food is the only commodity that matters try building a tractor or weather satellite from sand and corn.
[/quote]

Property taxes for farmers are outrageous ... but if you want to start point "subsidy" fingers, who gets more subsidy money? Large urban areas.
Federal subsidized housing cost $28 Billion in 2011 ....

[quote name='Oberon_Command' timestamp='1354038332' post='5004584']
From the perspective of an outsider, it's the assumption that the Democratic Party has much to do with "left wing" politics that is faulty. Seriously, it's joked up in Canada that the US has no left-wing - just a hard right-wing party and a moderate centrist party. You can probably figure out which party is which.

Er, no, it's a hard-right party and a moderate-right party. The only time I hear reasonably centrist politics from Americans is when I talk to actual people on the street (and it very much depends on which street I'm visiting and if they know I'm Canadian or not).
[/quote]
Generall all Republicans/Democrats are in the upper right quadrant of the political compass (moderately fiscally conservative and moderately authoritarian).

DAT COMPASS

NOW WITH PRIMARIES

I would personally prefer someone on the far right in the purple, which is nobody afaik.

[quote name='Kaze' timestamp='1354040118' post='5004593']
[quote name='JTippetts' timestamp='1353998777' post='5004423']
The blue dots are almost a picture-perfect portrait of the urban areas. The red dots, conversely, outline the rural. The producers. This election, more than any election I have witnessed in the context of this place, struck fear into the hearts of the producers of this country. We had record voter turnouts, and record new-voter registrations, levels unheard of in any past election.

Are you joking?

Urban areas generate GDP while rural areas receive 20 billion plus in farm subsidies. If you believe food is the only commodity that matters try building a tractor or weather satellite from sand and corn.
[/quote]

Property taxes for farmers are outrageous ... but if you want to start point "subsidy" fingers, who gets more subsidy money? Large urban areas.
Federal subsidized housing cost $28 Billion in 2011 ....
[/quote]

But your still ignoring that urban areas spend more because they make more since:
a: US has more exports than just agricultural
b: modern agricultural is dependant on products produced in urban areas.

My point is that a lot of the republican self righteousness seems to come from look at allocation per land area unit rather than per capita.

[quote name='Shippou' timestamp='1354040586' post='5004598']
[quote name='Kaze' timestamp='1354040118' post='5004593']
[quote name='JTippetts' timestamp='1353998777' post='5004423']
The blue dots are almost a picture-perfect portrait of the urban areas. The red dots, conversely, outline the rural. The producers. This election, more than any election I have witnessed in the context of this place, struck fear into the hearts of the producers of this country. We had record voter turnouts, and record new-voter registrations, levels unheard of in any past election.

Are you joking?

Urban areas generate GDP while rural areas receive 20 billion plus in farm subsidies. If you believe food is the only commodity that matters try building a tractor or weather satellite from sand and corn.
[/quote]

Property taxes for farmers are outrageous ... but if you want to start point "subsidy" fingers, who gets more subsidy money? Large urban areas.
Federal subsidized housing cost $28 Billion in 2011 ....
[/quote]

But your still ignoring that urban areas spend more because they make more since:
a: US has more exports than just agricultural
b: modern agricultural is dependant on products produced in urban areas.

My point is that a lot of the republican self righteousness seems to come from look at allocation per land area unit rather than per capita.
[/quote]
You can't eat money.
Cities do not provide food, and are reliant on agriculture to feed them.

You can't eat money.
Cities do not provide food, and are reliant on agriculture to feed them.

So are you some kind of anarcho communist?

Farmers don't live in a separate universe from the rest of society and if the free market says one pound of wheat is equal to one hour of software development then both are valid way to contribute to society.

If you believe food is the only commodity that matters try building a tractor or weather satellite from sand and corn.

/facepalm/ JTippets was talking about for survival. Try building a tractor or satellite without any food. Your workers would die.

[quote name='Kaze' timestamp='1354040118' post='5004593']
If you believe food is the only commodity that matters try building a tractor or weather satellite from sand and corn.

/facepalm/ JTippets was talking about for survival. Try building a tractor or satellite without any food. Your workers would die.
[/quote]

I thought we were talking about real world economics and not some hypothetical zombie apocalypse.

[quote name='Cornstalks' timestamp='1354042289' post='5004610']
[quote name='Kaze' timestamp='1354040118' post='5004593']
If you believe food is the only commodity that matters try building a tractor or weather satellite from sand and corn.

/facepalm/ JTippets was talking about for survival. Try building a tractor or satellite without any food. Your workers would die.
[/quote]

I thought we were talking about real world economics and not some hypothetical zombie apocalypse.
[/quote]
How you got "hypothetical zombie apocalypse" out of what I said, I don't know. Agriculture is absolutely a part of "real world economics," and if the economy collapses, which is what we're talking about in this thread, agriculture is going to become waaay more important than it is now. And if the economy doesn't collapse, it's still true that hurting the agricultural industry actually hurts the entire population/economy because everything depends on it, everything is built on it. If you can't see that, then I'm talking to a brick wall.

Agriculture is a important part of the economy but its not the only part.

Subsistence farming nations are very poor compared to more diverse economies as farmers with more access to equipment and materials can produce far more food per capita.