I grew up in a small town. If you traveled in one direction, it was predominantly rural and the other direction was predominantly suburban and urban center. The rural versus urban divide has always fascinated me. There is a racial component, an economic component, an ego/pride component and the influence of social interaction.

Political operatives have successfully imposed definitions upon us and created a division where there should be none. Is everyone here less moral, sexually promiscuous, baby killing pinkos? Are all conservatives unethical, authoritarian, violent, gun hugging cretins?

As long as we are focused on each other, the Oligarchs and 1% are not held accountable. I think it is time for a reframing. Occupy and a populist economic message are important vehicles to bridging an artificial divide.

Culture and the Urban/Rural Divide

TAP alum Ezra Klein is having an interesting discussion over at his place about rural America. He made some not-at-all-inflammatory comments in a post about the value of cities, in which he noted in passing that we subsidize rural living in a lot of ways, and Tom Vilsack, America's secretary of agriculture, got peeved. "I took it as a slam on rural America," he said, and he then allowed Ezra to interview him about it. In the interview, Ezra pressed him on his repeated claim that those subsidies -- not only for agriculture itself, but also for things like broadband, roads, etc. -- are justified because of rural people's "values," and particularly the fact that they send a lot of their own to the military. The discussion has continued, and you should read the whole thing.

What do values have to do with rural subsidies?

As a longtime resident of a big cities, I think I get what Vilsack is saying. Wall Street doesn’t produce anything of value, per se, yet they too get subsidies in the form of tax cuts and government bailouts. Similarly, the artists that city livers adore so much also often rely on government grants. Farmers produce much of the huge amounts of food city dwellers buy at grocery stores and restaurants — which is much more essential than a derivative — and yet there isn’t necessarily any thought or appreciation to where it comes from.

Red State, Blue City: How the Urban-Rural Divide Is Splitting America

Starting before the Civil War era, America's political dividing lines were drawn along state and regional borders. Cities and the then-extensive rural areas shared a worldview North and South of the Mason-Dixon line. While there was always tension within states, they were bound by a common politics. The city of Charleston, for example, was as rabidly anti-North as some inland plantation areas. Economic engines, ways of life, and moral philosophies changed at the 36th parallel, where the North began.

Today, that divide has vanished. The new political divide is a stark division between cities and what remains of the countryside. Not just some cities and some rural areas, either -- virtually every major city (100,000-plus population) in the United States of America has a different outlook from the less populous areas that are closest to it. The difference is no longer about where people live, it's about how people live: in spread-out, open, low-density privacy -- or amid rough-and-tumble, in-your-face population density and diverse communities that enforce a lower-common denominator of tolerance among inhabitants.

America's Rural/Urban Divide: A Special Series

How governments respond to the widening rift between rural and urban America can either help bridge the gap or drive the country down an even more divergent path.

Analysis reveals urban-rural divide in poverty in Southern schools

The South has some of the highest rates of low-income students in public schools. Since the 2004-2005 school year, the majority of the region's public school students have been low-income (defined as eligible for free or reduced price lunch), according to data from the Southern Education Foundation. In 2013, that became the case for public schools nationwide.

In a report released this week, the Urban Institute drilled deeper into the data to look at trends beyond the state level. The county-level data revealed that poverty in schools, like poverty in general, is concentrated unevenly across counties and across race.

Just another example of the divide created by the two party system. Is it time for labor and greens to form their own parties? What do we have to lose? We get a corporate stooge no matter whether the government s controlled by Democrats or Republicans. A third party could keep either the Democrats or Republicans from an outright majority resulting in better debate and a government that governs for all the people.

It's all good.

Who or what is the boogie man?