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In April, there were 9 Republican mayors in America’s 50 biggest cities. In May, that number fell to 8.
Democrats are celebrating Omaha’s mayoral election win as proof that Republicans are out of step with America, when it’s really evidence how the nation’s cities have fallen out of step with America. There was a time when America’s cities were symbols of progress, but they have long since become sinkholes of decline, clinging to a handful of industries that employ a tiny fraction of their population as evidence of their relevance.
When Americans think of big cities, they think of tall buildings and social problems.
The Democratic Party’s stranglehold on major cities isn’t evidence of hope, but of despair. It’s not a triumph for democracy, but a sign that democracy no longer operates in major cities where elections are determined by networks of taxpayer-funded community groups, unions and other organizations that act as voter turnout operations for the Democrats in exchange for power and money.
Take the Omaha election which Democrats and the media are still triumphantly celebrating as a mayor victory for their side. John Ewing, the Democrat candidate, beat incumbent Mayor Jean Stothert by 53,322 to 40,420 out of a population of around half a million. What was the rest of Omaha doing? Not voting. And that’s the majority ‘vote’.
Buttigieg built his ‘Mayor Pete’ brand on winning 80% of the vote in South Bend. But that 80% was 8,515 votes in a city of over 100,000. Democrats have taken control of election systems in major cities, but just because the media builds cults of personalities around them doesn’t mean that they’re winning the hearts and minds of the people.
Why are so few people turning out to vote? It’s not just Republicans boycotting a rigged process, but an apolitical majority that believe the system is crooked and sees no reason to take part in it. Republican mayors may be disappearing from major cities, but voters are disappearing even faster.
In 2023, only 35% of Chicago voters turned out for the final round of the mayoral election. In a city of 2.6 million, around 600,000 voted. And considering Chicago’s history of undead electioneering, who is to say how many of the 600,000 were alive. But when the living won’t vote, it falls to the dead to take their place.
The Democrats made universal voting their brand. The party fights to have everyone, illegal aliens, criminals and minors, vote. It drags out Election Day for a whole month. No excuse absentee ballots and drop boxes on every corner should have led to unprecedented levels of public participation, but instead the easier it is to vote, the less the public votes. That’s because the public sees no sign of change and no reason to bother. Elections and democracy are not the same thing. Under the Soviet Union, citizens were hectored into going out to vote even though there was nothing to vote for.
But how much is there to vote for in cities that would be likely to immolate themselves than allow a Republican to win? The question isn’t just about party or even democracy. When voting for change is impossible, then voting becomes a ritual with no substance, and taking part in it validates the claim of the authorities to represent the people.
What happens though when, as in Omaha or Chicago, they represent some 10% of the people (and that is assuming that they’re honest enough to cheat at everything except elections) then that’s not democracy, it’s the tyranny of a minority claiming unlimited power for the sake of all the people too stupid to vote for it.
The more power they monopolize, the more the silent majority shuns their elections.
The number of Republican mayors will likely continue to fall for the foreseeable future, but so will the ratio of voter participation and that actually is a ‘crisis of democracy’. In poll after poll, Americans are turning on the entire political system, but the Democrats don’t care as long as they can lay claim to the support of 1 in 10 members of the populace.
Benjamin Franklin famously said of the Constitutional Convention’s work that it would be a “Republic if you can keep it.” Franklin had wanted a republic, but Democrats don’t want a democracy. And certainly not a Republic. Nor do they want any kind of government that the citizenry can keep.
America’s cities are imploding because there are no checks and balances on the corruption of a political class. Will the last urban voter turn out the lights?
The media in Democrat cities constantly pours out a massive amount of Democrat propaganda.
Republicans get tired of funding election campaigns they know are going to lose. That’s a pattern I saw in the SF Bay Area. The Republicans just gave up trying after awhile.
Also Republican candidates are somewhat less prone to b.s. their constituents. Dem mayor candidates lie cheat and hugely exaggerate how things will be under their leadership. Nothing ever changes but every four years the mayors find a few shekels to throw to the peeps along with the usual promises of reparations, better conditions, jobs, and free stuff. This does speak to the gullibility of the residents of most inner cities!
I liken what you say to stealing a person’s wallet or purse and then selling it back to them and the naive fool is happy to get it back. And then you wait a while and do it again with the same results.
A black friend once told me that Democrats don’t have to do sh*t for black people other than make them an promise that’s never fulfilled and blacks will still vote for dems anyway. His theory is that America is a freed country except for black people whom the democrats still own via welfare, public housing, failing schools and covertly promoting gang violence, teen pregnancy, drugs and illiteracy and then nimbly blaming republicans for all the negative consequences.
And what do republicans say and do about this? …………………………………… Try not to hurt your brain or fall asleep thinking of an answer.
The vast majority of ‘Republicans’ are RINOs…financially compromised and are stuck in the middle between right and wrong. RINOs are the Demonocrat Lite party and are groupies-for-money. Some people have to be reminded CONSTANTLY about the RINOs; the cancer parasites !
In NJ the Dims lie about cuts to SS and Medicare.. They lie about cutting taxes. They lie about Trump
No sour grapes, please, we lost and there’s no excuse with Trump in the drivers seat
We lost because the Dims have become pros at stuffing the ballot boxes in all 8 deep blue states.
Big cities are cesspools of corruption.
Democrats can’t win elections without cheating.
This is only proof that democrats do anything to gain and hold onto power.
I bet none of the cities with D mayors have paper ballots.
New York city has paper ballots.
This is the Coleman Young model; He destroyed Detroit but continued to “win” elections because what remained of the electorate: The poor, addicted, desperate and uneducated – voted for the handouts that he promised.
This is Marxism.
More than a century ago, James Michael Curley was elected mayor of Boston four times despite cratering the economy. A rabid Irish Catholic, he did it by chasing his political opponents — the British Protestants — out of the city.
Young simply put the “Curley Effect” on steroids. Now Newsom, Hochul, Whitmer, Pritzker and other Demoncrat governors s are doing the same thing at the state level.
They hold local elections in SPRING and in off-cycle years and now selectively advertise them only to the most ignorant voters. That’s how Dems got one-party rule in cities: only 3% of a city’s population actually elected the “winners” like the clowns we see all over now.
For good or evil history is made by a minority of true believers. The majority are either not particularly interested in politics or are too busy trying to pay the bills.
And in a way that’s actually a good thing. When the majority of a nation are intensely interested and engaged in politics it’s because the country is in deep trouble as for example Iran or Venezuela.
When a country is running on healthy, politics are not front and center or a major concern.
And exactly how are the minority of true believers in your dead and/or dying movement changing history?
Still delusional I see.
This is happening right now in San Antonio, TX. 27 people ran for mayor in a non partisan election and voter turnout was only 6%. The sheer number of people running was kind of a joke which further suppressed voter turnout. But a Marxist LGBTQ Woman and a Republican Hispanic made the runoff to be held Saturday June 7. The unions are getting behind the Marxist big time. Maybe this time will be different but I suspect she will win. God help us.
The leftist liberals intentionally get mayoral and similar elections set for off years and at any month but November (since that is when most people are used to voting) because they know voter turnout will be super small. Then they use the DNC and their State’s Dem Party organization to turn out their staunchest supporters and high propensity voters.
Republican/Conservative State legislatures need to work to ban off year elections and have all elections aligned with either Federal mid-term or Presidential cycle elections.
For those curious about which cities have enough common sense to elect Republican mayors:
Dallas, TX; Fort Worth, TX; Oklahoma City; Fresno, CA; Mesa, AZ; Virginia Beach; Miami, FL; Bakersfield, CA. Interesting there are two in California.
Rural California.
Our major cities are turning into a bizarre version of Shaka Zulu. I never go to the one I live near. It’s simply a sh*t hole.
Also dangerous. I used to experience fear even driving by Oakland on the freeway.
Richmond, Virginia, the capital city! smells like weed constantly, is majority black, has shootings every day, Dept of Pub Utilities Director fired when our water system shut down for a week a few months ago(no water!), property and business taxes rife with fraud as new Democrat! mayor tries to conduct an audit after thousands of complaints all while rents in this paragon of corruption have doubled and tripled. Lol.
Oh, and our former mayor,Levar Stoney, who reigned over this hellscape for over a decade is now running for Lt Gov.
As the author says, the city’s minority true believers, usually white antifa types, do show up to vote with their Marxist DEI activists while the rest are too high or working 3 jobs just to afford the doubling and tripling rents.
The sensible people in the nation know that cities have become anachronisms. They are so out of place and date that those who have invested in them have tried to turn them into theme parks.
I do not understand the appeal. The theater is predictable, boring and bad as well as the music and the rest of the leftist cultural monopoly has become so childish even the children ignore it.
You can find the same dumb bibelots in any mall in America.
What is the point of the modern city?
This is an important and fascinating topic. Thank you, Mr. Greenfield.
Actually, it is not a little depressing. This is because, imv, we live in a nation in decline.
Once upon a time, cities were the harbingers of large groups of humans, not long out of the musty, dank caves. They portended the rise of early civilization via organized, valued thought, later great libraries, emphasis on thinking, logic, and a golden rule.
Today, what city would be viewed as offering anything but high crime, danger to one’s life if out, citizens wholly unaware of what affects them or how they, themselves, affect others?
I believe there are none and, worse, citizens of big cities continue to choose political representatives who continue the same old solutions after years of failure, apparently, believing ‘this time’ it will work. Not.
I live in Lincoln, Nebraska and Omaha is a pretty solid city. I am, however, anticipating its decline. Apparently the new mayor has hinted that he’s open to making Omaha a “sanctuary” city. Bad omen.
Every state needs an ‘electoral college’ to keep the cities from ruining entire states.
Cities are much like trees: From young and strong, they mature into value, they rot from the inside out until they fall down.