If you look at an election results map of America, you will see an ocean of red with only a few blue dots, which might make you think the Republicans won overwhelmingly, but in fact Democrats received more votes (the daft electoral college is an issue for another time). This is because rural areas overwhelmingly vote for the right wing Republican Party while urban areas overwhelmingly vote for the left wing Democratic Party. This isn’t solely an American trend, a map of British election results shows an ocean of blue for the Conservative Party and only a few red dots for the Labour Party, even though there was only a narrow gap in terms of votes (42%-40%). Similarly, in France … Continue reading “Why are rural areas right wing and urban areas left wing?”
Tag: America
How Fascism Takes Over
Have you ever watched a historical documentary or perhaps a Second World War movie and wondered how the fascists ever took over? How did they convince people to follow them? How did they reshape a nation in their mould? How could anyone support that kind of hatred? Why weren’t they stopped, why did more people not stand up to them? Have you ever wondered what you would have done if you were in that situation? Surely you would have stood up to them, right? Surely they would have no appeal to people like you? A lot of people don’t see the relevance of Fascism today and view comparisons with modern day as exaggeration, if not hysteria. To them, Fascism is … Continue reading “How Fascism Takes Over”
How To Steal An Election – A Guide To Gerrymandering
Winning elections is hard work and some people would rather skip the inconvenient issue of getting a majority of votes and would instead rig the system in their favour. One way of doing this is known as gerrymandering and was widespread in Northern Ireland for decades (and one was one of the causes of the Troubles) and is common in America to this day (where it is surprisingly accepted as a political fact of life). Gerrymandering essentially is rigging the system so that you win the most seats (and therefore power) even if your opponent wins more votes. A good example is Derry (or Londonderry depending on your political views) during the Stormont era in Northern Ireland (1922-72). Derry is … Continue reading “How To Steal An Election – A Guide To Gerrymandering”