Ohio, pulled in two directions (Franklin, Republic: bill, rich, medical)

[BRNorth]

Originally Posted by Jbraybarten653

Oof.

Circles.

[anthony_c55]

Originally Posted by schmave

All of this. So many people are acting like Ohio is some kind of hellscape just because it has become a decidedly red state with a handful of blue islands.
It's old and tired.
We are flourishing as much as I can remember. Intel is coming. The new Honda plant is coming. My home area of Columbus is growing by leaps and bounds, far more than I could have imagined 30 years ago when I was a teenager and we constantly were regarded as being a step or two behind Cincinnati and Cleveland. There is some place for literally everyone in this state, red or blue, straight or gay, white or black, etc.
Anyone can make themselves a victim if they try hard enough.
Having lived in and visited many other parts of the country, there is nowhere I'd rather live than Ohio. It's my home. I love it here, and there is some place and something for everyone.

The problem is not inherently being a "red" state, it's that the state legislature is a lot more red than the state is. This is true of other states as well.

[mshultz]

Originally Posted by anthony_c55

The problem is not inherently being a "red" state, it's that the state legislature is a lot more red than the state is. This is true of other states as well.

This is a popular belief, especially in this Ohio forum. However, Republicans in the 2022 Ohio general election won all of the statewide offices, along with issues 1 & 2, which were supported by Republicans. This cannot be blamed on gerrymandering. Ohio has become a red state.

[Jbraybarten653]

Originally Posted by mshultz

This is a popular belief, especially in this Ohio forum. However, Republicans in the 2022 Ohio general election won all of the statewide offices, along with issues 1 & 2, which were supported by Republicans. This cannot be blamed on gerrymandering. Ohio has become a red state.

It's red, but not as red as the representation. First the state GOP has done significant gerrymandering and stonewalled the court and second, its legislation is out of step with most people or either party.

In 2022, Ohio voters elected their representatives to the state legislature and congress under an “unconstitutional map”, O’Connor said.
The state constitution requires that the state legislature and congressional delegation reflect the partisan makeup of Ohio over the last decade, which is about 54% Republican and 46% Democratic. But when Republicans dragged their feet in coming up with a compliant plan, courts let them use unconstitutional ones in their place for 2022. As a result, they maintained a supermajority in the state legislature and won 10 of the state’s 15 congressional seats.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ring-elections

[statecv]

Originally Posted by timberline742

I understand what you're saying, and in general I agree. It is right wingers that are making this an issue, in reality. Using it as a divider. It should be a non issue, but isn't due to conservative for profit media outlets and the right using it as a divisive tool.

But yes, since Clinton the mainstream Democratic party has gone much further to the right. They need to get back to left of center and promote things that really impact working class middle america, such as promoting organized labor.

I would largely agree about the right. I would add that Democrats do bring up and support economic policies, but the noise of the right's wedge issues, drown it out.

[statecv]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Columbus really just concentrates white collar jobs that otherwise could have been distributed throughout the state.

It's more complicated than that. However, growing areas basically compound growth. Additionally companies look to areas with talent pools for their industry etc. There's a lot.

It's hard for legacy cities to grow beyond their existing employer base a lot of the time.

[statecv]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

There are numerous "legacy states"... most of the Midwest and the Plains would qualify. Ohio, for all of its manifest faults, doesn't deserve to be singled out as "the worst", or even say in the bottom quartile.

Ohio's main problem is that it didn't innovate past 1950 or so. It was content to coast, from the progress and innovation of the late 19th century and the early 20th. But that is true for vast swaths of America. Other parts of the country never amounted to much. Ohio did. Its tragedy lies precisely in the fact that it's regressed so much.



Ohio lacks a city with the magnitude of a Philadelphia or a Chicago. Philadelphia is PA's toehold into the I-95 corridor, the wealth and power of the Eastern Seaboard. With the decline of the Ohio-Mississippi rivers, Ohio's Philadelphia-like city - namely, Cincinnati - couldn't compete.

In an alternative history, Cincinnati would have burgeoned post-WW2, instead of Atlanta or even Chicago. It would have become the regional commercial capital and tech-hub. Didn't happen! Instead we have Chicago as the capital of the Midwest, Atlanta as the capital of the mid-South, DFW as the capital of the west-South, and Miami as the capital of the far-South. Ohio can't compete.

Cincinnati has done better than some older Midwestern or "rust belt" cities, but Chicago had long been the Midwestern capital by the 20th century.

What's interesting is that Cincinnati was one of the biggest US cities in the 19th century prior to the industrial revolution.

Not that it matters now.

That said these cities do have assets.

[dcisive]

Originally Posted by statecv

Cincinnati has done better than some older Midwestern or "rust belt" cities, but Chicago had long been the Midwestern capital by the 20th century.

What's interesting is that Cincinnati was one of the biggest US cities in the 19th century prior to the industrial revolution.

Not that it matters now.

That said these cities do have assets.

Umm I hate to tell ya but over this last decade in particular, Chicago has become a cesspool. Horrid mismanagement and a mayor that should be strung up. Their South and West sides are not fit for human inhabitation. Gangs and murders galore. Their taxes are unreal absurd and their schools suck. So believe me, Cincinnati is legions beyond them these days.

[statecv]

Originally Posted by dcisive

Umm I hate to tell ya but over this last decade in particular, Chicago has become a cesspool. Horrid mismanagement and a mayor that should be strung up. Their South and West sides are not fit for human inhabitation. Gangs and murders galore. Their taxes are unreal absurd and their schools suck.

Um, ok.

[Jbraybarten653]

Originally Posted by dcisive

Umm I hate to tell ya but over this last decade in particular, Chicago has become a cesspool. Horrid mismanagement and a mayor that should be strung up. Their South and West sides are not fit for human inhabitation. Gangs and murders galore. Their taxes are unreal absurd and their schools suck. So believe me, Cincinnati is legions beyond them these days.

My first thought was, wow that's a lot of hyperbole, then I realized that you are on brand...

Originally Posted by dcisive

Ahh ain't it fun. Some just can't stand the idea of not killing babies I guess. Its not like there is no such thing as birth control (free for many if desired).

Circles indeed. Oof.