Why America's Great Cities Need a Column B

Description:

Much has been said and written about the rural-urban divide in America, but less has been said about city governments and their lack of ideological diversity. Fiorello LaGuardia once observed that “there is no Republican or Democratic way of cleaning the streets,” but in recent years local elections have been less about cleaning the streets than about national culture-war controversies. The result is that most of our major urban centers have become political monocultures where a small number of voters—in many cases, a small number of primary voters—are driving rigidly ideological agendas that fail to reflect the pragmatism of many, if not most, city-dwellers. Is it possible to make local elections about local issues, and to restore meaningful political competition to our great cities?