I don't necessarily agree with the thread's premise because I think greatness is subjective and possibly viewed through a liberal prism, but if we're talking about the city itself your above logic is irrelevant. Somewhat disingenuous, as well, suburbs were built and incorporated specifically to re-segregate schools and neighborhoods once city centers gave blacks equal access to facilities, education and housing, period.
There's a freaky fundamentalist tone to a portion of the city. That combined with a disturbing number of idiots with guns. Toss in a few rogue vets with PTSD and handful of meth addicts and it can get dicey at times. But that's somewhat balanced out by the hippies, wiccans, freethinkers and regular people with no particular agenda other than to enjoy the outdoors.
I get that but put it this way. Harris County NEVER votes democratic as a whole in presidential elections. It didnt even vote for Clinton during either of his wins. And yet Obama won in 2008. Harris County is getting more liberal with the city center being very liberal. Even if you can point to the whole metro area is being slightly conservative as a whole, it is becoming more liberal. Also look at the counties that went for Obama in 2008. (out of the very few that went for him) Some familiar names include the following. Travis County (Austin) Bexar County (San Antonio) Dallas County (Dallas) Harris County (Houston) El Paso County (El Paso) Also Obama lost Fort Bend by 1 percent. The only real "Republican" stronghold county tied to a metro area was Tarrant (Fort Worth).
After living in Houston for 20 years and using it as my benchmark to compare other cities to, I actually really like my current spot in Phoenix. Mega-urban spots like Chicago, LA, New York and Boston have their charm but I enjoy being from out-of-town when I'm in those kinds of cities. I think Phoenix is a decently managed city. I came in with very low expectations, but I'm slowly enjoying it more and more. It's far from a utopia, what with weather and crime doing their part, but I don't have any major complaints so far. The area tends to be notoriously Republican.
I might add that McCain was a disgusting pick to oppose Obama as a "conservative" nominee. Then there was Sarah Palin... And of course George Bush's legacy. This may have had an effect on people's choice who would normally vote Republican (it worked on me.) Then again I'm significantly more libertarian than conservative.
To the conservatives looking at this thread -- would you raise your family in one of these cities or would you look for a city that better matched your personal values?
Like to see the crime rates for those cities. I know Chicago and DC are waaaaaay up on the list. We all know LA and Miami is up there too.
more people, more crime, more of everything... if you live in the city you have to accept everything that goes on around you despite what your values are... because otherwise you will go crazy trying to be self-righteous about everything. then eventually once you begin accepting everything you realize its really not a big deal so it erodes your conservative values and you become more a more liberal/liveandletlive type of person. I think Houston is in the transition state from conservative to liberal... even the conservatives are beginning to question their ideals
