Why do liberals hate suburbs?

[SlackerInc]

As with many topics, we should probably define our terms and stipulate that we really mean not “liberals” generally, but “well educated white liberals” or–to leave race out of it–what Paul Fussell calls “category X”.

@Martin_Hyde

I think the stereotype is liberals hate the traditional stereotypical suburb. This is basically new (post-1970 or so) development, probably in planned communities with a limited selection of architectural styles and with a HOA governing the neighborhood. Shopping and other service businesses are not walkable, and in fact the suburb itself while it may have sidewalks will have no convenient walking connections to the shopping areas–which are often large strip mall/shopping center deals.

Right, again with the need to define terminology. This is what “suburbia” means to me. Your version might technically be a suburb, but it is not “suburbia”, KWIM?

MadMonk’s snerk about the Olive Garden is on point. Let’s face it: part of the enjoyment of being a liberal is to sneer at people who dine in such places, shop at strip malls, etc.

@bump

Or for that matter, one of the most ghetto, poor and violent parts of Houston (Alief/SW) was actually a middle/upper middle class suburb 25-30 years ago. Is it still a suburb, or is it something else?

It is likely “the city”, regardless of what it once was. Many metros have inner ring “suburbs” that are just extensions of the city with a grid layout, and no discernible difference from the city itself. That is not suburbia in any meaningful sense.

@astorian

Our “lily-white” suburban neighborhood offers my son a hell of a lot more diversity than my old blue-collar urban neighborhood ever offered me.

But you don’t live in the suburbs. Not even technically. You live within the city limits!

@WillFarnaby

Liberals are in a bit of a quandary when it comes to their love of cities. They love culture. Which to them is museums and libraries and ethnic murals. But they have a romanticized view of true city life. The draconian policing, the food deserts, the pollution, the terrible public schools, are things I would think liberals would not enjoy. What it boils down to is liberals like certain parts of the city. Often these are upper middle class liberals who have moved into a newly renovated home in a trendy part of the city so that they can walk to happy hour. They live in homes previously inhabited by working class folks who lived in the city because they had few choices, and they imagine they are somehow connected to those individuals. They see a picture of children playing in an open fire hydrant and feign comradery, but they don’t send their children to school with those children.

They claim that the city is ethnically diverse, but the neighborhoods are just as homogenous as those in the suburbs, if not even more so. They claim the city has more amenities, but healthy food is relegated to the trendy districts I mentioned. They must be talking about libraries and museums again. I drive through the city and see chicken boxes and liquor stores.

I am a liberal, erstwhile (and still wannabe) urbanite, and I will admit this leaves a mark. However, the issue at hand is liberals’ reasons for disliking suburbia, which I think are valid. I want to live in an ideopolis, which means not in suburbia (and also not on a farm or in a ghetto).

@Chimera

Obama is NOT a Liberal. If you took a wider, more honest look at how he’s been governing this nation, you would see that he is actually center-right.

Pffft. I am Marxian (see the “profit” thread), and I think Obama is clearly center-left in his policies and outright liberal in his disposition.

@Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus

But we didn’t get Mojave. What we got is most of the jobs still in L.A., and people commuting from ever more distant points. I once worked in El Segundo and my officemate came in every day from Corona.

I was stunned to read recently that the average American commute is 25 miles. The average! I would have thought this would be a 90th percentile commute at that distance, and I had already thought we had a sprawl problem.