Have you ever taken in a work of fiction and a scenario hit's so close to home it makes you physically uncomfortable?
I don't know if I feel better because our dysfunction isn't unique.
Or worse because the stupidity of Detroit's situation might end up being inescapable no matter where you go.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepo...255883361.html
Bottom Line.... The ego seeks to divide and separate.
This is what happens when the status quo - funneling ever growing amounts of money from one group of people to another, begins hitting it's limit.
Everyone is fighting over diminishing revenue streams - unions, corporations, politicians and other special interests. At the bottom of the ladder are the citizens who end up paying for everything.
Just a couple of things I noticed looking at the maps:
There is a well defined 'Latino' area south of downtown Milwaukee. It votes Democratic but is not as dark blue as the black section.
There are well defined white neighborhoods along Lake Michigan vote Democratic. UW-Milwaukee is in the 'white' section to the east of the black section. Perhaps, it's white university students and university liberals living in the area that have different voting patterns than suburban whites. White areas to the west and east of the Latino section are light blue. I'm going to speculate that the white blue collar labor vote might be coming into play to explain why they aren't voting Republican like suburbanites.
What's happening in Milwaukee is being played out in cities all across North America. Toronto, Chicago, NY etc. are all dealing with the effects of what James Howard Kunstler once called the "jive-ass" economy that replaced productive economic activity, like manufacturing and agriculture, with debt-financing and real-estate development. The "jive-ass" economy benefits a powerful few at the expense of the many and turns towns and cities into toxic wastelands of foreclosed properties and contaminated land.
The changes in the base vote that is trending more Democratic in Oakland county sort of goes against the flow. Very interesting article in Milwaukee though -- thanks for posting!