Great article. I think too many people outside of the 70% look down on the people in the middle because they imagine themselves to be superior due to some imaginary cultural superiority. In politics it’s the need to feel righteous indignation about some cause that has real justification . In the literary world the 70% are the minor characters that the author has decided to include in the story but who are people of average ability and who would not be as interesting to the reader.
When Bloomberg won the mayoral race (narrowly) in 2001 NYC was whiter, more Republican, and had more families. He needed to run up huge numbers in Archie bunker Staten Island to win.
The simple truth is that the nyc of 2001 doesn’t exist anymore. It’s undergone too much demographic change. The median voter isn’t a Bloomberg Republican.
What you got in most blue cities these days is public sector unions, ethnic vote blocks, and single progressive women. This makes every election a Democratic Party primary cage match between what are ultimately urban vote machines.
On a secant, this post and framing reminds me of this excellent essay https://harpers.org/archive/2024/11/the-seventy-percent-yiyun-li/
Great article. I think too many people outside of the 70% look down on the people in the middle because they imagine themselves to be superior due to some imaginary cultural superiority. In politics it’s the need to feel righteous indignation about some cause that has real justification . In the literary world the 70% are the minor characters that the author has decided to include in the story but who are people of average ability and who would not be as interesting to the reader.
When Bloomberg won the mayoral race (narrowly) in 2001 NYC was whiter, more Republican, and had more families. He needed to run up huge numbers in Archie bunker Staten Island to win.
The simple truth is that the nyc of 2001 doesn’t exist anymore. It’s undergone too much demographic change. The median voter isn’t a Bloomberg Republican.
What you got in most blue cities these days is public sector unions, ethnic vote blocks, and single progressive women. This makes every election a Democratic Party primary cage match between what are ultimately urban vote machines.