A highly informative and thought-provoking piece:
“The outsized
influence of rural voters may seem like a unique feature—or bug—of the American
political system. But a similar story recurs in places around the world. In
over 20 countries, from Argentina, to Malaysia, to Japan, the structure of the
electoral systems gives rural voters disproportionate power, relative to their
numbers, over their more numerous urban-dwelling counterparts. And on certain
issues, this can shift national priorities in favor of rural ones. In the
United States in 2016, for example, the Republican platform called for
eliminating federal funding for public transit, arguing that it “serves only a
small portion of the population, concentrated in six big cities,” implying that
Trump’s expected infrastructure bill could focus on highways rather than on
urban transit networks. Global warming, of special concern to urban coastal
voters, has been described essentially as intriguing speculation by the
president-elect.”