For all the charm small town America offers -- with its beautiful scenery, clean air, friendly villages, and slow-paced lifestyle -- give me a city over the country any day.
People live longer in cities. Unintended death is just as high in rural areas as in urban areas, but in rural areas, you're more likely to die because of Republican values that result in lack of access to services. Thus, a car accident, a fall, a machine accident, etc. are more likely to kill you than in a city. In cities you’re more likely to get killed by a bullet, so if you prefer to die in a car fire than by a bullet, the rural areas are the place for you, but for most sane people neither one sounds appealing.
Even the CDC reports that the rates for the five leading causes of death — heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke — are higher among rural than urban Americans. Again, that’s because Republican values haven’t helped rural areas develop the kinds of services that Democratic areas have. On average, if you live in a city, you’ll live more than 2 years longer than if you live in the country (and the disparity is getting worse over time).
Democratic cities are vibrant places that for are so safe that almost no one carries a gun. Everything is at our finger tips. We walk to dozens of restaurants where there are Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, gays, as well as everyone else, and there’s never a problem. We go to great museums. When we’re sick, we go to the best doctors and hospitals. When we’re bored, we go out for drink, to a concert, to a movie, to a play, to a sporting event, or shopping. When we want to better ourselves, we can go to great colleges and universities, gyms, yoga classes, nutritionists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, churches of every faith, political cause, and so on. Even when we yearn for nature we go to some of the most beautiful, well kept parks and gardens, some big enough that they take more than a day to explore. Even now, during the pandemic, there’s a lot to do in the city.
When the right talks about the rioting and looting in the Democratic cities, they don’t know what they are talking about. Almost everyone is chill and civilized in the cities, and the typical protest is lots of friends and families hanging out and peaceful attendees listening to speeches or chanting slogans. Frankly, if the right wing would stay out of our gatherings like we stay out of their’s, there would be far fewer problems.
But, even with the problems, in cities you’re likely to have more opportunities and experiences, as well as live longer.
