Blue, Urban Areas are Continuing to See Growth

Rep. Dave Brat makes a simple argument in his recent Op/Ed column, “What happens when red states go blue.” His point is that the economic policies of liberal-leaning states and communities are driving people out, while conservative-leaning states and communities are enacting policies that are bringing people in. It’s an attractive argument, particularly given its simplicity, but is it true?

Brat highlights New York and California as states that are hemorrhaging population. Yet, it isn’t as though New York City is losing people. To the contrary, New York City’s Department of City Planning expects its own population — 8.2. million in 2010 — to reach 8.8 million by 2030. Meanwhile, upstate New York — an area as red as southwest Virginia — is losing population. Why? Lack of opportunity.

Look at California. On its own, California is the fifth-largest economy in the world. The Golden State’s population is about to hit 40 million for the first time in its history. This hardly sounds like a place people are clambering into the life rafts to escape.

Virginia continues to grow, too. That growth is centered upon the commonwealth’s urban crescent — Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads.

This is part of a centuries-long trend of increasing urbanization in America. As our economy has industrialized and transitioned toward services, cities have grown.

Why? Because that’s where the economic action is. Evidence of a newly energized Richmond is all around us.

Yet, other — particularly rural — parts of the commonwealth are shrinking, not just in terms of population, but in opportunity. And growth poses new challenges, too.

It’d be better if Brat focused his energies on addressing the pressing problems of rural and urban Virginians, rather than wasting ink on self-serving, partisan arguments of dubious merit. But that isn’t his style.

Originally printed as a letter to the editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Click here to view.