I think it’s easy to blame partisan politics for woes of rural Upstate New York, or any rural part of a blue state. It must be fault of the Democrats, the conservative Republicans like to say. But I think it’s more complicated then that — it’s that urban governance isn’t always the best for rural areas. The same can be said with many of the red states down south, where cities find themselves controlled by rural-dominated legislatures who set down policies that are simply bad for cities.

Living in an rural part of a blue state, means a life full of work-arounds for inflexible policies that are created and well meaning for urban areas. The same is true with red states. The problem is the way states are drawn — they’re historical accidents rather then communities of interest. And while activities in one part of a state effect others, often power is used to punish for ideological reasons.