Old Louisville
Politics
Old Louisville
Politics
With all the talk of "Blue States" and "Red States" in politics recently, Old Louisville is clearly a deep blue patch in a sea of red. We like to think of it as an oasis in the desert. By our political thinking here for the most part, it seems as if we would be just as happy if we were a borough of New York City.
The city of Louisville as a whole is pretty middle-of-the-road politically, leaning just slightly left of center at times, just slightly right of center at others. In contrast, the Old Louisville district and a few other neighborhoods mostly near the city center, are very decidedly liberal. "Liberal" is not a bad word around here. It means we're by and large a peaceful, tolerant, open-minded and generally well-educated bunch of folks that co-exist well with each other despite our varied population which includes nearly every race, socio-economic position, and educational level, with a number of nationalities thrown in for extra spice. We're not threatened by our neighbors; we revel in the diversity for which Old Louisville is well known, and that diversity makes us stronger.
Maybe we should leave it to the professional sociologists to figure out the Old Louisville phenomenon. We notice this: We're men and women, boys and girls. We're very young, very old and every age in between. We're white and black, and every shade of brown. We're rich, very rich, poor, very poor, and everywhere in the middle. We're Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, spiritualists, atheists and more. We're tradesmen, merchants, doctors, CEOs, junior and senior executives, entrepreneurs, barbers and hairdressers, artists, musicians, architects, poets, writers, bums, bankers, accountants and financiers, students, professors, factory workers, nurses, cashiers, cooks, bartenders, innkeepers, designers, realtors, lawyers, judges, police, bakers, preachers and rabbis, cleaners, computer experts, counselors, nurses, ambulance drivers, insurance agents, grocers, designers, dentists, photographers, painters, teachers, travel agents, actors, welders, and the list goes on and on. We're straight, gay and unsure. We're Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Greens and more. We're loud, we're soft, meek and gregarious, opinionated and humble, boisterous and shy. We've been here, there, to the ends of the earth, and practically nowhere. We're highly experienced, barely novice, and everyplace in the middle. We're hard rock, soft rock, folk, rap, hip-hop, blues, jazz, classical, eclectic and country. We're conventional and outlandish, conformers and alternatives. We're walkers (oh, are we walkers), runners, swimmers, bicyclists, skateboarders, ball players, and we sit on our butts. Our households include big dogs, little dogs, cats, birds, fish, ferrets, hamsters, or maybe just a house plant. We feed the backyard birds, squirrels and raccoons, or we shoo them away. We're gardeners, do-it-yourselfers, antique freaks and collectors of every kind, readers, partiers, stick-in-the-muds, gourmets and gourmands, wine lovers, beer lovers, whiskey lovers, and haters of all those things. This could go on pages and pages, but you get the idea.
No, Old Louisville is no Utopia, but a large number of us can't imagine anywhere we'd rather live, at least, that we could afford. Yes, we have our differences, but we tolerate... and more than that, typically even like each other. The point is, we have met each other, and we are not afraid.
Until we get a better explanation, that's the best we can do to explain the Old Louisville phenomenon and its politics.
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