When is a city a hive?

Short answer - they all are.

Credit must be given to VOX for bringing this to mind. He has a discussion going over there on city dwellers that quickly degenerated into the specifics of the term 'hive' as applied to cities with proponents on both sides concerning citylivin'. They were also pickin' on my little brother, but I'll let that go. For now.

I was ruminating several years back after seeing one of the kennedy brats espousing algore's brilliant campaign strategy of only spending money in big cities when it hit me: These folks have figured out that people in large numbers are easy to control when living in high population densities. (Of course, this is something those of us in rural America already knew, and why in fact we are IN rural America.) All of the mob psychology principles apply all of the time! How convenient for aspiring nanny state politicians. What the kennedy brat didn't know was that once we knew he knew that he and his ilk were f*****, politically speaking of course. The rest is history, the main point being brat kennedy did not read in enough detail the 'trends' section of the 2000 census which showed urban flight increasing.

Now, not all technically defined 'cities' are hives. What determines the designation of the term?

Here's what I think: Below a certain number population is not as critical as culture. There are plenty of cities below 100,000 of the non-universitytown type that encompass polar
political viewpoints. That said, 100K seems critical mass with university towns down to 25k to 30k in yankee hell filling with drones. The truly BIG towns are forever lost to independent thought. Protest all you will hive dwellers, even tinfoil hats will not protect you unless, of course, you ALL wear them. Show me a big city libertarian and I'll show you a fella that thinks neighborhood covenants and association meetings are worthwhile, restrictive zoning ordnances are a good thing, and taxes wouldn't be so high if the city council would only manage its money better.

My advice to couples starting out: Don't by that big house in town with a quarter acre lot. Spend the same amount on 100+ acres and a trailer instead.

That's enough for now lest I begin ramblin'.