That's understandable, but I'd counter that many rural/smaller city/town dwellers in this thread have been demonstrating a similar smugness towards us city dwellers. For example, that we don't deserve to vote because, for many reasons, we've chosen to live where property is too expensive for many. I mean, my ex-girlfriend's family used to make fun me because I didn't know how to get the Y bone out of a pike fillet and had never fired a gun. They stopped when I turned out to be pretty good at skeet shooting haha That was all in good fun, but they definitely had lower opinions of us city folk. Anyways, I've never been to any of those American cities, so maybe the smugness is worse, or maybe Torontonians are just as bad and I don't notice because I'm not on the receiving end of it. However, I have been on the receiving end of the reverse, so this is all just to say that knife cuts both ways some times.
Where I think it gets toxic is when those on either side of the rural/urban divide almost seem to find glee in the misfortunes of the other. I know some people who have had very little compassion for the plight of rural communities that are struggling because major local employers have shut down or moved overseas leaving poverty and drug epidemics in their wake. Just like some in this thread are sitting back and cackling while cities burn like they're the fucking Joker or something. Urban or rural, I don't think rooting for human suffering is particularly cool.
I agree that the poor are poor for many reasons, and your opinion should depend on the reason. Many just seem to lump them all together though. Hard to do the ole pull yourself up by your boot straps when you were born into a poor family and suffer from mental illness, or are a kid and have literally no control over your own circumstances. I feel cases like that tend to get forgotten when referring to "parasites," although I don't deny those exist too, and not just in cities thank you very much!
Another example I'm familiar with are people that would very much be considered poor, but it's because they're trying to break into industries that just don't pay shit unless you make it big. I'm close with many musicians, actors, and artists who work part time gigs on the side while they pursue their passion, which just doesn't pay very well. Like me, they don't use any publicly funded services besides public transit and health care, but we all get that up here. They're certainly not on food stamps and welfare though. They just have to work really hard without much payoff. Would they meet the standard of "net contributor?" I honestly don't know. However, I've also known people in those same fields that don't have to work on the side because they come from wealthy families and spend all their free time at the beach and partying.
That's why I was pushing back against some of the historical precedents for voting requirement Yngvi presented, because of those two groups of aspiring artists, I know which group I'd rather have voting.