(Civilized? You guys really want to use that as a political label? Yeesh.)
Austin does have those scenes--and the music scene is really good right now, maybe the best it's ever been, which is saying something--but the politics as such, politics in the conventional sense, is complete shite, Dennis. A toxic combination of gween boosterism, strict provincialism, and petty bourgeouis localism. The prized Austin political units are neighborhood groups and locally owned independent businesses. I guess that's civilized, but it's also a pretty terrible political atmosphere.