"I was born in a small town." --John Mellencamp
I love small towns. As probably all of you know, I grew up in one. We've heard a lot about the virtues of small towns the last 10 days, so I thought I should comment, even though this has nothing to do with my 6 months in France.
My town had a population of about 4,000 when I was growing up. A little smaller than Wasilla, but in the same ball park. Of course, we didn't hire a federal lobbyist to bring back $27 million in federal earmarks to our town, but maybe that was our fault. I also don't recall any sales tax increases or massive public debts, but that's another matter. Our mayors weren't paid $64,000 a year either and no one talked about banning books at the public library. The closest thing to secessionist sentiment we had was some people who complained about school district boundaries. So maybe it wasn't that much like Wasilla, but I did play hockey.
Anyway, the mayor when I was a child owned an auto repair shop. Since my dad didn't believe in buying new cars ("a waste of money"), we had a lot of used cars and various trucks for my dad's businesses that needed constant attention. We were probably the mayor's best customer. He was a nice man and a very good mechanic. I never attended City Council meetings, so my memories of him veer more towards the vocational than the political, but I think he would be the first to tell you his mayoralty should not be considered training for the vice presidency, let alone the presidency.
The next mayor was the grandfather of one of my best friends. Very nice man. His wife would take the plums from our plum trees and make the best plum jam you ever tasted. I think he would agree that 20 months after his mayoralty ended, no matter how he spent those 20 months, he would not have been sufficiently prepared for the vice presidency, let alone the presidency.
Make no mistake, there is elitism in America. There are New Yorkers who believe there is nothing west of the Hudson River. There are those who consider "flyover country" to be a cultural wasteland. We hear a lot about that elitism. There is also a reverse elitism. There are those in "Middle America" who find the coasts to be completely alien and even dangerous and believe only their America is the "Real America".
Thus, when I hear paeans to small towns and "small town values," such as we heard last week, I scratch my head. I loved growing up in a small town. I'm glad I did. The people there are at least as intelligent as those in the city. But people are just as decent in the big city as they are in the small towns. And if by "small town values" the speakers mean to say values are different outside of small towns, I wish they would be specific, because I really don't know what they are talking about. I spent 17 years in a small town and 14 years in cities, and Americans in both places care about education, ethics, and what I summarize as "people before things". Country first? That's a patriotic sentiment, but it's probably tied with family first. Yes, there are some people motivated by greed or obsessed with gossip, but my experience is that those traits are universal.
Unless there is some earth-shattering development, I think this will be the last thing I have to say about Gov. Palin for a while (though I have to say that Google searches for her do drive traffic to this blog). The news cycle moves so fast these days, I'm already tired of her. She will have to demonstrate that she is ready to be president in January. This requires more than reading someone else's speech off a teleprompter, knowing how to sell a misleading zinger, or repeatedly lying about your opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere. Maybe her study sessions with McCain aides will get her through a TV interview -- we'll see. What I don't want to hear is that being from a small town (even one close to Russia) or small town values are a valid prerequisite to the highest office in the land. That is just plain elitist.
I love small towns. As probably all of you know, I grew up in one. We've heard a lot about the virtues of small towns the last 10 days, so I thought I should comment, even though this has nothing to do with my 6 months in France.
My town had a population of about 4,000 when I was growing up. A little smaller than Wasilla, but in the same ball park. Of course, we didn't hire a federal lobbyist to bring back $27 million in federal earmarks to our town, but maybe that was our fault. I also don't recall any sales tax increases or massive public debts, but that's another matter. Our mayors weren't paid $64,000 a year either and no one talked about banning books at the public library. The closest thing to secessionist sentiment we had was some people who complained about school district boundaries. So maybe it wasn't that much like Wasilla, but I did play hockey.
Anyway, the mayor when I was a child owned an auto repair shop. Since my dad didn't believe in buying new cars ("a waste of money"), we had a lot of used cars and various trucks for my dad's businesses that needed constant attention. We were probably the mayor's best customer. He was a nice man and a very good mechanic. I never attended City Council meetings, so my memories of him veer more towards the vocational than the political, but I think he would be the first to tell you his mayoralty should not be considered training for the vice presidency, let alone the presidency.
The next mayor was the grandfather of one of my best friends. Very nice man. His wife would take the plums from our plum trees and make the best plum jam you ever tasted. I think he would agree that 20 months after his mayoralty ended, no matter how he spent those 20 months, he would not have been sufficiently prepared for the vice presidency, let alone the presidency.
Make no mistake, there is elitism in America. There are New Yorkers who believe there is nothing west of the Hudson River. There are those who consider "flyover country" to be a cultural wasteland. We hear a lot about that elitism. There is also a reverse elitism. There are those in "Middle America" who find the coasts to be completely alien and even dangerous and believe only their America is the "Real America".
Thus, when I hear paeans to small towns and "small town values," such as we heard last week, I scratch my head. I loved growing up in a small town. I'm glad I did. The people there are at least as intelligent as those in the city. But people are just as decent in the big city as they are in the small towns. And if by "small town values" the speakers mean to say values are different outside of small towns, I wish they would be specific, because I really don't know what they are talking about. I spent 17 years in a small town and 14 years in cities, and Americans in both places care about education, ethics, and what I summarize as "people before things". Country first? That's a patriotic sentiment, but it's probably tied with family first. Yes, there are some people motivated by greed or obsessed with gossip, but my experience is that those traits are universal.
Unless there is some earth-shattering development, I think this will be the last thing I have to say about Gov. Palin for a while (though I have to say that Google searches for her do drive traffic to this blog). The news cycle moves so fast these days, I'm already tired of her. She will have to demonstrate that she is ready to be president in January. This requires more than reading someone else's speech off a teleprompter, knowing how to sell a misleading zinger, or repeatedly lying about your opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere. Maybe her study sessions with McCain aides will get her through a TV interview -- we'll see. What I don't want to hear is that being from a small town (even one close to Russia) or small town values are a valid prerequisite to the highest office in the land. That is just plain elitist.
1 comment:
Very well put.
Just catching up on your blog. I am glad you are writing, and enjoy the material.
-Scott Yates
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