Small Town Values: Who Cares?

Can anyone really tell me what, exactly, "small town values" are, and why they are so important? Often, in an election year, or any other time the "issues" are discussed, the idea of "small town values" or "small town America" are heralded as some sort of great principle or set of principles upon which all decisions should be founded. Well, frankly, who cares what small town America thinks? Now, I'm acutely aware that no politician with any national aspiration - in the current climate - could dare utter such a sentiment and hope for anything less than a very public (and hopefully symbolic-only) evisceration, but I don't have any national political aspirations, and therefore am free to be honest about the reality as I see it. Small town America knows nothing that big city America doesn't.

Many of our presidents, and indeed, many of our greatest, have come from small towns. Small towns are some of the humblest, down-to-Earth and hospitable places in the country. Likewise, small towns can also be some of the harshest places for those who are different from the people in those small towns. Cities are often known for being some of the harshest places, but likewise, they can be very rewarding and hospitable as well. The difference is, cities often breed the more worldly, sophisticated of us who can not just tolerate, but embrace the differences in the world around us. Many who have come from small towns, have gone on to willfully live in cities because they "want to experience more". Is this not what we should want, and even expect from our representatives? I neglect to say leaders because, make no mistake, they are our representatives first. And, despite all the charms small towns have to offer, it is our big towns that make for big decision making and big ideas. Even small townspeople get to the world of big politics through big cities.

When we take small town politicians, and encourage them to retain small town ideas, then set them loose on the big world, we get George W. Bush. When you take a small town politician and encourage them to learn about the big world and place them in the public arena, you get Bill Clinton. Granted, many would dispute how great of a president he was (not me), but it's hard to debate that he is greater than George W. Bush. When you take small town politics onto the world stage, you get a nation built on the principles of individual liberty invading the sovereignty of another, for its own gain.

So shouldn't we stop marginalizing the city-dwellers? Granted, I am biased as an enthusiastic city-dweller, but I believe that enthusiasm holds merit (of course). The majority of the nation lives in cities as it is. Cities are polluted, dark, and isolationist. Cities are also cultural centers, diverse, and a melting pot for ideas. Cities act as ports for the small towns, with ships of knowledge arriving at their docks. Without cities, small towns would know nothing of the outside world. Perhaps that is what they want. But that is not what we need.

We need representatives who are used to diversity, and who not only tolerate it, but embrace it. We need people who can operate in a world and climate that is diverse and ever-changing, not holding rigidly to isolationism and the past. We need men and women who have access to ideas and varying points of view. We need representatives with vision, and vision means seeing the picture, not just my corner of it. I am sure to be lambasted for this city-centric view, but I am personally exhausted of the small town-centric view. Small town values are fine and well for Cassville, Wisconsin vs. Baraboo, Wisconsin, but when it comes to United States vs. Germany on Russia, we need a representative and leader who understands the world they are dealing with.

Small town values = small time ideas.