By Daniel Nardini
It all seems postcard picturesque. Small rural Illinois towns with two or three churches, a local restaurant and bar, some family-run businesses like a grocery store or deli, old farm houses built anywhere between the early 20th and mid to late 19th centuries, and a local grammar school where parents walk their children to school. When the early evening rolls around, everything in town shuts down except the restaurant and bar where families gather for the latest news of what is going on around town. Like just about every small rural town, there is usually a post office. Local people gather at the post office going in and out and talking about things going on around town. The other great meeting place is the church. More than just about anywhere else, the church for so many rural residents is where they hold on to family traditions and religious values that shape their everyday lives.
This pattern of life has gone on ever since the days of the early pioneers and the formation of not only the small rural towns but of the state and this whole country. For most rural people, the values they hold on to so dear is in their view is what America is all about. Those values are family, faith, and culture that goes back to their most distant ancestry. Many generations of people in these small towns have grown up with what America was, and in so many ways these rural residents have shaped in their own way the destiny of this nation. People in rural America feel they are the guardians of all those values they see as holy. Just as equally important, they see themselves as the bread basket of the country. Some of these small towns also have meat processing and packing factories where livestock is made into meat and shipped off to the grocery stores in so many parts of our major metropolitan areas. The same is true of the corn and soybeans grown by the family farms where Illinois produce will eventually find its way to the Chicago area.
But beneath all of this idyllic scenery lies a sad secret. Many of these rural town have been losing their young people for decades. Many of these towns now have middle and old aged residents who are trying to keep their towns and villages alive. Ever since the United States became a largely urban landscape where most Americans live, the disconnect between urban and suburban on the one hand and rural and wilderness on the other has grown exponentially. And this trend seems to be continuing. For so many rural residents, losing their kids to the “big city” has made many people bitter and wondering where they were born and raised will survive. Instead of change, most of the people in these small and even decaying rural towns are doubling down on their conservative views and way of life. Now it is becoming a point that social and political change would be a betrayal of everything they know. Hence, rural residents are more likely to vote for the most reactionary, extreme right wing politicians. Even in a blue (Democratic) state like Illinois, there are whole counties that are thoroughly red (Republican), and the simple fact that the over-whelming majority of Illinois residents are Democrat has simply caused extreme resentment among rural residents.
In this dangerously charged political atmosphere, this conflict between rural and urban residents in my view will only deepen. We live in a time of both inter-dependence and yet extreme political division. I only see it getting worse after the presidential election. Regardless of who wins, the losing side will be that much more angry and bitter, and this situation will be rife for the possibility for violence. The whole pattern of life of people in the rural areas and in the major metropolitan cities in Illinois could not be more different, and this tribalism could fracture this state and indeed this country apart. I do not think that the politicians have any clue about the potential powder-keg they are sitting on. Unless positive change can be introduced into the rural areas, and unless a healthy bipartisan dialog can take place, rural tribalism will only grow and the political division will only get worse.
Rural Tribalism
By Daniel Nardini
This pattern of life has gone on ever since the days of the early pioneers and the formation of not only the small rural towns but of the state and this whole country. For most rural people, the values they hold on to so dear is in their view is what America is all about. Those values are family, faith, and culture that goes back to their most distant ancestry. Many generations of people in these small towns have grown up with what America was, and in so many ways these rural residents have shaped in their own way the destiny of this nation. People in rural America feel they are the guardians of all those values they see as holy. Just as equally important, they see themselves as the bread basket of the country. Some of these small towns also have meat processing and packing factories where livestock is made into meat and shipped off to the grocery stores in so many parts of our major metropolitan areas. The same is true of the corn and soybeans grown by the family farms where Illinois produce will eventually find its way to the Chicago area.
But beneath all of this idyllic scenery lies a sad secret. Many of these rural town have been losing their young people for decades. Many of these towns now have middle and old aged residents who are trying to keep their towns and villages alive. Ever since the United States became a largely urban landscape where most Americans live, the disconnect between urban and suburban on the one hand and rural and wilderness on the other has grown exponentially. And this trend seems to be continuing. For so many rural residents, losing their kids to the “big city” has made many people bitter and wondering where they were born and raised will survive. Instead of change, most of the people in these small and even decaying rural towns are doubling down on their conservative views and way of life. Now it is becoming a point that social and political change would be a betrayal of everything they know. Hence, rural residents are more likely to vote for the most reactionary, extreme right wing politicians. Even in a blue (Democratic) state like Illinois, there are whole counties that are thoroughly red (Republican), and the simple fact that the over-whelming majority of Illinois residents are Democrat has simply caused extreme resentment among rural residents.
In this dangerously charged political atmosphere, this conflict between rural and urban residents in my view will only deepen. We live in a time of both inter-dependence and yet extreme political division. I only see it getting worse after the presidential election. Regardless of who wins, the losing side will be that much more angry and bitter, and this situation will be rife for the possibility for violence. The whole pattern of life of people in the rural areas and in the major metropolitan cities in Illinois could not be more different, and this tribalism could fracture this state and indeed this country apart. I do not think that the politicians have any clue about the potential powder-keg they are sitting on. Unless positive change can be introduced into the rural areas, and unless a healthy bipartisan dialog can take place, rural tribalism will only grow and the political division will only get worse.