Year: 2018
For Fun: A Small-Town-Diner View of Medicare for All
“I’ll have the country-fried steak breakfast scramble.” (Waiter scribbles.) “With a side of pancakes.” (Waiter scribbles again.) “And an extra egg.” (Waiter scribbles, then reaches into apron to grab another pen—the first one has gone dry.) “And a side of
Read MoreThe Founders Emphasized States’ Rights, but the States Were the Size of Cities Today.
Our founding fathers intentionally limited the power of the federal government, fearing it was too big. Instead, they chose to defer most authority to the states. At that time, the entire country had fewer people than modern-day Cook County, Illinois.
Read MoreIn Small Towns, “The Government” Doesn’t Exist.
In progressive cities, “The Government” is viewed as a curious hybrid of queen bee and sacred cow. In rural areas, though, “The Government” is considered a swarm of killer bees, or the running of the bulls. Why? Why are rural
Read MoreFriday Night Sights: Why Are People from Small Towns So Obsessed with High-School Football?
You can’t listen to country radio for long without hearing lyrics about a hometown football game. Football is king in rural areas. It’s a stereotype that holds up, and there are several good, logistical reasons why. The first reason boils
Read MoreFor Fun: FDA Attacks Almond “Milk”; Is Peanut “Butter” Next?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to protect you from mistaking almond milk for cow milk. One immediately sees the urgency: almond milk can come from a cow, at least if a local 4H-er names her cow Almond.
Read MoreFor Fun: Why Do Tiny Towns Have Three Diners but No Perkins?
Recently I was eating at a diner in a tiny town with someone from a metropolitan area. She said, simultaneously to everyone but no one in particular, “Don’t you just love places like this? I just love places like this.”
Read MoreWhy Rural Americans Do Not Support a Federal Housing Subsidy
The more progressive wing of the Democratic Party has embraced housing as a human right. This sounds like a good idea—after all, it is the premise for Habitat for Humanity. Unlike Habitat for Humanity, though, how progressives execute their housing
Read MoreFrom Coasts to Countryside, There Can Be No Single Living Wage
“The current federal minimum wage is starvation pay and must become a living wage. We must increase it to fifteen dollars an hour over the next several years.” So says Bernie Sanders on his website, summarizing a common view within
Read MoreTax-Deductible Gym Memberships? Maybe If You Live in a City.
Republicans want to make gym memberships tax-deductible. That idea won’t work out for rural Americans. Peter Suderman, in the libertarian magazine Reason, has highlighted how the GOP wants to incentivize exercise via the tax code. He outlines how the GOP
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