Neighborhood Values

Rarely will I bash one political party or another, or demonize, or reduce opponents to cartoon disfigurations. That isn't my cup of tea. I don't hate "those guys" on either side.

But on certain issues I will attach some judgment. Recent posts about foreign affairs, for example, have made it clear that I think people on the Left need to look past the Bush/Iraq moebius strip of disgust and get behind democratic changes in the Middle East.

Conversely, I'm concerned about corporate America. Pure emphasis on stockholder value and price ultimately appears to have a negative, homogenizing effect on neighborhood America. And corporate media leads to a shallow, brain-dead culture. I like capitalism, but there seem to be some unintended consequences when it gets too carried away with economies of scale. Big companies are owned by everyone and no one at the same time.

To give you a simple example: The convenience store and fast food joint in my neighborhood have the most trash-strewn lots - whereas the locally owned restaurant, shops and pub are usually kept clean.

But in Cincinnati, all forms of civic debate boil down to crime and business. Local conservative bloggers appear to have no fresh ideas beyond smashing more criminals and promoting tax advantages to corporations. The final message is not explicitly racist: White people see a hopeless cause in city life, feel afraid, and plan to move to the suburbs. (If I had more patience I would link to the comments on local weblogs.) Don’t confuse these folks with with statistics.

But I still don’t want to live in a sub-development next to strip mall. I like to see the local shop owners at church on Sunday. And I like neighborhoods with history that runs deeper than some building contractor's bulldozer. Isn't that more classically conservative?