Essays From West of 98: Community as Rural Revitalization
Rural revitalization is not merely economic. It's far more important.
“Home is where the heart is.”
It’s an old saying. I don’t know how far it dates back or who originated it, but it’s a phrase that gets tossed around to describe the inherent emotional connection a person has for their family and home. Sometimes, that is true. But for those who had difficult family relationships or never had a true single place they called “home,” this idea can be mere pollyannaish fantasy.
What about community, though? As you know, I have started 2023’s essays with a focus on building and strengthening community. This has a purpose. If we are to revitalize rural America, then we must strengthen the idea of community. Everyone has their own definition of “revitalize,” but I suspect that to most people, an inherent element of revitalization is creating some improved level of prosperity for the people who depend on rural America for their livelihood. But for the last 75+ years, rural livelihoods have become much more difficult, whether you’re a farmer or rancher, a rural small business owner, or an employee of a rural business or government agency. As a result, fewer people have a rural livelihood.
Contrary to the hopes and dreams of decades of ill-informed policymakers, merely adding cash to the current rural economy does not reverse those trends. In some ways, it actually exacerbates them. When much of the rural economy is dominated by forces far from the rural downtown square, those doomed policy ideas often just strengthen those forces and not the rural people themselves.
No, revitalizing rural America requires a complete focus on the rural place and its people. It must become more viable to raise a family and make a living in rural America, no matter your vocation. Rural places must have healthy ecosystems that support the rural people. And above all, rural people must have a reason to care about their rural home. If the inherent emotional connection between a rural place and its people doesn’t exist, then the idea of rural revitalization is mere fantasy.
Several years ago, my friend Ed Roberson had a guest on his “Mountain and Prairie” podcast who said something powerful about the importance of people connecting to the outdoors: “people won’t fight for something they don’t love.”
I’ve thought about that quote hundreds of times since I first heard it. Nothing better describes the importance of building community as a precursor to revitalizing rural America. As the rural economy has shifted over the years, and as it became harder to make a living in rural America, rural people have sent their children away. They call it the “rural brain drain.” We have talked about that before. But that brain drain was often pushed by the rural people themselves: “Leave town and go make a living…it’s too hard here...this town is dying…go make a better life for yourself.”
I can’t fault the people who saw the difficulties of the rural economy, felt utterly powerless to fight those forces, and feared for their children’s future. But I do see the difficulty of what it wrought. After decades of pushing people away from rural America, and portraying rural life as something to avoid, our society have not engendered much love for actual rural life and actual rural places (nostalgic and fantastical portrayals in television and movies aside). And as generations left rural America without that love, why would they ever move back? Why would they tell their kids or grandkids anything positive about rural life? Why would any of those folks have an emotional connection to rural America, much less care enough to fight for its future well-being?
Rural revitalization is not merely an economic matter. It is far bigger and more important than money alone. Rural revitalization requires renewing (or creating anew) a love for rural places in the people who populate rural places and in our society at large. Rural revitalization requires building the essential connections between people and between the people and their place. Which is what they call “community.”
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to West of 98 wherever podcasts are found.