City mouse/Country mouse

Perhaps our national political divide is not as serious as it seems. Perhaps it is a natural phenomenon accentuated by politics. We own two houses: one in the city and one we call 'the cabin' in the country. Recently we have been spending more time in the country. The traffic is less. Outside is quiet and tree-filled. The hour to hour life is slower and more measured, if not as lively with continuous distractions of talks with neighbors, email, texts, newspapers. We don't have TV either place and limited internet at the cabin. At the cabin we don’t get as good cheeses as in the city, nor as good bread or wine, nor do we have the choice of dozens of fine restaurants, which we seldom take advantage of anyway, so that is not a great loss.

This morning while sitting in bed in my country house, I read Paul Krugman’s article about the rural-metropolitan political divide in our country. Immediately I was reminded of the Aesop fable of the city mouse and the country mouse, so using the internet, I pulled up the fable and reread it, not having thought about it in years. Basically it tells the story of two mouse cousins; one lives in the city and one lives in the county. One day the city mouse visits the country mouse and remarks about how poor his rural cousin is. The country mouse doesn’t have fine cheeses and other delicacies nor does he have a large house. So the country mouse visits his urban cousin. He samples the city life and its pleasures. But while eating fine cheese and sugar he is almost caught by a cat. The fear of the cat generates a constant state of alertness which makes the country mouse return to his poorer but stress free life. Just like my my wife and myself; we are torn between the hectic city and quiet country.

All people feel this dilemma. Aesop’s fable has versions in India and China. Some humans like to live together and some don’t. Politically, in our country, recently, the rural folks are more Republican and the city folks are more Democratic. Part of the divide comes from the fact that the rural America doesn’t feel the positive impact of government as much as urban America. In the city ones needs the police presence to keep the cat away, the city government to keep the traffic lights and the street lights working, the water bureau to send everyone clear water and take away the used water. The importance of good government is present in everyday life.

Rural people feel more independent. Sometimes they feel as if they are off the grid having their own water and heat supplies. Very few are truly off the grid because they use gasoline, manufactured in Louisiana and transported to their local gas station on public highways, they buy groceries supplied by the same publicly maintained roads and whose power from the public grid keeps the perishables from perishing. The off-griders get to the store on publicly maintained roads and call the fire department if their wood stove catches the roof on fire and they call the police if they are able to catch the guys who are stealing their chickens.

Rural regions in American are mostly white except in the south and parts of the west where agriculture attracts a larger hispanic population. According to the Pew Research Center urban counties are 44 percent white while rural counties are 79 percent white. Rural America has less exposure to people of color than urbanites and less comfortable with them. Also, racial prejudice and stereotyping continues in America and the world. It will for another hundred years, or until we are all mixed up into one big race, which will probably eventually happen. Some degree of tribalism based on physical appearance seems to be inherent in humans and in other species. Time and understanding will eventually change this. The current spate of racial invective by our president characterizing hispanic people as rapists and criminals colors their feeling about the few people of color they encounter.

Country folk feel more independent of government services so they vote against government. They don’t feel they are getting value for dollar from their taxes and, in fact, they may be right. More resources are needed to sustain the livability of densely populated areas. Yet, statistics show that rural people are receiving more government subsidies than urban people.

Some rural people, like the pilgrims, escaped the cities to practice obscure fundamentalist religions such as the fundamentalism Mormons of southern Utah. Being in the country makes one feel isolated from the scrutiny of judgmental eyes of the authorities and non-believers. So the country is a good place for cults.

Rural America is not a good place for big business. There are exceptions. Recently in Oregon, Google and Facebook have built large facilities in small, rural towns. But these are mostly automated data centers not requiring large numbers of workers. Power is cheaper, labor is cheaper and the country is beautiful. But most of rural America is small businesses and huge farming mega-companies.

Whether we are city mice or country mice we are mostly all alike. An acquaintance of mine once wrote a thesis about the geography of religion. Our environment affects how we think about the world and we choose environments that match our temperament. But basically we all want to live in peace with ourselves and our neighbors. We aren’t always successful. Year by year we seem to be improving in regard to tolerance and peace. Set backs are to be expected. Trump is a step backward toward racial intolerance, national isolationism, greed and disregard for the environment. And for the progress of women. We will go forward again toward a world in which we all can live in peace no matter what our color, gender or national origin. Maybe someday, even the country mouse will be able to choose between the simple life and having access to fine cheeses, Chinese food, Indian music and all the amazing cultural beauty so abundant in the wider world.