THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080286
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ronald L. Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The campaign for the ``Heart and Soul of the Republican Party'' has put the spotlight on small-town America.
And it's not a pretty sight.
Our towns - once the spawning grounds of common-sense leaders who made our nation great - have fallen on hard times.
Our bulging big cities are getting bigger and bulgier.
Our villages and hamlets are disappearing at worst, becoming boring communities filled with old folks at best.
The Republicans battling for the nomination for president have talked with country folks across the country this winter.
And they've discovered anew that the young people have fled to the cities where there are jobs and stores and theaters and things to do.
They've left behind empty groceries and boarded-up theaters and vacant bowling alleys and decaying school buildings - and their roots.
The change from an agricultural society to an urban lifestyle has been going on for generations, of course.
When the 20th Century started, more than a third of Americans lived on farms. By 1950, that percentage had dropped to about one-fifth. As we head into the 21st Century, only about 2 percent of America's residents are farm dwellers.
And when farmers migrate into the city, small towns die.
That, in my mind, is a disaster. There's no better life for a family than the charm and security of a thriving small town.
On the Outer Banks we know that, because our towns are booming and there's lots to do. But go a few miles inland, where tourists don't leave their money, and you can see a sample of what has happened to the small towns of the nation.
I grew up in a village where we had three grocery stores, two drug stores with soda fountains, several saloons, a movie theater, three clothing stores, a skating rink, three hardware stores, a blacksmith shop, and lots of other shops.
Now there are two saloons, one grocery, a pharmacy - but no soda fountain - and not much else. The biggest private employer is the nursing home.
Most young people leave after high school, and never move back because there's no work, and no fun.
But many Americans, forced by economics to fight city crowds and crime and traffic jams, would like to go home.
I've always thought that if I could do one great deed it would be to discover a way to let people who wished to do so live in small-town America. That would require jobs and good schools and adequate entertainment, all of which would occur if enough people moved back to make the villages hum again with activity.
A few hundred people with good jobs would turn my home town into a fun place, just as such an influx would put the charm and contentment back in thousands of communities.
And I'm becoming optimistic that in my lifetime there will be a migration back to the villages, where people will work in safety and comfort through computer links to big-city businesses.
A friend of mine who is doing just that is convinced that the migration will take place.
She gave up a high-powered job in a Norfolk law firm to move to a tiny Eastern Shore village, where she keeps busy with legal assignments from her old company through a sophisticated computer hookup.
Other city slickers have joined her in the bustling community, which has two new restaurants, new shops and businesses, newly refurbished old homes and dwellers optimistic about the future.
I'm excited by her news. And maybe the Republican and Democratic leaders who want small-town votes will go back in odd-numbered years and do something to make country living an option for people fed up with city life. by CNB