Decay of Rural America

I pride myself on being open-minded and curious about the world around me. As a traveler, I try my best to adapt to the pace or lifestyle around me, as I think it endows me with this better understanding of the place I'm visiting. In addition, I relish "edutainment" opportunities in a city I visit. Learning about the history of a place is the surest way to facilitate the cultural immersion process. Traveling within the United States is no exception to this ethos.

I've traveled all over the United States and I've become keenly aware of one phenomenon: a decay of rural America. America is fast becoming an urban nation. Education is being used as a tool to consolidate populations in urban centers, where industries of the future (tech, health care, pharma, etc.) tend to congregate. What did backwoods areas stake their economic livelihood on? Agriculture and manufacturing mostly. With the decline of those two pillars of rural America, people have moved out.

It's really quite simple. Manufacturing jobs go overseas to take advantage of lower wages. Further, it's not necessary for so many people to be in agriculture anymore. The government has to pay farmers to stop growing crops. Also, the large amount of investment and energy that goes into farming (with small compensation) is not attractive to young people.

I have no qualms about believing the innumerable statistics or vignettes; I've lived in the Midwest my entire life in America. I've lived in the three microcosms of the Midwest: 1) the former manufacturing powerhouse reduced to a shell of its former self (Cleveland) 2) the depressed rural part (Vincennes) and 3) the regional titan with cosmopolitan flair (Chicago).

Vincennes, in my opinion, is emblematic of the many problems the rural Midwest encounters. The population was never very large to begin with, but in the span of a decade nearly 5,000 people have moved out. Young people are moving out while only the older people stay. Consequently, death rates are high.

And really, a town like Vincennes has no chance. I graduated from high school five years ago, and the only people who stayed are the ones who graduated near the bottom of the class. None of the people in the advanced classes who got four year degrees are coming back. Now that people are getting further education beyond the four year degree, the chances of any people like me returning are effectively nil. What results is an efflux of creativity and intelligence from Vincennes. In other words, decay.

This problem is hardly unique. I've seen the same phenomenon all across the Midwest and the South. You don't really see this on the East Coast and the West Coast, because the consolidation process is more or less complete there. As regions like Southern indiana lose out, your Chicagos and Atlantas benefit.

In the past, this wasn't a problem, I think. The United States was smaller, and traveling around was difficult and expensive. People never got an opportunity to see if and where the grass was greener. Nowadays, I can just pull up some statistics on the internet and know exactly what's up. If you're a bright high schooler in bumblefuck, Indiana, you can go to an Ivy school. Distance is not the boundary it once was thanks to the Internet and rising incomes.

It really is lamentable, but at the same time I recognize that I contribute to the problem by essentially eschewing my hometown. My parents, after these ten years, agree with me now on my assessment of home and seem eager to leave now that my brother and I have moved on.

So will watermelon festivals be a thing of the past? No, but attendance will certainly grow smaller year after year.