Go Small, Young Man

Online discourse usually comes down to some variation of the question "How should we live?" And the answer is usually "Not like this." As if we have forgotten that the world is the way it is, because we are the way we are. I keep seeing young men say that having a home and family are out of reach to them. To them I say go small, young man.

When newspaperman Horace Greeley popularized the phrase "Go West, young man" after the Civil War, he saw westward expansion as the means to heal the nation's woes. He saw agriculture as a way for those willing to work hard to escape the poverty of eastern cities. This echoed Jefferson's idea of the Yeoman Farmer. That being that given the opportunity to become self-reliant, most people would become responsible citizens. So, government policies should promote widespread land ownership for a successful society. The fulfillment of America's Manifest Destiny is in its small cities and towns.

When Wendell Berry wrote back in the 70's about how agribusiness had removed farming from its cultural context. Taking families off of the land and away from their history. He called it the Unsettling of America. Well away from the urban landscape there is an opportunity for the Resettling of America. To be self-reliant on your own land, and rooted in a place, by moving to a community on the wane. 1 in 4 Americans lived in the country in 1970, and by 2022 that was down to 1 in 8. Fewer births, more deaths, and net migration out of rural areas left a smaller, older population. Rural America needs more young people.

One of the first objections I encounter when I say this, is that there will not be any rural land left if city people do not stop moving to the country. This is true up to a point. Few things are as frustrating to a third generation local, as some outsider with a laptop job who outbids them on a property. But some of these towns might not otherwise exist in another three generations. Potential movers will say that there is no opportunity in rural America. But opportunity is increasingly portable, or the aforementioned laptop job scenario would not exist. And if all the small-town entrepreneurs I know lived in the same place it would be an economic powerhouse.

Putting aside the objections, why might someone want to move to a small city or town? The biggest reason is affordability. Young people are drawn to metropolitan areas by the promise of high wages. But housing, transportation, and food costs are all higher too. A lower cost of living means saving money or enjoying a higher standard of living. The pace of life is slower. Technology speeds up our work. But we do not let any time savings create space in our days. Instead, it is on to the next task, and the next, hustling endlessly and it feels unnatural. Things take longer in the country. The places you need to go are further apart, and they have shorter hours, and you have to plan ahead. So, you can only go as fast as you can think.

Small towns have a stronger sense of community. Where everyone knows everyone, individuals feel less isolated. And families are less atomized. Where there is one church, and one school attendance is the beginning of a social life. Small towns have long memories and strong traditions. If you are struggling to find purpose a shared sense of place can give it to you. Be a good neighbor, integrate into the community, and hold to the local culture.

Moving to the country if it is not where you are from is a kind of rootlessness in itself. Most of us should try to bloom where we are planted. That is not me trying to pull the ladder up after myself. Community comes from knowing others, sharing a sense of place with them, and taking responsibility for what happens there. It is not easy to recreate. But in the end, you should love the place you live. Or go live in the place that you love. If you do come listen more than you speak. People watch what you do, more than they listen to what you say, and small-town people notice everything. One day you might see a knowing smile that says, "Look at these outsiders." And realize that you are not one anymore.