“The strength of free peoples resides in the local community.” -Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville, quoted above, was a 19th – century French statesman, who visited America in her early years as an independent nation, and wrote about a country wild and free, whose true strength was not found in the bustling cities or empty prairies, but in the townships and in the churches and business scattered across her states, and he warned of a future where America would lose its strongly decentralized governance, and become a house divided against itself. We coined the phrase “Make Small Towns Great Again” during a Sunday dinner conversation, some months ago, as we discussed our concern over the deterioration of American culture – from the independence of the small, thriving communities he visited in those times, to the woeful division and lack of strength that plagues us today.
How do we recapture that spirit, exactly? we asked each other. We would humbly suggest that there are three key ingredients to a great small town:
- Living Faith
The Bible defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Regardless of religious affiliation, everyone is motivated by some sense of a greater purpose. A people formed by their system of faith, whatever it may be, will act with clarity and express themselves richly, so long as this faith is alive within them.
- Strong Families
Familes made up of men and women producing children and then raising them with love and care serve as a backbone and a building block to the communities they are a part of.
- Robust Community
A town community that has these two elements woven together will be rich soil for creative and independent living.
We hope to find that this idea is more than just a passing notion, and that regardless of your expression of faith or political views, you’ll join us in taking back our rural American hometowns from the spreading mold of apathy, decay, and irrelevancy! Let’s be on guard against any ideas or institutions that erode or diminish the necessity of the first two ingredients, so that we may build up the third. And with that in place, let’s welcome back the old trades that have been lost or degraded on a national scale, and Make Small Towns Great Again.