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thc5's avatar

The article skates over one important aspect of local ownership. Part of the argument about small-business owners is that "these kind of local elites are often the bulwark of conservative politics." But that is a very cramped view of the role that the local business owners can play in their local communities.

The life of a community and its social organizations often depends upon the sustained engagement of people with the means and the motivation to provide meaningful support. When small businesses close and ownership is transferred out of the community, the organizations that hold the community together (libraries, sports leagues, gyms, parks) will suffer, and the community as a whole may move rapidly from vibrant to not. Yes, residents may be able to buy cheaper groceries, but the social costs might be quite high.

When I grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, in the 1970s, we shopped on Main St. at the local farm store, the local shoe store, the local furniture store, the local bookstore, the two local department stores. The owners of those stores were on the boards of many of the local non-profits. The city had a flourishing library, a large YMCA and a YWCA (both with pools that were available to local schools), a philharmonic orchestra, arts organizations, and other groups that were essential to the life of the community per se. By the end of the 1980s, almost all of that was gone. There were plenty of forces undermining the life of Poughkeepsie (and of so many similar cities across the country), but it is important to see that the local business owners are a core component of the local ecosystems.

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Michael Sullivan's avatar

What I'm hearing here is Matt's intern should form a union.

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