I have been trying to make the case lately that most of the opposition to Wal-Mart is based on snobbery of one form or the other.
My fellow Town Crier, Kathryn Meier, most convincingly displayed that elitist snobbery in her column in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
Professor Meier feels the answer to all of Pullman's problems is for everyone to move into dilipidated (I'm sorry, "vintage") housing on College Hill. It seems Professor Meier and her husband are just delighted with their "classic home" and its turn of the century lighting fixtures and parquet wood floors.
She asks, "Do we seek the charm of downtown Moscow and its neighboring historic district, or do we want only a series of modern subdivisions surrounding generic big box stores?"
Personally, I'm happy with my little suburban tract home. I'm quite satisfied not having to stumble over beer bottles and used condoms on the way to my car in the morning and that my kids don't have to be subjected to the sight of coeds puking behind a bush on the weekend. I like having a big back yard and not having to call the plumber or electrician every few weeks. As far as historic goes, I know of a bunch of old barns in Whitman County that are historic, but I don't want to live in one.
What is it with these snobs? Can't they just live and let live? I don't care if Proesssor Meier chooses to live in her version of "The Money Pit", but why does she feel the need to condemn my lifestyle? It never occurs to the elites that suburbia, with its McMansions and Wal-Marts, ARE WHAT PEOPLE WANT!
Meier also asks, "where are the City Council and the community at large, with respect to this issue. That's an easy answer. They're approving and buying "soulless suburban sprawl" as fast as they can. In a front page story in today's Daily News , it was reported that the City Council approved the plats for two new subdivisions and enough new housing construction took place in 2005 that the property tax rate in Pullman will not increase in 2006.
As with Wal-Mart, people overwhelmingly vote to reject the idea of Professor Meier's quaint Utopia with their wallets and their feet.
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