Exurbians need not apply

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Once again I’ve been reading about the expanding influence of exurbia, which is defined relatively simply as a residential area outside the city and beyond subrurbia. It emerges that liberals have ignored exurbia for too long, to their electoral detriment, while socio-cultural exurbia’s mix of evangelicals, urban refugees, Wal-Mart fan club devotees and reality television aficionados represent the apogee of the GOP red-state political aspiration.

Previously I’ve noted that in this event, and as a permanent member of America’s most downtrodden minority (the thinking, drinking class), I choose to retain my contempt for exurbia and its anti-rationalist worldview.

It now occurs to me that the rise of exurbia actually is a liberating force for those of us who to continue to embrace urban values. While Philistinism thrives in the churches and strip malls (the same thing, really) of exurbia, diversity and human interaction can flower here in the old part of town.

As the sainted Hoosier bard John Mellencamp once noted, likely in a context far different from mine, you gotta stand for something – or you’re gonna fall for anything.

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