Need drives urban, rural motives

Much has been made in the news lately about the division between urban and rural citizens, and what motivates them to do things like vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in an election of bad or worse choices.

I’m hoping some of the observations listed below might help you understand the differences:

• Cities are full of glass-and-steel monuments to the religion of management. In this peculiar religion, the credit and pay don’t go to the worker who puts the O-ring in the hose to make it leakproof. It doesn’t even go to the engineer who designed the O-ring into the product.

The credit and big bucks go to the product manager who said, “We need to make the hose leakproof,” who gets paid less than the line manager who said, “We need to make the product better,” who gets paid less than the marketing manager who said, “We need to sell more product,” who gets paid less than the vice president who said, “We need to make more money.”

• In a rural area, the farmer or rancher replaces the O-ring in the hose so it will hold out a little longer. The farmer/rancher is the one who fixes the fence, gets the combine running again, vaccinates the cattle, primes the pump run by the windmill, and then, when the sun goes down, does management paperwork for an hour or two in front of the TV.

• An urban dweller buys an SUV that can tow 2,000 pounds up a 20-percent grade in order to haul kids to team practice and lessons.

• A rural dweller buys a large, old pickup truck that backfires, hooks up the 2,000-pound trailer and prays.

• An urban driver worries that his SUV will retain its resale value after years of commuting.

• A rural driver worries that his car won’t get him into town to the auto-parts store.

• Urban shoppers find themselves hitting Sears and JCPenneys more often than Macy’s and Nordstrom’s as flat pay fails to match the cost of living.

• Rural shoppers worry that the local Dollar General or Family Dollar are threatening to shut down as fewer people get paid at all.

• Urban consumers use online shopping because they have no time.

• Rural consumers use online shopping because they have no choice.

Steve Hansen writes about our life and times from his perspective of a retired Tucumcari journalist. Contact him at: [email protected]