IN PRAISE OF AUSTIN

I wasn’t searching for it, but I have found a place that still seems to understand the basic principles that the Democratic Party has forgotten: Austin, Texas.

For those who haven’t been there, here’s a brief snapshot: Austin's population is similar to Indianapolis, Nashville or Baltimore, yet is vastly different from any of those cities. For starters, there’s a mass transportation system that actually makes sense, with buses that are clean and run logical routes and are very easy for tourists to navigate. The city has kept a lot of green space instead of wall-to-wall buildings. There is an outpouring of support for independent businesses, typified by the movement to “Keep Austin Weird”: support the little guys instead of the Wal-Marts and retail chains. There is live music everywhere (Austin bills itself correctly as the “live music capital”); a large percentage of the live players are doing originals instead of cover tunes. And unlike Nashville, local residents come out to actually watch performers, and there’s an absence of the wannabes that cities like Nashville and Los Angeles seem to have on every other corner.

So what does this have to do with the Democrats? The reasons that Austin is such a hip, easy, safe place start here: people actually care about their neighbor, they don’t just pay lip service to helping the underdog, and they don’t throw money at everything thinking it will help. Maybe the key is that there’s a blend of Texas independence thrown in. Differing opinions aren’t seen as taboo or stupid if you can back them up, and not every single person or group is actually considered deserving to feed from the public trough. The net result is that Austiners believe that some people need a support network to achieve their dreams and are deserving of it…if they’re willing to work for it. The residents and local governments of Austin are prepared to help in those circumstances.

Contrast that with the current Democrats who, at least at the federal level, have become elitists that believe they can come down from the mountain and help the “little people” without any clue as to what the “little people” are even all about. No wonder the Hollywood Democrats are so enamored with the current incarnation: they’re kindred souls. And there don't seem to be any filters when it comes to the groups the Democrats claim to represent. They are equally likely to cry foul for a group just looking for space at the trough as for one who is actually aggrieved.

To be fair in this analogy, Austin isn't free of problems. Too many people still refuse the mass transit option in favor of clogging the roads. The city planners attempted to control sprawl by not putting in infrastructure in outlying areas, and it didn’t work. Now they will have to put in roads, sewers, etc. with residences and businesses already in place: much tougher & more expensive. They’re going to have to figure out a balance between allowing large residences and corporate campuses to take desirable land and keeping that coveted green space for all.
But I have little doubt that most of these will become blips because the city and residents will find ways to grow and thrive without losing the sense of who they are and what Austin is all about. I’d love to think that federal Democrats could spend a few weeks there and maybe learn a little bit. Alas, I think that too many of them are so out of touch they wouldn’t even see the things at street level that the rest of us can enjoy.