Sue Lani Madsen: Government policies should reinforce self-reliance

Editor’s note: Today we’re debuting a new voice in The Spokesman-Review’s news pages, Sue Lani Madsen. Her column will appear Saturdays on the Northwest page.

Political analysis confirms that the liberal-conservative split reflects two different cultures: one based in metropolitan counties and the other in the small towns and rural communities of fly-over country. It shows starkly when looking at the U.S. electoral map, separated not by red and blue states but by red and blue counties.

It’s not a simply binary equation, of course, but point of view does change perception. The Spokesman-Review recently invited me to contribute a weekly opinion column written from a rural and conservative perspective. Apparently these characteristics make me different from the rest of the team. Glad to oblige.

I grew up in Spokane, graduated from Ferris High School a few years after Doug Clark, and finished a degree in architecture from WSU Pullman when Pullman was the only WSU. I’ve lived in eastern Lincoln County for the last 37 years. For the first 19 of those years I lived a bicultural life, commuting to work in a city office five days a week while my family lived in rural America seven days a week.

Life in the country moves to the naturally driven rhythms of crops and animals with one eye on the weather at all times, while work in the city dances to a human beat. I became culturally bilingual but increasingly frustrated with the split-life existence. In 1997, I moved my work to a home office on our ranch near Edwall. In 2002, my husband quit a safe, stable and frustration-inducing federal job to begin ranching full time, and I found myself a hands-on livestock producer by marriage. When untimely spring storms force us to bring a hypothermic newborn goat into the house, I give thanks to God for the architecturally fashionable stone pavers on the floor.

Urban culture carries an illusion of control that shapes the political divide. When every part of your daily physical environment has been designed by man, it’s easy to believe you have the same control over the social environment. Dense urban areas generate more human interactions. For every human interaction gone wrong, there must be a government program to fix it. If there’s a government program and it’s not working, it just needs more money. Urban culture shapes liberal politics.

Rural culture looks first to individuals, then to communities, lastly to government. Self-reliance is highly valued, and so is pitching in. Government is a tool to accomplish community goals, not an end in itself. The U.S. Constitution was written for a nation of farmers who understood this.

In August, we had a harvest bee in my community to help out a family dealing with cancer. Friends took the lead in organizing. Neighbors brought 10 combines, all the equipment that goes with them and tables full of food to feed the many willing hands. It was a classic small-town response to a need. Nobody demanded a new government farm program to provide paid family medical leave for the self-employed. Nobody asked for federal funding for the fuel bill. Nobody signed releases or posted bonds or filled out forms. I can guarantee it didn’t cross anyone’s mind that day that this was a government responsibility. It was our responsibility. As one participant said, it was small-town America at its best. Rural culture shapes conservative politics.

Not every problem has or needs a government solution. I realize the challenges of a metropolitan area need more complex solutions than organizing a harvest bee to help an individual. However, when the tool of government is appropriate, programs and policies must reinforce individual initiative and individual responsibility to be sustainable. That is America at its best.