Somewhere along the line, we stopped acting like we were all in this together as a community. When many of these communities were born, they were on cold flat prairies, the rail was just being put in, and people needed each other for survival. I suggest we still do.
Our tax base is not big enough in small populations to cover the costs of replacing infrastructure. It never was and never will be, so updated infrastructure is only available to us when the government funds it. That means no community dependent on government funding is truly self-sustaining.
Even larger centers eventually reach their maximum population and then recede, leaving fewer taxpayers to cover the costs. People, this is not a sustainable model. Not enough people are coming behind us to carry what a larger population built.
I've heard it said that it is impossible to live on one wage nowadays, and I agree, with a pause. It may be more possible if we all lived the way our grandparents and great-grandparents did, but who wants to do that? My grandparents raised 12 kids in a space not a lot larger than half the size of my house. They heated it with wood at least part of the time and grew all of their own food out of necessity. You didn't have endless outfits to choose from, and Grandma made the most of it. The community came from quilting bees, threshing bees, church and school. They built and ran what they needed. Hardly utopian, this was a sunrise-to-sundown operation with coal oil lamps to lengthen the day for sewing. My grandma told me once they were far too busy to worry about whether they were happy in their marriages or fulfilled with their lives. She believed it was a much easier way to live than we do now. She may have a point, but I know I am not up to that kind of work.
Now, we are coming from a position of entitlement and a strong aversion to being told "no." We want all of the amenities of a larger center even when it doesn't "math." As a group, we are willing to sink the future of a community by taking a backward approach to building it anyway, without any real plan as to how we will pay for it in the future. We don't know our neighbours in a town of 1500 or less. Do a fundraiser or a community event, and you will invite criticism from those who were not part of the planning and not participants or supporters of the events. Well, so what?
If we want to rebuild the community, we have to start thinking about what is good for the entire community, not just the people who agree with "us". We need to live within our tax base and raise funds for some of the important things ahead of the nice-to-haves. Our current way is not sustainable. The taxes and expenses are already too high for two people working full-time in too many households. There is no relief in sight.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on long term sustainability. :)
