There are both pro’s and con’s of living a rural life. For some the relative isolation is unbearable, for others a God send. Dragging my butt 25 or so miles each way to pick up weekly groceries is a pain and now that I’m aged, my back hurts and my legs are cramped on both ends of the journey. While I think the thousands of pro/con comparisons weigh heavily towards the rural, I’m obviously a minority as only 17 percent of Americans feel the same. The other 83 percent live the urban/suburban life.
The 17 percent number is eroding exponentially. Right now rural areas are loosing roughly 300,000 annually while city dwellers are growing by a little over 2,000,000 annually. As things stand, our 330 million in population is split 273 million to 57. As this degradation in population continues so goes the political influence and value system. In 10 years little or no consideration will be given to the wants/needs of the rural population in America. It’s probably a good thing that the most important want/need is centered around ‘keep the hell out of my life’.
In short, we are insulated from the insanity that springs up in the population centers. No riots, no BLM/Antifa, no men running around in skirts with green hair and nose rings. But, to think/say that we are immune to the decisions made by politicians (and their fine constituents) is a mistake. Case in point: canning lids.
You may be able to detect that I’m still pissed about not being able to instantly go on line and execute a resupply. There is absolutely no logical reason that a commodity that is used almost exclusively by a rural population, a population that is shrinking, should be completely sold out at every retail outlet in the country. What few items are available are selling at 5+ times their normal price. Lids are now so expensive that, when they can be found, you can actually buy two 12 packs of canning jars (with glass jars, rings, and lids) for less that 12 individual lids. This is insane!
I’ve solved my lid issue. I’ve invested in bunches of ‘reusables’ that are said to have an 8 year life. I’m not sure that whatever drags us back into the stone age is going to last that long, but I am sure whatever causes it can be laid at the feet of the wondrous ‘leaders’ the urbanites install into office.