One result of the extended bailout debate has been to make me pretty sick-and-tired of metaphorical invocations of “Main Street.” This isn’t 1908. Normally in the present-day United States, I see a traditional Main Street being the center of activity when I’m in a picturesque vacation spot for rich people. Aspen, Colorado and Blue Hill, Maine are both focused on their Main Streets. But just about everyplace else you go, people are shopping and working either downtown, or else in a suburban mall or office park. We need an economic recovery plan that works not only for Wall Street, but also for people shopping at big box stores.
In some respects, it’s not a big deal. A cliché is just a cliché. But I do think it’s harmful in some ways that American political culture continues to have such a small town orientation long after the country ceased being primarily rural or small town in nature. Most people live in suburban portions of large metropolitan areas and participate in an economy that operates in part on a global scale and in part on a metropolitan scale. It’s important, it seems to me, for our basic language about our politics and our society to reflect reality and not some dimly recalled echo of the past.
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