The story starts deep in the heart of Texas, in the border community of Del Rio, population 36,000. American Airlines pulled out of their “international” airport, forcing people in the area to drive nearly three hours to the nearest airport in San Antonio.
“Talk about a low blow,” Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, the congressperson for Del Rio, a predominantly Hispanic community, said in an interview. “I’m frustrated to no end. … If these major companies want rural America to thrive, they need to be investing in rural America, not pulling the rug out from under us.”
Imagine thinking that “major companies want rural America to thrive.” Republicans are the party of laissez-faire economics, where business is supposed to have unfettered and unregulated access to whatever the hell it wants. And sure, conservatives have thrown out much of their “pro-business” rhetoric in their current “woke woke woke” hysteria, but demanding big corporations provide air service to communities as small as 36,000 is a new level of disdain for market economics.
The industry’s airport desertions pose a serious risk to the economies of these communities, and local leaders believe that a lack of air service threatens a teetering rural America that already feels forgotten by the rest of the country. It’s also driving city officials to plead with state legislatures and Capitol Hill for help.
Look at that, those libertarian and conservative elected officials, with their overwhelmingly conservative/libertarian electorates, are now begging the government to bail them out. And if such a thing were to happen, where would the money come from? From the same places that have been subsidizing rural America for far too long—the urban cities they loathe so much.
For a crew that likes to pretend they don’t need no stinkin’ government and fantasize about violent revolution, they’d rather go crying to that same government for help over the hardship of driving a couple of hours to an airport.
“In rural communities like ours there’s no way we’re going to survive long-term without air service,” Cavanagh said in an interview. “We’re going to die a slow, agonizing death.” Feeling connected to the rest of the country is “a huge part of our identity and if we don’t feel like that’s being supported, that’s going to have huge implications politically,” he said. It’s what “people in the Midwest think of when they say Washington doesn’t think of them.”
Have they heard of the internet? That connects people, which by the way, is already subsidized by urban America (as well as phone service). Related, House Republicans just passed a budget bill that slashes veterans services, specifically telehealth technology and services that benefit rural veterans. These services are especially important because more than 180 rural hospitals have closed since 2005.
And for physical travel, given the massive demand these small communities claim to have for air travel, maybe some enterprising soul can shuttle people back and forth in a van or bus. If an actual functioning airport is that essential for that community’s lifeblood, they can raise their own taxes to subsidize a carrier, or simply pay much higher fares for the travel. (Though if the latter was viable, it would’ve already happened.). But the last thing Washington needs to do is exacerbate the urban-rural, red state-blue state financial divide. Urban, Democratic areas already subsidize those communities. (In fact, like we just saw in Arkansas, red states love to cut taxes, then demand the federal government make up the balance.)
For their part, the airlines say that in addition to economics, a pilot shortage exacerbates the situation. But again, the rules of supply and demand dictate that if those pilots earned more (ZipRecruiter pegs the national average at $63,680/year, but can be as low as in the $20s), that would increase supply of pilots. But that wouldn’t be a problem if communities dominated by cows actually had demand for something as expensive as air travel service.
But ultimately, driving two or three hours to a bigger-city airport shouldn’t be as devastating as these whiners claim. Many people commute that far daily for their jobs. Many drive even further to attend a Trump rally. Doing it every once in a while while traveling shouldn’t be an issue, given how self-sufficient rural conservatives claim to be.
There is another option—one in which all of America makes sure everyone, wherever they live, and whatever they look like, and even wherever they come from, all get to share in the nation’s prosperity.
In this America, billionaires would be paying their fair share. Elon Musk wouldn’t pay $44 billion to turn Twitter into conservative Gab, Parler, or Truth Social. Instead, that money could be paid in wealth taxes to, for example, make sure communities are connected. It might be subsidized air or bus service, or a broadly expanded rail network. This America wouldn’t feature rural conservatives sneering at their supposed moral superiority over urban dwellers.
(If Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks New York City smells bad, she should try driving through pungent Hereford, Texas, which calls itself the “Beef Capital of the World.”)
You’d think rural voters would be grateful for all the nice things they have because of urban subsidies. They already dominate the Senate and have an unfair advantage in the Electoral College, which gives rural voters a larger say by design. They drain blue states dry of resources, as they need far more services to survive in remote, low-density areas. Economies of scale are a thing.
Instead of crying about ‘wokeness’ and clinging to Republican culture war narratives, they could actually wake up and engage in a truly democratic and equitable America. Start working to find solutions to their problems, rather than literally be the reason we are where we are today. Because they keep voting for reactionary Republicans, as all farmers and ranchers should know, you reap what you sow. It’s not Democrats cutting taxes on the rich, Republicans did that. And it’s not Democrats demanding veterans’ services in rural areas get slashed, Republicans are doing that. The very Republicans they dutifully vote for time and again..
So if rural Americans insist on voting for Republicans, maybe they can get their new hero Elon Musk to jet in to save the day. Maybe he can dig a tunnel and lay down new tracks to their communities. It would make as much sense as asking those already subsidizing their lifestyle to pay more, to save them a longer commute to an airport.
The past week seems to have packed in a month’s worth of news. Markos and Kerry tackle it all, from Joe Biden’s big announcement to Tucker Carlson’s early retirement from Fox News.
