On Nov. 5, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election. In New Russia Township, Cynthia Drozdowski-Breda was also elected trustee following a wave of backlash against the $60 million megasite project that was recently proposed near the Lorain County Regional Airport. I bring these two seemingly distant races up together because I think they both reflect a common phenomenon that defines our political climate from both the right and the left. Both reflect frustration with moneyed interests imposing their will on ordinary citizens and a desire to wrest power back into the hands of the people.
On that Tuesday night, I was in the New Russia Lodge listening to citizens express their frustration at the planned development of a megasite. I was there to help one of our writers report on the controversy surrounding the murky development plans. It amazed me what a world apart New Russia Township was from Oberlin College. The New Russia Township Lodge where the meeting took place, located on Butternut Ridge Road just beyond North Fields, is only a short walk from my house, but it could not be more culturally different. Many of the men in the almost entirely white crowd wore flannels and ball caps. Before the meeting began, we all stood to say the Pledge of Allegiance, something I hadn’t done since my days in public high school. In the public comment section, the attendees spoke of their love for rural life, their fears of industrial development, and their resentment over County restrictions on livestock.
Needless to say, there is not much interest or awareness about the megasite project at Oberlin College despite the fact that the project, if completed, will inhabit a tract of land only a little more than a 10-minute drive from campus. This is probably largely due to the cultural and political gulf that separates the progressive College from its conservative surroundings. Despite this, I think Oberlin students have a lot to learn from and sympathize with in the movement happening in the rural community so close to them.
At the New Russia Lodge, I understood why local residents were angry and distrustful. Why wouldn’t the County commissioners tell them what was going to be built in their backyards? Maybe the development is something truly awful that will only be implemented if it is snuck in. Maybe civic leaders genuinely feel it will improve the community but fear that the optics will lead to backlash. Regardless, what citizens of New Russia bristle at isn’t the particulars of the planning. It is the condescension of County leaders — their smugness at believing they can quietly do what they want to do and that no one will stand in their way.
The Save New Russia Township and Surrounding Areas Facebook page, which has over 2,000 followers, seethes with anti-establishment energy. One meme shows an image of a farmer tending to cows with the text: “We can survive without global elites, but we cannot survive without farmers.” Other posts address the negative impacts of data centers, although despite much conjecture, there is no evidence the megasite will be the location of a data center. Besides opposing the megasite, citizens were also concerned with this past election’s Issue 1, a proposed sales tax hike that would have raised funds to support the Lorain County Sheriff’s office. Questioning law enforcement funding, raising concerns over the environmental impacts of industrial development, and railing against the billionaire class all sound pretty left-wing, yet they coexist well with the values of conservative, rural midwesterners.
It is easy for urban, educated liberals to explain away rural people’s perspectives as reactionary, paranoid, and rooted in misinformation. It is true that rural skeptical populism is sometimes intertwined with disdain for the socially progressive values of big cities and white anxiety over replacement by immigrants. It is also true that paranoia and conjecture are commonly associated with populism of all kinds — after the meeting, I spoke with a man who told me that the nation had been living under “total enslavement” by the banking class and the federal government since 1933. I feel these conspiracy theories are largely based in legitimate corruption and dishonesty. Maybe if leaders were transparent with their constituents, they wouldn’t face so much distrust and resentment.
All across this nation, there is a call for our government and economic system to be more responsive to the needs of the people. Our hope should be that this populism is channeled in productive ways that lead to lasting change, rather than chaos and demagogues. It should lead to a new politics built on transparency and cooperation, rather than the endless propagation of conspiracy theories.
To build productive populism, we must focus on concrete issues rather than fighting abstract, existential enemies. It is no accident that populism in its most organic form occurs on the local level. Mamdani’s victory in New York and the push against the Lorain County megasite reflect responses to immediate issues that concern the way people live, the streets and roads they traverse, and the environments they call home. Any genuine type of politics that promises to empower the people rather than elites should begin with listening to the people’s concerns about the tangible threats and afflictions impacting their communities. With this, I encourage Oberlin students with an interest in making permanent social change to engage with the political issues occurring in the community surrounding them.
