The Outstater
The Cult of Eco-Devo
FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW I have searched for the perfect apothegm or story to describe Indiana’s economic-development policies — you know, the ones that build stadiums and mixed-use apartment complexes, renovate entertainment and shopping districts and such, all promising growth by shifting other peoples money around with tax-secured bonds, tax increment financing, grants and rebates.
The musical “Music Man” can be dismissed right away because Harold Hill had a better grasp on economic principles than our average economic-development proponent.
And the movie “Field of Dreams” with its signature line “build it and they will come” would have worked had Kevin Costner played a progressive city council president. As it was, supernatural elements clouded any analogy.
Then there are the so-called “cargo cults” that flourished in the New Hebrides of the South Pacific following World War II. One account is that an American cargo plane crash-landed there spilling out an array of goods and supplies that the islanders took for gifts from the gods. Whatever, a short-lived religion arose worshiping a mysterious “John Frum,” possibly the pilot. Ceremonies were conducted involving symbolic planes and landing strips in hopes of enticing the cargo gods to return.
Pretty close, but I’ve settled on a philosophical reference. It is from Oswald Spengler who argues that a culture goes through three stages of development. See if you can guess which best fits a typical municipal economic-development group.
The Creative Generation — This is the pioneering group that generates new ideas, art and innovations, laying the foundation for the community.
The Mimic Generation — The subsequent generation follows in the footsteps of the creative generation, replicating and imitating its achievements but not producing anything radically new or original.
The Failed Generation — The final generation is unable to sustain the vitality of the first or false optimism of the second, leading to eventual fiscal collapse.
Congratulations, you guessed right. It is the mimic generation that goes through the motions of creating economic growth but without innovation or productivity or any market test. The next generation, if Spengler is to be believed, will be the failed generation that must pay for all the notes and bonds on those grandiose projects that never fulfilled their promise.
But there’s always the hope that Kevin Costner will build a magical baseball diamond in one of our corn fields or that John Frum will drop a plane full of cargo onto the town square. — tcl
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