The Decline and Fall of America Continues

As I've said before, I've been trying to think good thoughts about what's left of this country. One of the things I silently gave thanks for yesterday was that, despite the increasingly anti-intellectual and corporatized nature of this nation, we still have a free public library system.

It turns out the city of Salinas, CA will be closing all three of its public libraries soon. To top off the irony, this is John Steinbeck's hometown. One of the libraries is named after him; another after another champion of the rights of the poor: Cesar Chavez. (There are many articles about this, including one on the front page of the LA Times, but here's one that doesn't require registration, as far as I can tell.)

Salinas is a poor town, and voters rejected a tax measure that would have saved the libraries. There were several reasons: the proposition was worded poorly and didn't specifically mention the library, voters thought the city would find some other way to pay for the libraries if the tax measure was defeated, and some voters simply don't want their taxes raised for any reason.

What neither of the articles I've read mentioned is that perhaps the poor, hard-workign adults of Salinas failed to see the library as part of their (and others') children's education. Got a small, overcrowded house? You do your homework at the library, if you do it at all. Got a crappy school system? You supplement it with books from the library (based on my admittedly limited experience with the students, parents, and alumni of the deeply troubled LA schools). Can't afford a computer? Go to the library. Unemployed? Read want ads and job sites at the library. In short, as much good as public libraries do the middle class -- and that's a lot -- they do exponentially more for the poor.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but damn.