Partly off-topic: The number of openly conservative art critics in the country can be counted on one hand (as can the number of art critics who visit cities outside the coasts), but among them is Brian Allen of National Review - he recently visited Indianapolis and was impressed.
There's a lot of talk about 'right-wing culture' but I think the most realistic path forward looks something like this: working week in and week out, with a modest but loyal base of supporters, to elevate what is good in medium-scale American cultural institutions.
This is something that occurred in Columbus. Your assessment of the corporate community is exact for what’s happened here.
You notice similarities in the non-profit sector too. Local-based charities or groups seemed to have a prominent face attached to it. Sometimes it was the leader of the charity, a local executive, or the local TV guy. The Columbus Zoo specifically comes to mind. It became prominent due to Jack Hanna and his appearances locally and nationally. He grew the zoo and it connected with people. As kids, my wife and I both participated in groups there. Hanna’s tragic health diagnosis left the zoo without a face. The zoo has been beset by challenges since.
I have observed leaders in my career for 25 years. The silent and boomer generation seemed to be good at connection and had a confidence to get out there to put a foot forward. The younger generations, of which I am one, will do the social media thing, but lack a personal touch. There is something that an introduction at an event, a phone call, a knock on the door, or a letter could do that a Facebook post or a text cannot. Embracing technology has been a requirement to succeed. Still, everyone should build that personal touch and social skill that no one can replicate from a keyboard and screen.
Thank you for bringing attention to this topic, especially the role of NGOs in destroying local government. There's mounds of research on how NGOs rent-seek and vacuum up resources in communities, but little work looking at the changing structure of local elite organization as a whole.
Just like the global firms displaced regional businesses in regional hub cities, the fraternal and civic associations that once served as informal leadership circles got replaced by nationalized or globalized NGOs. This is one of the biggest things that Putnam misses in Bowling Alone. He blames television but ignores the fact that the civic societies he lauds became rather pointless and powerless in the 80's and 90's. No amount of nostalgia for better days is going to make it worth a young person's time to sit in a room full of seniors who are no longer capable of reciprocating for the money, time, and effort the young people bring to these groups. The social network can't run on altruism alone; young people's time and effort needs to lead to a tangible pathway towards career advancement and social prestige. I think that killed Putnum's civic associations far more than TV.
NGOs pretend that they're the successors of local bodies of concerned citizens, but they're no different than megacorporations. They push a national agenda from a headquarters across the country without regard for local interests, served by a professional, paid staff. Most of these are not even locals but are serving their time in hopes of moving up in the organization. I remember seeing that dynamic at work in ACORN back in my hometown. The damage they do is so much more than the graft: it's the displacement of local interests from local politics and capture of institutions by national or global factions. We complain that all politics are nationalized, that state and local elections revolve around events in Washington rather than things that matter, but politicians follow incentives. Big-money out-of-state NGOs have replaced the local business leaders as the king-makers of local politics.
Great piece Aaron. These training programs were critical for all they accomplished. It has me thinking about the creation of new training in our day. Overlapping networks still have influence today, while narrower levels of influence than in the past.
The good news of this article is that the bar has never been lower to become a civic leader in an American city. The disappearance of local elites is bad for cities, but good for people looking to become a new set of elites.
I've seen a lot of the negative trends Aaron mentions in my own experience in civic life of a 100k+ city, but I can also tell you that if anyone wants to become an alderman or a member of the planning board or have a conversation with the mayor, all that stuff is way easier because there's so little interest todays. Truly as Aaron put in an earlier article: "There's Never Been a Better Time to Be a Man in America."
Partly off-topic: The number of openly conservative art critics in the country can be counted on one hand (as can the number of art critics who visit cities outside the coasts), but among them is Brian Allen of National Review - he recently visited Indianapolis and was impressed.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/04/spring-splendor-in-indianapolis/
https://www.realclearbooks.com/authors/brian_t_allen/
There's a lot of talk about 'right-wing culture' but I think the most realistic path forward looks something like this: working week in and week out, with a modest but loyal base of supporters, to elevate what is good in medium-scale American cultural institutions.
As briefly alluded to, the 'nonprofit-industrial complex' can be incredibly destructive, actually making things worse, e.g. in San Francisco:
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2024/05/the-nonprofit-industrial-complex-and-the-corruption-of-the-american-city/
This is something that occurred in Columbus. Your assessment of the corporate community is exact for what’s happened here.
You notice similarities in the non-profit sector too. Local-based charities or groups seemed to have a prominent face attached to it. Sometimes it was the leader of the charity, a local executive, or the local TV guy. The Columbus Zoo specifically comes to mind. It became prominent due to Jack Hanna and his appearances locally and nationally. He grew the zoo and it connected with people. As kids, my wife and I both participated in groups there. Hanna’s tragic health diagnosis left the zoo without a face. The zoo has been beset by challenges since.
I have observed leaders in my career for 25 years. The silent and boomer generation seemed to be good at connection and had a confidence to get out there to put a foot forward. The younger generations, of which I am one, will do the social media thing, but lack a personal touch. There is something that an introduction at an event, a phone call, a knock on the door, or a letter could do that a Facebook post or a text cannot. Embracing technology has been a requirement to succeed. Still, everyone should build that personal touch and social skill that no one can replicate from a keyboard and screen.
Thanks - I'm glad this resonates with what you've seen as well.
Thank you for bringing attention to this topic, especially the role of NGOs in destroying local government. There's mounds of research on how NGOs rent-seek and vacuum up resources in communities, but little work looking at the changing structure of local elite organization as a whole.
Just like the global firms displaced regional businesses in regional hub cities, the fraternal and civic associations that once served as informal leadership circles got replaced by nationalized or globalized NGOs. This is one of the biggest things that Putnam misses in Bowling Alone. He blames television but ignores the fact that the civic societies he lauds became rather pointless and powerless in the 80's and 90's. No amount of nostalgia for better days is going to make it worth a young person's time to sit in a room full of seniors who are no longer capable of reciprocating for the money, time, and effort the young people bring to these groups. The social network can't run on altruism alone; young people's time and effort needs to lead to a tangible pathway towards career advancement and social prestige. I think that killed Putnum's civic associations far more than TV.
NGOs pretend that they're the successors of local bodies of concerned citizens, but they're no different than megacorporations. They push a national agenda from a headquarters across the country without regard for local interests, served by a professional, paid staff. Most of these are not even locals but are serving their time in hopes of moving up in the organization. I remember seeing that dynamic at work in ACORN back in my hometown. The damage they do is so much more than the graft: it's the displacement of local interests from local politics and capture of institutions by national or global factions. We complain that all politics are nationalized, that state and local elections revolve around events in Washington rather than things that matter, but politicians follow incentives. Big-money out-of-state NGOs have replaced the local business leaders as the king-makers of local politics.
Thanks. Even when an NGO is locally based, it's very often operating according to a standard national playbook.
Great piece Aaron. These training programs were critical for all they accomplished. It has me thinking about the creation of new training in our day. Overlapping networks still have influence today, while narrower levels of influence than in the past.
The good news of this article is that the bar has never been lower to become a civic leader in an American city. The disappearance of local elites is bad for cities, but good for people looking to become a new set of elites.
I've seen a lot of the negative trends Aaron mentions in my own experience in civic life of a 100k+ city, but I can also tell you that if anyone wants to become an alderman or a member of the planning board or have a conversation with the mayor, all that stuff is way easier because there's so little interest todays. Truly as Aaron put in an earlier article: "There's Never Been a Better Time to Be a Man in America."