Sean Dengler.

Local control is a standard plea politicians love to make. It makes sense. No one wants a far-off entity like the federal government making decisions impacting those locally when they do not know what is best for the locals. Keeping everything under local control is best for America and democracy.

Being skeptical of government control from a far-off place is important, but why does it only exist in government? This is not only a public problem, but it is a private sector problem. When local and regional economies are impacted by a business entity which has no relation to communities it exists in, this is also a loss of local control. As businesses have been consolidated into national brands, this has led first from locally owned businesses to consolidate to regionally owned to then being nationally owned. Decisions are made by individuals who have no sense of what is best for local conditions.

For example, medical clinics in Gladbrook and Dysart were shut down by a boardroom in Michigan which does not know the impact it has on local communities. This comes from MercyOne being bought by Michigan-based company Trinity Health in 2022. This came after Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare joined the Mercy Health Network in 2016. This has led to less local control from this hospital headquartered faraway and decisions which can negatively impact locals.

Another example is the consolidation of the machinery industry, which led many towns from having different brands of dealerships to now John Deere having a dominant role in this industry. Through the lack of antitrust law enforcement since the 1980s, it has led John Deere to use their market power to control the market. This power has pushed dealerships to consolidate and grow bigger, leaving farmers dependent on fewer resources. This lack of resiliency leads to local farmers being put at the mercy of driving farther distances to get parts or rely on waiting for technicians to show up. Since John Deere can withhold information on how to fix their equipment, this private entity usurps local control of farmers by causing them to rely on John Deere technicians to fix their equipment in place of themselves or an independent shop. This leads to a noncompetitive market creating higher costs and a loss of local control.

The last example is the hollowing out of resilient, local food systems. This has led to a lack of fresh food due to the lack of local control. When a law like the Robinson-Patman Act was enforced from the 1930s until the 1980s, large chains like Walmart or Dollar General, could not buy a bag of potatoes at a different cost than a locally owned grocery store owner by using their market size. The competition between these stores came not from market power but through service and skill. Since the lack of enforcement of this law since the 1980s, Walmart and Dollar General strong-armed wholesalers into giving them cheaper prices. This leads to local grocers competing on an unequal playing field like an eight-man football team playing against an eleven-man team. This is how Dollar General can unfairly compete on price against a locally owned grocery store. With them not offering fresh food, it leaves communities dependent on Dollar General out of luck. The local control of these locally owned grocery stores is infringed upon by the unfair playing field the likes of Walmart and Dollar General can take advantage of, leading to fresh food being harder to come by.

With the Robinson-Patman Act, antitrust laws, and preventing consolidation in general, protecting local control from out of state entities besides government has been done before. My great-grandparents’ generation saw the harm of letting private power take over local control. After the Great Depression until the 1980s, society was set up in a way to help prevent distant private economic interests from exerting their force over local control. This was a contributing reason to the success of the middle class and the prosperity Americans felt during this time.

Since the 1980s, this unchecked private power has led to today where farming is unaffordable to most, finding a house to live can be unaffordable, and groceries can also be unaffordable. When economic local control is usurped by distant private interests, these are the consequences. Not the government nor private industry should take over the responsibility from those who know it best, the locals.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, now-retired beginning farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.