There the battle becomes much more onesided. A Wal Mart may have a legal budget as big as the total budget of some of the towns it wants to occupy. But in the court of public opinion, the advantage of bigness is muted. Decisions are being made at a level where people can inexpensively and conveniently engage in a conversation among themselves. The debate about superstores on the local level informs and illuminates the debate between conservatives and liberals on the national level.
Conservatives insist they want to give government back to the people.
But all too often it appears that they'd prefer to abolish authority rather than delegate it. Conservatives say they believe in strong communities but they rarely promote mechanisms by which a community can protect itself against a privately owned and powerful destabilizing outside force. These philosophical questions come down to earth very quickly when the issue is superstores and the fate of rural America.