The Cost of Apathy

Good afternoon, everyone. A look at Mayor O'Connell's bid for re-election... First day of Tennessee's special session... Belmont shooter pleads guilty to 2nd degree murder... And much more!

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The Undoing of the West Join us May 21st for a discussion with Vauban Books and writer Nathan Pinkoski for a discussion about French writer Jean Raspail's novel The Camp of Saints. (Buy Ticket)

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Opinion: Mayor Freddie O’Connell is powered by your apathy

From Davis Hunt

It’s official. Mayor Freddie O’Connell is running again. His decision breaks the ten-year streak of mayors who have ducked out of a second term, whether of their own volition or due to criminal negligence. “The next four years are about turning progress into permanence,” O’Connell said.

For decades, Nashville steeped in the cultural ferment of the country without drawing too much attention outside the Southeast. That all changed as Nashville’s explosive growth coincided with the cultural ascendancy of country music.

Nashville is understood in the wider culture as a Red City. Country music, the horses out in Franklin, and lake culture all intertwine to give the area a distinctly Republican appeal – not to mention the makeup of the state government. Superficially, Nashville is honky-tonks and the rolling, green pastures south of town.

This explains why, popularly, outside of our Middle Tennessee bubble, Nashville sits at the top of cities with the best public perception as a refreshingly American locale. Nashville is – or was – distinctly its own thing with its own, homegrown culture. So when you fly into Nashville International Airport, you don’t expect to hear a nasally, pretentious greeting from Mayor O’Connell.

The reason you don’t is because this shift happened fast. In 2003, then freshly elected US Senator Lamar Alexander noted of country music’s relationship to the city of Nashville, "Country music still sits uncomfortably in Nashville, like McDonald's in Japan." That, of course, is no longer the case. Just over twenty years later, Nashville and country music are so intertwined that it’s impossible to envision a version of the city without it.

And yet, the current mayor studiously avoided invoking the legacy of country music in Nashville because it was too white-coded. You saw a similar inflection from state Rep. Aftyn Behn when she famously inveighed against the country culture of Broadway.

Leadership that can meet this moment in our city’s history, one that the Financial Times described as ‘existential’ in an article today, must reconcile the city’s global cultural footprint with the desires of residents. O’Connell and his ilk’s approach seems to be to ignore both as they loot the city coffers and levy increasingly onerous taxes on the residents and businesses that made this place what it is today.

A Mayor Freddie O’Connell is what apathy will get you as a Nashville resident: a feckless administrator who will raise your taxes twice, hide for four days during the most impactful winter storm in thirty years, and oversee the extinction of local staple businesses and the outmigration of families; smile and deflect as he does it and still have the gall to run for a second term.

By any objective standard, O’Connell’s “We Want You To Stay” campaign slogan has failed miserably. So what does he have to run on? In this environment, making whatever “progress” the mayor has achieved permanent sounds more like a threat than a promise. Is the job market really that bad, or is O’Connell banking on your apathy?

In a town in which only 20% of the electorate votes, I wager it’s the latter. What powers the O’Connell administration? Complacency, apathy, and inertia. An object in motion stays in motion until acted upon by an outside force. O’Connell is that object.

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What Horrors We Wrought In 1973, French writer Jean Raspail published one of the most controversial novels of the 20th century. His novel, The Camp of Saints, has been consistently censored throughout its history.

Vauban Books recently published a new translation of the French story, accompanied by a lucid introduction by writer Nathan Pinkoski. Join us as we discuss the legacy of this controversial novel and what it says about the West.

Get your ticket

This event is for the benefit of The Pamphleteer, Nashville, and priced with that in mind. Bard-level subscribers receive free admittance.

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BLURBS

Via Financial Times 'An existential crisis': residents pay for Nashville boom (Read)

🗞 First Day of Special Session This morning, the Ad Hoc House Rules Committee convened to establish rules for Tennessee’s special session to redraw Congressional Districts. Similar to past special sessions, the House will operate in flow motion which expedites the process. Members also supported a rule which bars anyone removed for being disruptive from coming back during the remainder of session.

The House and Senate will both convene this afternoon. Several representatives have commented that they have yet to see the legislation or renderings of the proposed maps. Unless something holds things up, special session will likely wrap up on Thursday. MEGAN PODSIEDLIK

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✹ METRO COUNCIL WATCH

New Council Watch Features We've added additional features to Council Watch. In addition to who's funding your council member, you can now see how they vote and who they vote with most frequently. (Take a Look)

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HEADLINES

⚖️ Shaquille Taylor pleads guilty to multiple charges including 2nd degree murder. Shaquille Taylor, the man accused of gunning down a Belmont University student in 2023, has pleaded guilty to 2nd degree murder as well as aggravated assault with a firearm. (NewsChannel 5)
🏕 Tom Hanks’ son explains why he is living in an RV trailer park in Nashville “I didn’t want to get an apartment because I literally just got a condo in LA and I furnished it,” said Chet Hanks, who explained that he invested in a Jayco Eagle instead of Airbnb hopping while in town. (WSMV)
🗞 The Daily Wire cuts jobs in layoffs 'largely concentrated' in Nashville. “The Daily Wire made a difficult decision to restructure the organization, which included layoffs to a number of teams,” a spokesperson told Barrett Media in a statement. The Daily Wire moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Nashville's Berry Hill neighborhood in late 2020. The company initially brought 75 jobs and had plans to grow as large as 125 workers or more locally. (NBJ)

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