Good Stuff from Raytown

Readers from outside of the Kansas City metropolitan area don't know what Raytown is. In fact, I bet a good percentage of Kansas City's more skittish suburbanites don't know what Raytown is.

Raytown was named after a blacksmith who settled there. Such a history would lead you to expect a somewhat gritty, totally non-ostentatious, working class kind of place, and your expectations would be met in Raytown. It's the kind of place where the basketball coach is named "Bud" and got in trouble a few years back for smacking his players with a wooden paddle. The Raytown Chamber of Commerce leadership is an all-white mix of small-business people, led by a school photographer, though 13% of the businesses are minority-owned. In short, Raytown is a pretty good microcosm of middle-America.

That's why it is exciting to see that the progressive movement is alive and kicking in such an environment. A fine and passionate blog entitled Raytown Progressive Action has been chronicling local, state and national politics for a few months now, and the posts are meaty and thoughtful.