Picking up a slightly dated copy of USA Today last week made me wonder if I’d been away from Eastern Washington so long that a seismic shift in the body politic had occurred in my absence. Spokane Valley, it said, was the No. 1 city for “centrists.”
What the what? Spokane Valley, which has no Democrats running for the Legislature and usually an all-Republican City Council, is centrist?
First let me say that the Valley is probably a fine place to live, regardless if one is right wing, left wing or middle of the bird. I’ve never lived there, but have friends who do, and they speak highly of it. Centrist, however, is not a term I’ve ever heard them use.
Second, rating America’s various municipalities on different qualities is a difficult, if somewhat silly, exercise. The demand for lists has exploded to feed the insatiable hunger of websites that claim to offer news but mainly just regurgitate information glommed from elsewhere. Click here for the six scariest movies, the eight best Beatles songs or 10 sexiest actresses.