In the two years since Aaron Renn moved to Carmel, Ind., he has become a kind of unofficial booster for the unusual suburb of Indianapolis.
For Mr. Renn, Carmel is proof that “we can have an America where things still work.” Run by Republicans for decades, with the same mayor from 1996 to 2024, the city has built big and beautifully, often in traditionalist architectural styles. The streets — bikeable and walkable — are almost eerily free of trash. Police officers enforce traffic laws strictly, and drivers behave with a noticeable lack of aggression. It’s Mayberry, or Bedford Falls.
I traveled to Carmel in February to talk with Mr. Renn about the ideas that had made him a new star in conservative Christian intellectual circles. But we ended up spending almost as much time talking about the city. Mr. Renn arranged a tour of the Palladium, a huge limestone state-of-the-art concert hall inspired by classical Greek and Roman temples. He led me into an elaborately decorated local cake shop that he pointed out had received attention from Oprah Winfrey and Disney. Over lunch at a “seasonally influenced” restaurant nearby, he pulled out a sheet of typed notes he had prepared, reminding him of all the other qualities of the city that he wanted to mention.
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