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Well in the small town area I had grown up in but left 30 years ago (2 small adjacent towns) the same mayors were still there when I moved back 5 years ago.
One served 49 years and the other 53 years. Both were in their late 80s when they passed.
One was well-loved and made some good decisions, the other one made some bad decisions (IMHO) and the town looks like it!
It's real but the perniciousness will vary. You have to remember that these good old boys went to school together, played sports together, hunted and fished together, got drunk together, chased the same girls, swapped the the same same girls, etc.
Where it's pernicious is when things are done out sight and with no explanation-secret zoning changes, sweetheart, no bid contracts-things like that. If things are done above board then the relationships can be beneficial.
Until a couple years ago I was involved in local elective politics for most of the last 35 years and early on railed against the Good Old Boys. Along about year 20 I said something and another official, who also was an anti-GoB, turned and said, "You know we're both Good Old Boys now". She was right.
I watched a really decent guy I got to know in my rural area. He bought a large patch of woods to build his new home on, after he had been a resident of the area for about 15 years. For some reason, the head GOB at the township decided he didn't like the guy, or the idea that he was building on a tract that ole' Jethro decided shouldn't be built on, especially by an out of towner. The landowner goes for a driveway permit and is denied. He then learns that the speed of the road is too high, and it's to dangerous too build a driveway anywhere on the property. The fact that he proposed to enter the township road directly across from the driveway of a "pioneer family" in the area, didn't matter. If you were there for generations, and a GOB, it was safe to pull out on to the township road. If you moved there from somewhere else, too bad, you bought land you can't ever build on, since you will never get the permits.
The land owner went to an out of area civil engineer (big mistake) to get help. That engineer declared that a traffic study of the road will provide state approved data that will force GOB Jethro to issue a permit. Landowner talks to Jethro, who agrees that a traffic study will resolve the issue. Landowner spend thousands on the study. He presents the report to Jethro, who tells him that they don't take outside work like that as legitimate, and the township will have to do their own traffic study, someday. At this point the landowner loses his cool and asks Jetrhro exactly what his problem is? Jethro candidly states that he hates city people moving into "his" township, and wrecking the place. The landowner regroups, and takes advice from other GOBs to speak to the township's hired civil engineer and surveyor. That engineer is a certified GOB, who charges a hefty fee to review the other engineers work, then presents it to Jethro. Jethro issues the permit.
I built homes in that area for decades, I've got too many stories like this to even count. Everything from favoring the locals in general to flat out racism, corruption and fraud. I've seen outsiders driven out of the area, and GOBs who literally didn't follow any rules, since they didn't apply to them. Other GOBs got together to rewrite the local laws to line their pockets, in off the record meetings that were never recorded, know by most residents, or township officials who were not part of the insider's GOB network.
He was so frustrated that he couldn't succeed were he wanted to succeed that he destroyed himself. Sad, really.
They say you can't fight City Hall. Maybe they should say "You shouldn't try to fight City Hall."
The majority of complainers are people who want others to change to suit them and their needs. Even if they succeed legally all they cause is hate and discontent. Better they go somewhere where they can succeed and people like their ideas.
Otherwise to me it just looks like jealousy and blaming other people for your own failures. And in the case of the man above, finally total madness.
Actually I get that, and it is their 'home' (and their local 'culture'), when after all, the 'locals' helped make it what it is. Though also for better or for worse... we don't get tp 'pick & choose' only the contributions we like. Just as few ever complain about the 'good' contributions of newcomers too, like better schools, more 'professional' law enforcement, more construction, jobs and tax revenues, etc.... unless of course one wants to live in a permanent 'theme park', or their complaints are only motivated by simple 'tribalism', aka, "you ain't from around here, are 'ya boy...?"
My experience was in criminal justice and there were counties were there was potentially too much cronyism to have fair due process of someone who was arrested. If the judge and prosecutor or sheriff or probation officer play golf or poker together or are cousins you might have a problem. You also have the situation where everyone knows that one or two families are trouble so are always on the list of possible perpetrators. Then you have the newcomers who are suspect because people don’t know enough about them. There are sometimes just a few extended families that do everything the small towns. Having judges and prosecutors appointed based on merit and not elected is one way to reduce the cronyism.
It is very common. It was common in Ohio and it is common here in Florida. It is especially common in more remote areas.
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