Is WalMart Embittering?

I feel like this article on how WalMart and other big box retailers are really what's making small town America bitter were it not written by someone who "teaches history and international relations at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris."

My understanding, meanwhile, is that small proprietors are just about the most hard-core rightwingers in America in terms of their political allegiances (really big companies need to hedge their bets politically) so it's hard to believe that the (alleged) decline of local ownership in small towns is responsible for any political shifts to the right that may or may not have occurred.