An illustrative trip to the 1st world

[ThomWV]

Yesterday afternoon my son and I had to take a trip to a small manufacturing company some miles from here to order trusses for a house we're going to build. I want to tell you about the trip

We left Masontown, West Virginia headed for Oakland, Maryland , which is about a 40 mile trip. We were approaching the last small town in West Virginia, Terra Alta, when I said this to my son. I said, I want you to look around as we pass through Terra Alta and then I want you to compare it to Oakland, Maryland which is just 8 miles up the road. I said, as we go through Terra Alta I want you to keep something in mind. That is we are in a state (West Virginia) that has just about the lowest tax rates in the nation and very lax enforcement of regulations on business in general but outrageously so for the sorts of industries that function in this part of the country - gas well drilling, coal mining, and timber extraction. What we are going into is one of the states with the highest tax rate in the nation and generally speaking very good enforcement of industrial and environmental regulation.

Terra Alta and Oakland are on the same road, they both owe much of their existence to the rail roads that thrived in both towns during the industrial age.

West Virginia is a Republican's ideal - nearly no taxes, nearly no Government interference with business. Maryland is a Republican's hell, high taxes and law enforcement prevail.

So we drove through, and here is what there was to be seen. Terra Alta, on the low to no tax and lax enforcement side is nearly a ghost town. Most bussiness are closed and shuttered, houses are crumbling, the roads are in a horrible state of disrepair - virtually every business with the exception of a used clothing storefront is closed in the "downtown" area. People move out, no one moves in. By Contrast Oakland is a thriving community, with operating businesses, well kept homes and roadways. neat and prosperous farms along the roadways. Almost nothing is closed and when you pass through the area you can not help but think this would be a very good place to live and raise children

8 miles apart, the same economic base. The only difference is political and the one that follows the Republican line is hell. This is what the Republicans would have for us all. And here is the saddest thing about it. Oakland is in a very conservative part of Maryland and if many of the people there had their way they would mirror West Virginia's shitty example.

[leftstreet]

1. Good post, but I think this has nothing to do with politics

As you noted, the Oakland area is 'conservative' yet doing well

Most crumbling, dying inner cities have skewed 'left' politically for ages. Although sadly there is no Left in the US to vote for

[ThomWV]

3. I agree

We who care about the nation and believe in the ideals of the Democratic Party have no one to vote for.

Oakland is indeed a very conservative area, but they benefit completely by the rest of the state - their prosperity has nothing to do with their political beliefs, it is the political beliefs, and tax base, of the rest of the state that affords them their pleasant lifestyle.

[snagglepuss]

2. While reading your post I realized that Repiglicanism is actually a form of

cult rather than politcal party. It's the only way to understand such wilful blindness.