Saturday, May 16, 2009
Legislature We Can Save Ourselves, If the Legislators Let Us
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Sat, May 16, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Three things over the past couple of days have stuck with me enough to want to consider them
But I'm going to say up-front that it's going to be long and I'm probably going to say some untoward things about pastors, so if that's not your thing, please contemplate this photo of a young man abusing alcohol, instead.
(Ha, I knew some of you wouldn't be able to resist!)
Towards the bottom of Newscoma's post, she says about politicians who breeze home from Nashville: "Just talking to the local chamber or buddies at a Fish Fry/Strawberry Festival/Iris Festival at a luncheon where the local clique is does not speak to the entire voice of a community."
In Woods's post, he says, "Frightened that their churchy constituents might object, wide-eyed lawmakers popped up all over the House floor to amend the bill to omit their counties from its provisions."
According to the State, our unemployment rate across Tennessee was 9.6 percent in March. If you listened to WPLN, you probably heard 20 times about how the unemployment rate in Perry County is 25.4 percent. Scott County follows with 18.8 percent.
And I invite you to peruse the whole PDF the state supplies and consider how many counties in this state are sitting at 12 percent, 14 percent, 18 percent. It's not like Perry and Scott counties are just fucking it up for the rest of us.
Everyone in this state is hurting.
So, let's be frank about two things. One, alcohol sells, even in the worst economic times, and Tennessee already has a world-wide reputation as a producer of fine whiskeys, legally, and moonshine, illegally. In other words, people already look to us. We already have the reputation. And we have the resources you need to make alcohol. We have farmers who can grow grains. We have springs. We have trees that make our unique charcoal mellowing process happen. We have the knowledge of how to do this. And it's our legacy as Tennesseans.
And second, you're really going to tell me that when a state representative goes home to, say, Pickett County (unemployment rate 16.9%, 300 people out of work) or Maury County (unemployment rate 15.6%, almost 6,000 people out of work), and they talk to people who don't have jobs and can't find jobs and they say, "Would you work in a distillery, if they'd hire you on?" that unemployeed folks in those counties are saying no?!
I don't believe it. Instead, I imagine what's going on is almost exactly what Newscoma describes: legislators are going back to their home counties and talking to various "important" people who have less on the line. It's easy enough for pastors to pressure politicians to keep the demon alcohol out of their counties; PASTORS HAVE JOBS.
I hate to be rude, but that's the crux of the matter. People with jobs are sitting around talking to other people with jobs about what jobs are "appropriate" for their counties. People can't pay their bills. People can't go to the doctor. People can't find any work. And our state legislators are scrambling to exclude their counties from legislation that would BRING WORK?!
Do they not get it? Or do they get that they're putting their moral qualms above your need to feed your family?
Seriously, anyone who would vote against something that will bring jobs to Tennessee in this economy should be tarred and feathered the next time he or she steps foot in his or her home town.
click to enlarge
all together: Newscoma's rant about how legislators in her area are doing things, the unemployment report the State put out for March, and Woods's post about the the micro-distillery legislation being pushed back.
But I'm going to say up-front that it's going to be long and I'm probably going to say some untoward things about pastors, so if that's not your thing, please contemplate this photo of a young man abusing alcohol, instead.
(Ha, I knew some of you wouldn't be able to resist!)
Towards the bottom of Newscoma's post, she says about politicians who breeze home from Nashville: "Just talking to the local chamber or buddies at a Fish Fry/Strawberry Festival/Iris Festival at a luncheon where the local clique is does not speak to the entire voice of a community."
In Woods's post, he says, "Frightened that their churchy constituents might object, wide-eyed lawmakers popped up all over the House floor to amend the bill to omit their counties from its provisions."
According to the State, our unemployment rate across Tennessee was 9.6 percent in March. If you listened to WPLN, you probably heard 20 times about how the unemployment rate in Perry County is 25.4 percent. Scott County follows with 18.8 percent.
And I invite you to peruse the whole PDF the state supplies and consider how many counties in this state are sitting at 12 percent, 14 percent, 18 percent. It's not like Perry and Scott counties are just fucking it up for the rest of us.
Everyone in this state is hurting.
So, let's be frank about two things. One, alcohol sells, even in the worst economic times, and Tennessee already has a world-wide reputation as a producer of fine whiskeys, legally, and moonshine, illegally. In other words, people already look to us. We already have the reputation. And we have the resources you need to make alcohol. We have farmers who can grow grains. We have springs. We have trees that make our unique charcoal mellowing process happen. We have the knowledge of how to do this. And it's our legacy as Tennesseans.
And second, you're really going to tell me that when a state representative goes home to, say, Pickett County (unemployment rate 16.9%, 300 people out of work) or Maury County (unemployment rate 15.6%, almost 6,000 people out of work), and they talk to people who don't have jobs and can't find jobs and they say, "Would you work in a distillery, if they'd hire you on?" that unemployeed folks in those counties are saying no?!
I don't believe it. Instead, I imagine what's going on is almost exactly what Newscoma describes: legislators are going back to their home counties and talking to various "important" people who have less on the line. It's easy enough for pastors to pressure politicians to keep the demon alcohol out of their counties; PASTORS HAVE JOBS.
I hate to be rude, but that's the crux of the matter. People with jobs are sitting around talking to other people with jobs about what jobs are "appropriate" for their counties. People can't pay their bills. People can't go to the doctor. People can't find any work. And our state legislators are scrambling to exclude their counties from legislation that would BRING WORK?!
Do they not get it? Or do they get that they're putting their moral qualms above your need to feed your family?
Seriously, anyone who would vote against something that will bring jobs to Tennessee in this economy should be tarred and feathered the next time he or she steps foot in his or her home town.
Comments (2)
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Tennessee could learn something from the Nevada model, a place where no profit generating vice is ignored. And I'll just bet preacher-men there are as prosperous and prevalent as here in the bible belt. After all, sin creates spiritual need - fertile ground for spiritual workers.
See, even righteousness prospers in the presence of debauchery. Creates jobs. So use yer' damn heads and get after it boys and girls. Time's a-wastin'.
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Posted by
W D Humpfree
on May 16, 2009 at 12:56 PM
