So here I go!
On Sunday, our local newspaper published an article on how our county was worried about its tax base. We are having a lot of lots and buildings in our county that are vacant. Previously, I read an article how a large grocery chain (Kroger) relocated with the promise that they would like to attract some good business into their old, vacated store. But no, a church renovated it; result being, they were nonprofit and tax exempt. In other words, a loss of tax revenue to our county. This has been an epidemic in our very conservative county; empty store fronts or invading churches. Our county officials are truly worried about it, and I can understand why, loss of voters, salary cuts?
Now it gets better. Like every good conservative county in Virginia, we need to be against what they call critical race theory, evolution, global warming, and all those other science things. Let’s not talk about vaccinations. So, the county officials are introducing an ordinance outlawing all this “crap” in order to dumb down our schools and ignore (whitewash) history, science and social justice and what really happened in our country’s past. Slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation, it never happened! The Civil War was either just a little disagreement among friends or aggression from the northern states. Who cares if half the county will be underwater 100 years from now? As long as we make money now and cut taxes (get votes); we will not be alive, and our greatgrandchildren be damned!
Now I am not necessarily anti-religious as most of you know, but I do trend liberal. But these short-sighted folks do not understand that the wealthiest counties and cities have the best, most well-rounded education systems in the world, have a gig-economy, can bike or walk to their grocery stores that have a great supply of foods, and have great non-chain funky restaurants and coffee shops. Limiting education causes wealthy educated folk to migrate out of these localities, only to be replaced by less educated poorer folks that commute to work and to these nice areas. Not that this is bad, we need them too. However, this generally will lead to lower property values, dollar general stores and Wallmarts, a lower tax base and a slow economic spiral downwards towards a new status quo.
No, I am not elitist, racist or whatever, far from it. We need a combination of people, everybody has value, whether you are an airplane pilot, a university professor, a teacher, or a garbage man. However, I am just living in a county where I am observing something disturbing: the complete contempt for a well-rounded education. Folks appear anti-education and want to tell educators what to teach their children. If so, why don’t they educate their children themselves, homeschool your kids damn it?
But again, education brings wealth. So does a livable community, including parks, greenspace, sidewalks, bike paths, funky restaurants and coffee shops as opposed to chains, and maybe even some limited public transportation. That will bring in the young, affluent, tax paying folks, the gig-economy that will pay the salary of the county supervisors. Something our board of supervisors apparently refuse to see and acknowledge.
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| Yes, it is nice to live here and wake up and find something like this guy in your back or front yard. Or maybe not. It is difficult to grow a nice yard without building a fence, and that is just a metaphor for what is happening in society including here in this county. The conservatives trying to keep the liberals out. |
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