Dave, I enjoyed very much reading your description of what your life is like in Alaska. It's good to get a picture as to what life is like "on the other side," of culture.
City life? It's a lot different then when you were in Philly in '68. Extremely different. I suppose the combination of the nation's economic health together with the drastic effects from America's Drug War have heavy effects on city life.
It goes without saying that when jobs are plentiful, life is better in America's cities as folks prefer full employment to crime and struggle within the confines of an underground economy. And much of citywide crime stems not only from the density of the population, but also from America's failed Drug War policies.
You see, The Drug War has worked well only for politicians who've traditionally gotten a 'free ride' political issue year after year, postulating tougher and even tougher penalities before a genuinely concerned citizenry.
What the politicians won't tell you, however, is they can't even keep drugs out of our prisons; never mind a free society. And this goes on and on and on, with a huge segment of our population alienated, folks who, more than anything, need medical treatment and maybe a good job, rather than imprisonment.
Indeed, The Drug War helps breed youth gangs and the resultant turf wars and all of the crime which inherently results. And, of course, America's media--ever looking for a story, an angle--highlights this into what becomes a translated rural fear of the inner city.
I gurantee you, end the Drug War by treating drug problems medically rather than criminally, and we'd see a half-a-dozen or more of society's major ills become cured. Whether drugs are legal or illegal, folks are gonna do 'em anyway. Let the individual's considered opinion determine whether they will use them, or not. Ninety-five percent of folks, under the present conditions, make the right choice; and more would do so under better conditions where jobs, secure home environments and health care become emphasized. Cities, of course, due to their density, hence are negatively impacted.
You see, Dave, Democratic administrations are more apt to create jobs for people. And jobs reduce crime--look at the past eight years under Clinton. Compare the Reagan-Bush murder rates with those under Clinton.
Republicans have long argued that it's the individual who must pick themselves up by the bootstaps and do the right thing as citizens. Well, I submit that nothing can help one do that more powerfully than having a good job. More jobs, less crime; more jobs, more hope; more jobs, more independent self-sufficiency...it goes on, especially if such jobs pay well.
Republicans are more apt to offer downsizing and have traditionally been resistant to increasing minimum wage. Republicans are more apt to enforce stricter Drug War penalties and other behavioral restrictions on our population.
So what, if the mother with two kids sees the husband hauled off into a prison becuase he's got a drug problem and one who never found drug treatment 'cause there was no room for him...so what if the economic disparity inhibits that husband from finding a well-paying job to support his family, so he deals drugs in an underground economy...so what if this, and more, puts such strains on family life that the family can't hold together and next results the single woman trying to raise two kids and all of the struggles inherent to that? So what if these folks become so disenfranchised from society they no longer participate in it? Would these people vote for Bush? Would you want them in Alaska?
From a song I wrote:
"When you know what's been denied,
You get so sad it makes you cry,
You get so mad you don't even try,
It gets so bad you just want to hide...
--In the world."
And then there's the infrastructure needs of the city, and all of the money required for upkeep, for public safety...the things needed to make sure the city can function. And what of education needs where cities see much larger-sized classrooms and the pressures on teachers are very, very different than the ones rural teachers see? Then consider health care where poor folk, without doctors, are more apt to visit emergency rooms of hospitals which are far more expensive and then that expensive bill gets passed onto some entity? I'm telling ya, Republicans can't simply bank on religious charity organizations to pay these bills, can they? Republican policies are like more lyrics from another song I wrote:
"To form in lines to look for work,
Unable to pay the grocery clerk,
You cannot pay your doctor bill,
But the jobs in the army will train you to kill."
I'll end this--'cause I could go on and on--with lyrics from yet another song I wrote called Captain America and I'll note that, unfortunately, I don't see George W. Bush as a Captain America-type:
"Now you're a leader, skilled and strong,
A destined duty to lead us on,
To do what's right and not what's wrong,
To you, my duty is this song...
--Captain America"
Yes, Dave, in Alaska you'll see a lot of what I won't get to see. However, in the inner city, I'll feel a lot of what you can't feel. And I remind you the country folk, even the suburban folks, don't want the urban city folk--varieties of snob zoning ordinances prove this. Republicans ever participate in snob zoning? You bet!
So there are lots of reasons why Gore got more votes in urbaan areas than did Bush.
Interestingly, I've long felt that the best way to enslave people is to make 'em think they are free. Well, I submit, even the smallest glimmer of freedom can easily become dispelled when our nation's Supreme Court rules that a state can't count 40,000 votes which, due to tabulation machine deficienies, were never counted in what essentially was a tie election contest.
Once again, George W. Bush ain't no Captain America! In my view, he's not even a legitimate president.
commondreams.org
PS: Dave, by the way, I've since moved from the inner city, and am now living at the beach on a pininsula of the Boston Harbor. I've got the ocean 50 yards to my left, and the bay 100 yards to my right. My musician struggles have taken me to a nice place; others aren't so lucky. Fare ye well in Juneau! |
