Google landing a server farm in Caldwell County thanks to $260 million in tax breaks has quickly gone from standard government bumbling to something more sinister. New evidence that government officials directly profited from the $600 million deal is deeply troubling, as is the implication that elderly residents were hustled out of their property without any kind of objective representation.
What was representated is clear — the Deal. Making the Deal work is all that local officials were concerned about. In fact, they were going to do the Deal no matter it took, even if it meant going door-to-door telling residents they had to sell out “for the good of the community.”
The Deal was the master and the Deal had to be served. The Deal had to be secret, because no one should dare question the Deal. The Deal had to be done, otherwise there would be no Deal — and what would be served then? The Deal then, was Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. An end unto itself.
All hail the Deal.
