On a personal note, I’ve enjoyed working on a project for the Carolina Journal. Several of us were assigned candidates in key elections for interviewing. Mine were all in a line from just west of Raleigh to just shy of Myrtle Beach. I am extremely encouraged, as everybody with whom I spoke was delightful and hospitable, and one guy was so rooted in truth and logic, I told him I thought he took a couple spikes off my MMPI. Unfortunately, tax and eleciton laws make it a dangerous proposition for me to divulge the identity of this clear-thinker.
My confidence in some semblance of a future for this country has been restored. I particularly appreciate the absence of an attitude I hear from a lot of intellectuals that the sooner we ruin the country, the faster we can rebuild it. I’m not exactly sure how such a reign of terror in the name of coercing a better world would be better than other tyrannical regimes. It’s nice to know people are aware of our predicaments and think enough good ideas can turn things around.
The low point of the day trips out east was the painfully visible dying off of commerce. So, it was with incredible delight that I visited Apex. The area is booming like cities used to. I believe the following will be non-partisan, so I will divulge my source. Candidate Tom Murry bragged about the people he represents. Of two high schools in his hometown, Morrisville, one sent 98% of students to college; the other, 97%. Most other NC jurisdictions struggle to graduate 70-some percent. Murry says the people are politically engaged. He often has fifteen-minute policy discussions with voters while door-knocking; and half the voters do not cast straight-party tickets.
Morrisville has a daytime population three times its tax-paying population. Asheville moans a double daytime population. The difference is, Research Triangle Park and its environs are a small oasis where hard-working people are still producing items of value and conducting R&D to make things better. My hometown of Asheville wants to maintain a high standard of living through a bohemian culture with the motto, “I don’t want to work, I want to bang on the drum all day.” (No. I am not suggesting we raid Apex and Morrisville.)
