What I discovered, while traveling in America, is seeing the good and bad in many things. You can't help but notice. Of course, traveling internationally, I've seen enough good and bad for comparison, which helped me appreciate America, yet this country is far from perfect. I would be remiss in thinking we don't have our flaws.
During a recent road trip, I've seen roads that were in need of miner or major repair. In many areas, there was construction, in process, to do so. My husband and I often talk about roads that seem to be repaired more quickly in higher tax base areas because the money is there to do it. Go into lower tax base areas, anywhere, and you may see pot holes and cracks everywhere. That's our tax dollars at work. Roads seem to be repaired faster where there is more money being contributed due to higher real estate taxes, etc. It is what it is.
This leads me to something I saw in Memphis, Tennessee. My husband and I were appalled and shocked at the mess the roads were in, especially around Graceland. Huge potholes and cracks everywhere. Yes, I realize that pot holes and cracks can suddenly appear, and for many reasons, but this many? I felt I was in a third world country. We even said that Elvis would roll over in his grave.
This is an example of what can happen to areas that have the majority of people who don't pay anything or next to nothing in taxes. The government can run out of money to repair or maintain many things. This causes businesses to take their business elsewhere, leaving the tax base to suffer more. We saw plenty of abandoned buildings and homes in many areas during our trip, too.
Anyway, I read an article that was written over a year ago where Memphis was in line to repair over 60,000 pot holes, but we did not see any construction going on around Graceland or nearby. My husband even stated that this area was becoming a shit hole and he didn't care to ever go back there again. If others feel the same way, then Memphis will start loosing it's tourism income too. Maybe they already are.
We can't squeeze blood out of a turnip. We are destroying our country with this insane attitude of gimme-gimme-gimme, as well as the government waste and abuse of our tax dollars. It saddens me to see it. Then I look around at the beauty of our country's national parks, monuments, and forest and pray there is hope for us. Maybe there will be, once we get our heads out of our proverbial asses and realize we have all been part of unprofitable actions motivated by avarice: killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
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Image: The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 edition (copyright free)
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