{"id":15828,"date":"2016-02-10T10:50:35","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T15:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=15828"},"modified":"2016-02-10T11:02:01","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T16:02:01","slug":"why-people-dont-speak-up-they-owe-their-soul-to-the-company-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/why-people-dont-speak-up-they-owe-their-soul-to-the-company-store.html","title":{"rendered":"Why people don&#8217;t speak up: they owe their soul to the company store"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/jIfu2A0ezq0\/mqdefault.jpg\"><\/a><br \/>\nSome of our elected officials wonder few people ever speak up around here.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s simple: they owe their soul to the company store.<br \/>\nIf you don&#8217;t go along, you don&#8217;t get business.<\/p>\n<p>\nAs<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU\"><br \/>\nTennessee Ernie Ford sang in that old Merle Travis song<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\n<p>\nYou load sixteen tons, what do you get<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAnother day older and deeper in debt<br \/>\n<br \/>\nSaint Peter don&#8217;t you call me &#8217;cause I can&#8217;t go<br \/>\n<br \/>\nI owe my soul to the company store\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Joo90ZWrUkU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\nYeah, we had black and white TV back when Ernie Ford sold 20 million copies of that song about how coal miners were constantly in debt and could only buy things at a store owned by the company they worked for.<br \/>\nSo far in debt they couldn&#8217;t even afford to die and go see Saint Peter at the pearly gates.<br \/>\nAnd if they spoke up, they&#8217;d be out of a job.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe story hasn&#8217;t changed.<br \/>\nThis area has owed its soul to the company store for a long time and still does.<br \/>\nThe amusing (or scary) part is some of our elected officials act like they don&#8217;t even know that.<br \/>\nScary because who&#8217;s really running the company store? <\/p>\n<p>\nThe company store is obvious for construction work.<br \/>\nIf you speak up, you don&#8217;t get hired for that new subdivision or road work.<br \/>\nAlso architects and engineers, and of course building supply stores.<\/p>\n<p>\nAcademics, unless they have tenure, also have reason to fear.<br \/>\nMuch of their funding for research or buildings comes from local businesses<br \/>\nor from bigger businesses with powerful local voices.<\/p>\n<p>\nWho are the biggest employers in Lowndes County?<br \/>\nAccording to Ed Lightsey, Georgia Trend, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.georgiatrend.com\/March-2013\/Valdosta-Lowndes-County-Building-On-Strength\/\"><br \/>\nValdosta | Lowndes County: Building On Strength<\/a>,<br \/>\nMoody Air Force Base, South Georgia Medical Center, the Valdosta and Lowndes County school systems, and Valdosta State University.<br \/>\nThat story doesn&#8217;t mention the Lowndes County and Valdosta City governments come in pretty close after that, with Wiregrass Tech employing almost as many.<br \/>\n(Here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostacity.com\/top-20-employers\"><br \/>\nanother list by the City of Valdosta<\/a>, and another<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.buildlowndes.com\/industries_companies\/leading_employers\"><br \/>\nby the Development Authority<\/a>).<br \/>\nAnd then a whole bunch of businesses and employees that depend on the above.<\/p>\n<p>\nObviously if you&#8217;re serving military you&#8217;re not going to be talking politics in public.<br \/>\nMany of the other larger businesses (and the hospital) are run by interlocking boards of old boys and girls;<br \/>\nboards that also interlock with the Chamber and Valwood.<br \/>\nAnd interlock with the VSU Foundation, which still<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/vsu-presidents-committee-votes-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels.html\">refuses to divest its few percent of fossil fuels even after students, faculty, staff, and administration all say divest<\/a>.<br \/>\nThe old boys think they&#8217;re more powerful than all those little people,<br \/>\nand the little people fear that&#8217;s still true.<\/p>\n<p>\nNow don&#8217;t get me wrong.<br \/>\nEverybody loves business and wants more jobs around here.<br \/>\nYay Chamber!  Yay Development Authority if that glass container plant on Rocky Ford Road turns out to be everything you claim it will be!<\/p>\n<p>\nBut that actually enforces my point.<br \/>\nIf people speak up, they&#8217;re seen as not a team player here in TitleTown,<br \/>\nand they fear they won&#8217;t get work.<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen they see the Chairman scowling at me when he has in front of him<br \/>\na sheet of paper saying I wanted to invite them to some events,<br \/>\nthey wonder what will happen to them.<br \/>\nWhen they see most of the Commission mad because I said they<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/videos-sold-out-to-sabal-trail-lcc-2016-01-26.html\"><br \/>\nsold out to Sabal Trail<\/a>,<br \/>\nthey wonder what will happen to them when they speak up.<br \/>\nWhen they hear the Commissioners complain LAKE isn&#8217;t positive enough,<br \/>\nwhen in fact nobody has complimented them more online and in person at their meetings than Gretchen and me,<br \/>\npeople don&#8217;t want to go be treated like that.<\/p>\n<p>\nWhen a few other retired or tenured or people otherwise somewhat independent<br \/>\nof the company store showed up last night, only to see their elected officials<br \/>\nrefuse to answer their questions and sneer at them later,<br \/>\nmost people don&#8217;t want to get the same treatment.<\/p>\n<p>\nLocal leaders around here pride themselves on the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) status<br \/>\napproved by the feds in 2005, including Lowndes, Lanier, Echols, and Brooks counties, about which<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostadailytimes.com\/news\/local_news\/valdosta-receives-metro-designation\/article_fcc197e3-d43c-5af8-a4b4-293869631c9e.html\"><br \/>\nVDT editor Ron Wayne wrote at the times<\/a>,<br \/>\n&#8220;the three counties outside of Lowndes have at least 25 percent of their populations commute to Valdosta for work, ballooning the city&#8217;s daytime population. Valdosta is the primary city in the urbanized area.&#8221;<br \/>\nWhich means Lanier, Echols, and Brooks also owe their soul to the Lowndes-Valdosta company store.<\/p>\n<p>\nI go to a lot of county commission meetings in Georgia and Florida.<br \/>\nNowhere but Lowndes County do I see people shouted down by a deputy sheriff for clapping.<br \/>\nNowhere else demands that only local residents or property owners can speak.<br \/>\nNowhere else are citizens only allowed to speak <em>after<\/em> all votes have been taken.<br \/>\nNowhere else do the Commissioners refuse to answer citizens in public.<br \/>\nThis is not how the County Commission of a real MSA acts.<\/p>\n<p>\nA real MSA values diversity of opinion, its elected officials are polite to people who disagree with them, oh, and it has enough diversity of employment that people aren&#8217;t afraid to speak up.<\/p>\n<p>\nAs<br \/>\nthe VDT editorialized in 2005<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostadailytimes.com\/opinion\/msa-status-brings-new-challenges\/article_53eba9d6-8792-56d5-87b0-db05c7c2344a.html\"><br \/>\nMSA status brings new challenges<\/a>,<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\n<p>\nDo we really want to be so similar to every other metro area, with<br \/>\nendless subdivisions and numerous commercial centers containing the<br \/>\nsame stores, restaurants, etc.?\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWe should want to hold on to those elements that make us distinctive<br \/>\n&mdash; the ancient oaks dripping with moss that line our streets,<br \/>\nthe Craftsman-style bungalow homes, the numerous lakes and pecan<br \/>\norchards, our quaint downtown.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s important to balance new growth and greenspace. Visit parts of<br \/>\nthe Atlanta metro area, and you&#8217;ll find what we don&#8217;t want: fields<br \/>\nof asphalt creating stormwater runoff problems, air pollution from<br \/>\ntoo many cars on roads that are never big enough and higher<br \/>\ntemperatures because of the depletion of trees.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMSA status will bring a bigger tax base, more jobs and better wages,<br \/>\nbut elected leaders must learn from others&#8217; mistakes and be prudent<br \/>\nwhen approving plans. They must carefully consider the impact on<br \/>\nroads and other infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe characteristics of the area we truly don&#8217;t want to lose are the<br \/>\ngraciousness and small-town informality often found here.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWe should never become so hurried and harried that we forget to say<br \/>\n&#8220;please,&#8221; &#8220;thank you&#8221; and &#8220;yes, sir.&#8221; We must maintain the casual<br \/>\nambiance that goes with living in a balmy, sunny climate.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\nWell, he spoke up and he&#8217;s not editor anymore.<br \/>\nValdosta is still<br \/>\nthird poorest MSA in the country,<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/valdosta-3rd-poorest-city.html\"><br \/>\naccording to NBC News in 2012<\/a>.<br \/>\nIf there&#8217;s any graciousness and small-town informality<br \/>\nin County Commission meetings, it&#8217;s only in staged presentations.<br \/>\nAncient oaks are just in the way of road paving and subdivisions.<br \/>\nAs recently as last Thursday,<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/videos-planning-meeting-lowndes-county-commission-lcc-2016-02-04.html\"><br \/>\nour elected County Comissioners spelled out<\/a> that<br \/>\nto them stakeholders mean &#8220;the development community, the real estate community&#8221; and &#8220;the construction and homebuilder industries&#8221;,<br \/>\nwhich is a pithy description of the company store.<br \/>\nAgriculture, forestry, and parks were only mentioned as afterthoughts, with no mention whatever of a free press or of employees or ordinary working people.<\/p>\n<p>\nMost people around here are lucky to get a low-paying retail job (look at the companies that fill out those top employer lists).<br \/>\nThey know what Ernie Ford meant when he sang:<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\n<p>\nI was born one mornin&#8217; when the sun didn&#8217;t shine<br \/>\n<br \/>\nI picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine<br \/>\n<br \/>\nI loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAnd the straw boss said &#8220;Well, a-bless my soul&#8221;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\nI continue to say<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/a-metropolitan-area-needs-better-than-trash-government-john-s-quarterman.html\">a metropolitan area needs better than trash government<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\nLast night while local leaders scowled, the people of New Hampshire said they were tired of straw bosses,<br \/>\nvoting in double digits for the two candidates most different from the company store.<br \/>\nOK, the Republican maybe <em>is<\/em> the company store, but he talks like he&#8217;s not.<br \/>\nBut the other, who won by more than 20% in the largest landslide in modern New Hampshire Democratic primary history, has for forty years based his whole career on opposing the company store with integrity.<\/p>\n<p>\nIntegrity.<br \/>\nNot<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/videos-sold-out-to-sabal-trail-lcc-2016-01-26.html\"><br \/>\nfollowing a multitude to do evil<\/a><br \/>\nby going back on<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/opposes-sabal-trail-pipeline-in-any-portion-of-lowndes-county-lowndes-county-commission.html\"><br \/>\na resolution<\/a> passed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/videos-pipeline-tourism-klvb-appointments-flowers-lcc-2014-12-09.html#Sabal-Trail-Resolution\">barely more than a year before<\/a>,<br \/>\nin the name of &#8220;a good business decision&#8221; for a business called Lowndes County.<br \/>\nIn the name of the company store.<br \/>\nNevermind the citizens whom they claimed to represent in that resolution.<\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s an election year, straw bosses, and some of you are up for election, too.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n -jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of our elected officials wonder few people ever speak up around here. It&#8217;s simple: they owe their soul to the company store. If you don&#8217;t go along, you don&#8217;t get business. As Tennessee Ernie Ford sang in that old Merle Travis song: You load sixteen tons, what do you get Another day older and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,49,70,88,570,571,22,3618,914,178,332,134,501],"tags":[1587,9112,1003,1732,8704,8721,1729,8728,8701,9113,9114,8702,1733,12,7,8734,9116,9111,8783,8784,245,3056,8712,9117,9115,6,8876,8809,8749,8765,8743,7183,8774],"class_list":["post-15828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-elections","category-ethics","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-military","category-moody-afb","category-politics","category-valwood","category-vlcha","category-vlcia","category-vlcoc","category-vsu","category-wiregrass-tech","tag-brooks-county","tag-company-store","tag-divestment","tag-echols-county","tag-economy","tag-elections","tag-employers","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-industries","tag-interlocking-boards","tag-lake","tag-lanier-county","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-merle-travis","tag-metropolitan-staistical-area","tag-military","tag-moody-afb","tag-msa","tag-old-boys","tag-politics","tag-sixteen-tons","tag-tennessee-ernie-ford","tag-valdosta","tag-valwood","tag-vlcha","tag-vlcia","tag-vlcoc","tag-vsu","tag-vsu-foundation","tag-wiregrass-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15828"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15833,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15828\/revisions\/15833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}