{"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>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/jIfu2A0ezq0\/mqdefault.jpg\"><\/a>\r\nSome of our elected officials wonder few people ever speak up around here.\r\nIt&#8217;s simple: they owe their soul to the company store.\r\nIf you don&#8217;t go along, you don&#8217;t get business.\r\n<p>\r\nAs\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU\">\r\nTennessee Ernie Ford sang in that old Merle Travis song<\/a>:\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\n<p>\r\nYou load sixteen tons, what do you get\r\n<br>\r\nAnother day older and deeper in debt\r\n<br>\r\nSaint Peter don&#8217;t you call me &#8217;cause I can&#8217;t go\r\n<br>\r\nI owe my soul to the company store\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:80%\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Joo90ZWrUkU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\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.\r\nSo far in debt they couldn&#8217;t even afford to die and go see Saint Peter at the pearly gates.\r\nAnd if they spoke up, they&#8217;d be out of a job.\r\n<p>\r\nThe story hasn&#8217;t changed.\r\nThis area has owed its soul to the company store for a long time and still does.\r\nThe amusing (or scary) part is some of our elected officials act like they don&#8217;t even know that.\r\nScary because who&#8217;s really running the company store? \r\n<p>\r\nThe company store is obvious for construction work.\r\nIf you speak up, you don&#8217;t get hired for that new subdivision or road work.\r\nAlso architects and engineers, and of course building supply stores.\r\n<p>\r\nAcademics, unless they have tenure, also have reason to fear.\r\nMuch of their funding for research or buildings comes from local businesses\r\nor from bigger businesses with powerful local voices.\r\n<p>\r\nWho are the biggest employers in Lowndes County?\r\nAccording to Ed Lightsey, Georgia Trend, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.georgiatrend.com\/March-2013\/Valdosta-Lowndes-County-Building-On-Strength\/\">\r\nValdosta | Lowndes County: Building On Strength<\/a>,\r\nMoody Air Force Base, South Georgia Medical Center, the Valdosta and Lowndes County school systems, and Valdosta State University.\r\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.\r\n(Here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostacity.com\/top-20-employers\">\r\nanother list by the City of Valdosta<\/a>, and another\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.buildlowndes.com\/industries_companies\/leading_employers\">\r\nby the Development Authority<\/a>).\r\nAnd then a whole bunch of businesses and employees that depend on the above.\r\n<p>\r\nObviously if you&#8217;re serving military you&#8217;re not going to be talking politics in public.\r\nMany of the other larger businesses (and the hospital) are run by interlocking boards of old boys and girls;\r\nboards that also interlock with the Chamber and Valwood.\r\nAnd interlock with the VSU Foundation, which still\r\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>.\r\nThe old boys think they&#8217;re more powerful than all those little people,\r\nand the little people fear that&#8217;s still true.\r\n<p>\r\nNow don&#8217;t get me wrong.\r\nEverybody loves business and wants more jobs around here.\r\nYay Chamber!  Yay Development Authority if that glass container plant on Rocky Ford Road turns out to be everything you claim it will be!\r\n<p>\r\nBut that actually enforces my point.\r\nIf people speak up, they&#8217;re seen as not a team player here in TitleTown,\r\nand they fear they won&#8217;t get work.\r\n<p>\r\nWhen they see the Chairman scowling at me when he has in front of him\r\na sheet of paper saying I wanted to invite them to some events,\r\nthey wonder what will happen to them.\r\nWhen they see most of the Commission mad because I said they\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/videos-sold-out-to-sabal-trail-lcc-2016-01-26.html\">\r\nsold out to Sabal Trail<\/a>,\r\nthey wonder what will happen to them when they speak up.\r\nWhen they hear the Commissioners complain LAKE isn&#8217;t positive enough,\r\nwhen in fact nobody has complimented them more online and in person at their meetings than Gretchen and me,\r\npeople don&#8217;t want to go be treated like that.\r\n<p>\r\nWhen a few other retired or tenured or people otherwise somewhat independent\r\nof the company store showed up last night, only to see their elected officials\r\nrefuse to answer their questions and sneer at them later,\r\nmost people don&#8217;t want to get the same treatment.\r\n<p>\r\nLocal leaders around here pride themselves on the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) status \r\napproved by the feds in 2005, including Lowndes, Lanier, Echols, and Brooks counties, about which\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostadailytimes.com\/news\/local_news\/valdosta-receives-metro-designation\/article_fcc197e3-d43c-5af8-a4b4-293869631c9e.html\">\r\nVDT editor Ron Wayne wrote at the times<\/a>,\r\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;\r\nWhich means Lanier, Echols, and Brooks also owe their soul to the Lowndes-Valdosta company store.\r\n<p>\r\nI go to a lot of county commission meetings in Georgia and Florida.\r\nNowhere but Lowndes County do I see people shouted down by a deputy sheriff for clapping.\r\nNowhere else demands that only local residents or property owners can speak.\r\nNowhere else are citizens only allowed to speak <em>after<\/em> all votes have been taken.\r\nNowhere else do the Commissioners refuse to answer citizens in public.\r\nThis is not how the County Commission of a real MSA acts.\r\n<p>\r\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.\r\n<p>\r\nAs\r\nthe VDT editorialized in 2005\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostadailytimes.com\/opinion\/msa-status-brings-new-challenges\/article_53eba9d6-8792-56d5-87b0-db05c7c2344a.html\">\r\nMSA status brings new challenges<\/a>,\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\n<p>\r\nDo we really want to be so similar to every other metro area, with\r\nendless subdivisions and numerous commercial centers containing the\r\nsame stores, restaurants, etc.?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWe should want to hold on to those elements that make us distinctive\r\n&mdash; the ancient oaks dripping with moss that line our streets,\r\nthe Craftsman-style bungalow homes, the numerous lakes and pecan\r\norchards, our quaint downtown.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nIt&#8217;s important to balance new growth and greenspace. Visit parts of\r\nthe Atlanta metro area, and you&#8217;ll find what we don&#8217;t want: fields\r\nof asphalt creating stormwater runoff problems, air pollution from\r\ntoo many cars on roads that are never big enough and higher\r\ntemperatures because of the depletion of trees.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nMSA status will bring a bigger tax base, more jobs and better wages,\r\nbut elected leaders must learn from others&#8217; mistakes and be prudent\r\nwhen approving plans. They must carefully consider the impact on\r\nroads and other infrastructure.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nThe characteristics of the area we truly don&#8217;t want to lose are the\r\ngraciousness and small-town informality often found here.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWe should never become so hurried and harried that we forget to say\r\n&#8220;please,&#8221; &#8220;thank you&#8221; and &#8220;yes, sir.&#8221; We must maintain the casual\r\nambiance that goes with living in a balmy, sunny climate.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nWell, he spoke up and he&#8217;s not editor anymore.\r\nValdosta is still\r\nthird poorest MSA in the country,\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/valdosta-3rd-poorest-city.html\">\r\naccording to NBC News in 2012<\/a>.\r\nIf there&#8217;s any graciousness and small-town informality\r\nin County Commission meetings, it&#8217;s only in staged presentations.\r\nAncient oaks are just in the way of road paving and subdivisions.\r\nAs recently as last Thursday,\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/videos-planning-meeting-lowndes-county-commission-lcc-2016-02-04.html\">\r\nour elected County Comissioners spelled out<\/a> that\r\nto them stakeholders mean &#8220;the development community, the real estate community&#8221; and &#8220;the construction and homebuilder industries&#8221;,\r\nwhich is a pithy description of the company store.\r\nAgriculture, forestry, and parks were only mentioned as afterthoughts, with no mention whatever of a free press or of employees or ordinary working people.\r\n<p>\r\nMost people around here are lucky to get a low-paying retail job (look at the companies that fill out those top employer lists).\r\nThey know what Ernie Ford meant when he sang:\r\n<blockquote style=\"font-size:100%\">\r\n<p>\r\nI was born one mornin&#8217; when the sun didn&#8217;t shine\r\n<br>\r\nI picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine\r\n<br>\r\nI loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal\r\n<br>\r\nAnd the straw boss said &#8220;Well, a-bless my soul&#8221;\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>\r\nI continue to say\r\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>.\r\n<p>\r\nLast night while local leaders scowled, the people of New Hampshire said they were tired of straw bosses,\r\nvoting in double digits for the two candidates most different from the company store.\r\nOK, the Republican maybe <em>is<\/em> the company store, but he talks like he&#8217;s not.\r\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.\r\n<p>\r\nIntegrity.\r\nNot \r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/videos-sold-out-to-sabal-trail-lcc-2016-01-26.html\">\r\nfollowing a multitude to do evil<\/a>\r\nby going back on\r\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\">\r\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>,\r\nin the name of &#8220;a good business decision&#8221; for a business called Lowndes County.\r\nIn the name of the company store.\r\nNevermind the citizens whom they claimed to represent in that resolution.\r\n<p>\r\nIt&#8217;s an election year, straw bosses, and some of you are up for election, too.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"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"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-47i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_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}]}}