CONSERVATIVE HAVEN OR LIBERAL S***HOLE?

THE GREAT ESCAPE

     I finally escaped from the tyranny of a Socialist one-party state. About 3 months ago, I moved from Baltimore County, Maryland, out of a neighborhood only about 3 miles from the murder capital of the country, Baltimore City.  I bought a better house for less money in a Conservative town, in a Conservative County in Middle Tennessee. The sky looks bluer and the grass really is greener. I realize that I am in the honeymoon stage with Tennessee. I know that there is no place on earth that is perfect, but right now I am head over heals in love with my new home state. Every day I find something new to love about her. I know that one day I may wake up and begin to see a flaw here and there, but right now she is absolutely lovely! The only thing that concerns me is the real possibility that the Progressives are on their way.

    

FLEEING THE S***HOLE  

    I am  not sure who coined this word in the media this week. Trump may have said it, or Durbin made it up, but the media loved it. I must have heard it a thousand times. Let me explain what one actually is. The Democrats/Socialists/Progressives will not be happy until they have overtaken every Conservative oases in this country and turned them into  s***hole cities similar to those they can already take credit for like Baltimore, Detroit, and Chicago. That is not a racist adjective. It is describing an area with unlivable conditions. I grant you, it is crude and it is foul language. I ask those who are offended to forgive me, but I want to make a point. It is an adjective that immediately creates a word picture in your mind of generational poverty, violence, high crime rates, bad schools (no matter how much money you put into them), bad roads (no matter how much money you put into them), high unemployment, run-down real estate (no matter how high the taxes), drug addiction and drug dealers, all of which have created a hopeless environment where their only envied amenity is that they are social service hubs. There is no color in that picture, unless despair has a color. 

    

MY CHILDHOOD NEIGHBORHOOD

     The neighborhood that I grew up in is within walking distance to Baltimore City, which has been overtaken by a blood lust and has no respect for human life. People living in this city, which is Democratic through and through and has been for decades, live and die in survival mode. Three miles used to seem like a safe distance, but now it is bleeding over into the county like a rotten cancer. I only returned to take care of my mother. She was 80 years old, going blind, and rarely left the house. She didn't know that she should be terrified. I thank God she won't be around to see it completely sink into the abyss of Democratic despair.

NOW A S***HOLE

     There used to be rows of manicured laws, new awnings, and mostly well-maintained homes. The streets were full of children playing and parents called to one another from their porches or cooked out together in their backyards. People respected their property and the properties of others. Children respected the adults. When I returned home in 2013 I could see that the neighborhood was in decline. By the time that I left in 2017 it had become unlivable by my standards. The crime, the poverty, the drugs, the violence, the despair has bled across the city-county line and is flowing up and down every street. I would sit out on the porch where I used to be able to get some fresh air and some peace, but there is no more peace. First I noticed that most of the homes were becoming rental properties. This is a bad sign because the property will only be as good as the landlord. Tenants in rental properties in areas that are in decline rarely improve the property or the neighborhood. They just don't. They don't have any investment in it. Then I saw the drug scourge hitting my street. A grandson to an elderly neighbor who lived there all my life died suddenly of an overdose.  He was a nice young man, and I found this to be terribly sad. A few doors up lived a couple of heroin addicts on the methadone program. They could be seen daily passed out head down on their chests after a visit to the clinic. The next street over a couple got into a fight over who used the last pain pill and a man shot the woman dead on her front lawn. All hours of the day and night there were fights that I was forced to hear if not see them out on the street. I couldn't open a window without a constant stream of the F-word invading my home because some drunk or druggie was on a rampage. Children playing yelled obscenities to one another. I haven't heard the F-word, or any curse word (except s***hole on network news), since I came to Tennessee. Burglaries and thefts were increasing. In one week alone there were three armed robberies within three blocks of my home. This was unheard of in the past, but now it didn't even make the news. If I didn't use a crime app on-line, I'd have never known. I installed outdoor cameras, and at night the rats in my backyard would set them off. I used to camp out in my backyard as a child, and felt safe from man and beast!

THE COLOR CHANGE WAS NOT THE PROBLEM

Yes, the neighborhood was changing color, and I had no problem with that, except that I'd watch local and network news and see the media stirring up racial tension on a daily basis. It was like they were feeding the hate. Baltimore City infamously had race riots, and the possibility for more hung in the air and was hard to ignore. The racially charged news reports were provocative and frightening. I didn't care if I was the very last white person on my street. In the past I bought a house where I was nearly the only white person in the neighborhood. I do care, however, if I am the only white person and every one else has been intentionally stirred up to hate me just because I am white! For instance, I visited a thrift store in a mostly non-white neighborhood next to mine. Race was the furthest thing from my mind that day. I went to the register to pay for something, and a man invited me to go in front of him because he saw that I use a cane. The cashiers and the other customers went ballistic. The kind man, who happened to be brown, got so mad at them, he was screaming, "It's the right thing to do!" Finally, he threw his merchandise down and walked out, as did I. 

TIME TO FLEE

It was only going to get worse, so it was time to go. My parents took perfect care of their home in hopes of leaving me a nice place to live with no mortgage. I resent that my childhood neighborhood had come to this. I resent that I was being forced out. The place was becoming a  s***hole and there wasn't a thing I could do about it, but leave. I know the Democratic policies that have led to this. I wanted to find a place where those policies don't exist. 

    

So I made a list:

1. red state, red county, red town (not called a racist just for voting Republican);
2. Christian-friendly;
3. an atmosphere of freedom (no PC anti-American strongholds and no oppressive code enforcement); 
4. lower crime rates; 
5. Second Amendment compliant; 
6. affordable real estate; 
7. lower cost of living; and yes,
8. a population that doesn't want to kill me just because I am white (if I do something worth hating, I can take the punishment).

With the list in mind, a friend of mine and I traveled all over the mid-west. I thought I had settled on a town in Iowa. It fit all of the criteria, but it is a cold climate. Plus we were getting the idea that we weren't wanted. When realtors and property owners found out we were coming from Baltimore, the property would suddenly go off the market or was just sold that morning. One time we rode all the way out to Iowa, and they knew we were coming. While en route we checked in with the realtor and they asked where were coming from. Once we got there no one would show us the house! It has been sold that morning. No backup contracts accepted..."they paid cash". This happened enough that we finally realized that they thought we were going to bring the Baltimore unrest to their area. I couldn't blame them. As one last effort, my friend did an on-line search for a property near water. Tennessee popped up, so we began to travel south.  

    

PLANET TENNESSEE

     I found a place on a beautiful property with a stream in Western Tennessee. On the way to see it, my friend decided to get off of the highway and take some backroads. The first town we passed through was Sparta. We were blown away. In the center of their square, known as Liberty Square, stood a large and looming courthouse with In God We Trust hanging over the door on all four sides of the building. It must have been a little like when the wall in Germany came down  and the people tasted freedom! We were in another world where God was allowed! American flags hung from nearly every business, on many houses, and even on cars. These people still love our country? We thought that we must be in a time warp. We saw an eternal flame for our fallen veterans and memorials to veterans of every war. Respect for the military? Well we had an appointment to see a house, so we couldn't linger. As we traveled west in TN we saw many signs on the side of the road with scriptures from the Bible. Towns were lined with American flags. We were in awe that a place like this still existed. I wound up putting a contract on that house, but once again it fell through. I was about to give up when I saw a cute little cottage on a river in a small town...you guessed it, Sparta. The rest is history. 

I NEED TENNESSEE POLITICS FOR DUMMIES

     I feel safe. I feel understood. Except for my accent people get me! I don't feel like I am being sized up or judged or accused or threatened. I also feel completely politically ignorant, and that is a new and unlikely state for me to find myself. I don't know whether to fix it or embrace it. I keep talking to myself and praying about letting go of politics, and I gladly would, except that I don't want my new love to be overtaken by Progressives. I realize that right now almost everyone in office and out of office is at the very least a Republican if not a Conservative.  I also have learned that the larger cities like Memphis and Nashville and a few others have already taken the Liberal bait. They've already drank the Kool-Aid. They have been infected with the Liberal disease. It would be unthinkable for me to allow it to spread to my new home without putting up a fight. Many of these local Republicans have no idea how oppressive it can get. A little here and a little there, here a RINO, there a RINO...well you get it. I feel compelled to be vigilant and watch for the enemy. I'd rather let it go because I am starting from scratch. I have to learn Tennessee politics, policies, procedures, and the players on all sides. It seems like a daunting task, but my new love is so worth it. 

THE GOOD NEWS...

     I registered to vote and I found out two things. The first is that you don't register with a Party, and no Party affiliation is on your voter registration card. Second, You must show I.D. to vote in the state of Tennessee. Isn't she sweet? 

    Of course I did a search to see who my representatives are at every level. I was encouraged to see that nearly everyone is a Republican, but I don't know one Republican from another. I mostly need to get information on candidates for the office of Governor on down. The state legislature and U.S. representatives should be easier. Luckily, the local newspaper runs a weekly Democratic column, and the writer not-so-very-kindly educated me on the Republican candidates for Governor. What she meant for evil turned out for good. Funny thing...the more she hated a candidate the more I liked them. There are also op-ed columns for Republicans and Constitutionalists.

    What I really find encouraging are the headlines about the low unemployment rate (lower than the national average), the constant goal to remain debt free, announcements of new police cars, more police, new equipment, new roads, etc., and all without adding debt. That is with NO STATE TAXES and very low property taxes. My house here is worth about the same as the one in Baltimore, yet I paid $2000 a year in taxes in Baltimore and only $485 a year in TN for a better house. The roads are amazing. The towns look amazing. Our town has a skateboard park, an amphitheater with a concession stand, a river with a boat dock, an actual scenic trail that goes along the river and around the outside of the town to a beautiful park. How do they do it? I call it a consumption tax, but it is a higher sales tax. Works for me! We pay for what we consume, not what others consume, what we as individuals consume. They took in more than expected last quarter. 

    

2018 ISSUE

     The only issue that may be lacking is health insurance. That remains to be seen. I need to do my research. Tennessee did not take the Obamacare Medicare expansion money. Of course the Libs are screaming that they should have. This I do know: in Baltimore, I had to pay monthly my Medicare for $110, Medicare supplemental insurance for $142, and prescription coverage for $30 a month. This is a total of $302 a month out of my Social Security check. When I moved to TN, they have no supplemental insurance and the insurance I had would cost over $300 to keep. Good news though! Instead I have Blue Sapphire, a BCBS Medicare-contracted policy that costs $0 a month and includes some dental and vision, prescriptions, and all with low co-pays. Another win for TN. I will admit that the person that I rent a room to is a pre-retirement aged man who works a job that he doesn't really like in order to keep health insurance. I remember when most of us did that. Some of us were lucky and also liked our job, but for health benefits we were willing to work for a little less money, maybe work a little harder for a little longer at a job we didn't really like, especially if we had a family. This ended with Obamacare, when the workers in states who bought into it either lost their good insurance or were forced to pay more for less insurance with outrageous deductibles. They might as well not be covered because they can't afford to use it. The only people who made out were those who weren't working because they received subsidies. I think this will be the one issue where the Libs could make some traction unless somebody stands up with a dose of reality. The truth will have to be told when they start selling the collective lie against individual freedom. 

    

     I better get up to speed as quickly as possible because they are crouching at the door...and I am done with the word s***hole and the kind of Democratic places it denotes. 

    

     

             I TENNESSEE!