Where are We?

As a young boy, I can remember reading stories of very important historical people from our country's past.  The words of many of the founding fathers of this country impressed me greatly and gave me a sense of security that we truly live in the greatest country in the world.  Reading many of the wise words they expressed and seeing how they became servants for this country, to insure that we had freedoms and liberty and a chance at a new life, made me very proud.  Reading about how they thought far ahead into the future, and put protective measures in place, including a dual party system, to help insure that we would have democracy gave me peace.  I have much respect for these men and admire them greatly.  Sure, we could find fault with any of them, and in today's media climate, even seek out to destroy them for their imperfections and transgressions.  I can only imagine what our country would be like if the media had decided they didn't want to support Thomas Jefferson, or for some reason some major advertisers of the greatest newspapers and media outlets in the United States, put financial pressure on the them to destroy the popularity of Benjamin Franklin or some of the others.  Is there truly “Freedom of the Press”?  What and who influences the press; the boss, the people, mom and dad, partisanship, bias, prejudices, advertisers, good judgment, bad judgment, making sure sales are up?  Where would we be at today if the media back in the late 1700’s had the power that they have today?  What if Paul Revere had not made that famous ride through the night?  What if some of those historical and most important documents of that time such as our Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written by today’s politicians, many of which don’t seem to have the cares to see past their administration, much less caring what happens in twenty years?  What if our constitution were written by the unions, the lobbyists, and the campaign contributors who elected them to office; the very same powerful organizations that our politicians have to be accountable to.

Where would our country be?  Where is our country today?  Our society is so much more complicated than it was back then.  We are a part of the global economy.  We can debate back and forth about the difference between "partnering" with China and other countries and being a "competitor" with China, and politicians today keep saying China is our "partner", but if you think about it, doesn't competition make us better athletes?  If we are a partner, and there's no competition, won't we get lazy, and our minds, patterns and behaviors and society digress into a state of declination having serious consequences in a world that has never been so densely populated in the history of mankind?

Where are the Benjamin Franklins, the George Washington’s, the John Adams, the James Madison’s and the Alexander Hamilton’s of today?  The writers today, are they writing about things that need to be said, or things that will make them popular or make their purses heavier?  It's a thought provoking question that needs answering. A couple of months ago, while perusing the political aisle of Books a Million, I found myself a little perplexed to not find anything that really said anything.  It appeared that 60% of the shelves were loaded with a few memoirs of President Bush, but mostly books either supporting or critizing President Obama.  There were some interesting books there, don't get me wrong, but many of the books seem to be watered down propaganda, or greed influenced material, pages of words that barely add up to a cup full of worth, and dumbed down decadence.  Where are the gifted and ingenious writers such as Ludwig Von Miser.  Does anyone read his works anymore?  He was almost alone in the world when he predicted the Great Depression, the collapse of the German pre-war economy, and used very thorough reasons as to what was going to cause those collapses, therefore wouldn't his writings on economics be worth noting and even studying by modern day politicians?  I’m one to talk, a writer want to be, trying to improve and hone his skills, however, I am aware that the only way to do so is with independent and discerning thinking, practice, research and the heart to seek the truth and better myself.   I know where I want to go and that's what's important to me.  It doesn't matter if anyone likes it, that’s why it’s creative.  If I bent to the pressures around me, then it would take away a part of my soul.  I like it, and that’s important to me.  I'm not influenced by advertisers, politicians, political parties, unions, campaign contributors, therefore I am not a stain soiled sponge, but a sponge only weakened by my own ignorance, time constraints, ability to research, emotions, and past influences which I must filter, therefore limiting the effects on the content of my message.  I'll continue to try and separate from those things and continue to learn and grow in the process.  I actually like being independent, able to use the mind that God gave me, seeking guidance and help from Him in the process.  For I know God is the only truth in this world, so His truth is solid foundation on stable ground, in any shaky economy. 

There are some that would say “woe to the guy hits the drums out of sync”, but to me it makes more sense to play the drums than to never start.  We all have to start somewhere.  There’s an old proverb I recently read which states that if you fall six times, get up seven.  This reminds me of a prayer I used to pray quite often “Lord, for every step I take backwards, please let me take two steps forward”.  Now I pray “Lord, for every step I take backwards, please let me take two steps forward, and in equal proportions”.  I hope you see the wisdom in that prayer, and maybe you can reflect in your lives. I personally believe that God has been answering that prayer my entire life.

Besides, what kind of pessimist talks about the guy who hits his drums out of sync if he only messes up on occasion?  Aren’t we all human?  It’s been my experience that the pessimist is usually the person who doesn’t hit the drums at all.  Today, for the first time in over 10 years, I ran three miles but two weeks ago, I could only run a couple of miles, therefore did I hit my drums “out of sync” by attempting to run three, but only making two?  Absolutely not.  I am supposed to run a half marathon in a couple of months, so only running three miles today, should I be discouraged that I did not run twelve miles?  Absolutely not.

However, we have to start somewhere, and if we have to walk on one trail of many trails, all of which having the same scenery but leading to different places, why not walk the trail that takes you to where you want to go?  My whole life I have started projects and hobbies and when they were mastered eventually got bored with them, how could I ever get bored with knowledge and understanding?  It is an indulgence which I have realized I can never find enough of, or ever grow bored of, but even knowledge and understanding is not viable without putting it to good use.  What is a faucet good for if there is not a cup to fill, or a stove without a meal to cook, or a coffee maker, without coffee to make, and deeper than all of that, what are all of those things without someone to drink or eat whatever is being produced?  If there was someone to eat or drink what was produced, wouldn’t it effect and influence what you were cooking?  I could cook for just me, or I could be totally influenced by them and cook for them, or I could study what would be the most healthy for all of us and cook tasty and healthy foods.  Ironically as I type I am sitting in my kitchen whittling away at this keyboard and I am hungry, so to some extent my thoughts and writing have already been influenced to some extent and I am consciously cognizant of that, but it’s my hope that one day, someone will value the words that I type and understand them, and my words will be their words and help them in some way.  If that person can understand and comprehend my words and the pattern of my thought, then they will be my brother and my sister, of which I may never meet, but appreciate them all the same.

Where are we?  Are we at the one mile mark, or at mile two or three or thirteen or twenty six?  Have we stopped running at all anymore?  Is our national deficit so large that we just ignore the big elephant in the room and continue the demise of our country only to shoot for short term praise, inacting short term policies that will temporarily improve things while they are in office, but ultimately failing sometime approximately mid-term of the next persons administration?  Shouldn't our politicians be implementing a long term plan for our country's future success?  Definitely food for thought, and speaking of which, there are some Ramen noodles calling me.

A Prayer to my Lord

Our Father in Heaven, how I love and hold thy name close

to my heart and desire for your spirit to course through

my veins unrestrained and ever flowing;

thy wonderful kingdom and thy perfect will be done,

here within us, inside and outside us, as it is in Heaven,

Lord Father God, so be it here on Earth.

Give us this day, what we need to sustain us and enable us,

with the tools, the means, and heart for success.

Please forgive us of our wrongs and imperfections

as i pray we forgive those same things used against us;

help us steer clear from all trails of overpowering temptations,

while holding us fast to the trail of Holy Spirit filled growth,

through your Spirit and your Will Father and Lord Jesus,

for Thine is the Power, the Kingdom and the Glory,

and may thy magnificent Mercy and Grace illuminate

our hearts and minds forever and ever. 

Amen

If Our Leaders Act Like Fools, Shouldn't We?

If our “leaders”, in this city and on the radio and even in our nation act like fools, and they are the examples of what we are to be like, then who can blame “us” for acting like fools as well?

Bullets are not Diplomatic

A bullet is the shortcut to diplomacy, communication, compromise and understanding.  Neither person each side of a moving bullet has won the debate; the shooter hits the mark, but misses the point and the recipient will never make a point again.

Future Topics

This is more of an index of subject matter for my benefit on subjects I intend to further research.

1.  The member nations of OPEC, their influence in world affairs and politics, what they think of us and why they own some of our national deficit.
2.  Wiki-Leaks
3.  Monopolies and the world's Billionaires and their influence on politics
4.  Further study our National Deficit, charts, graphs, etc.  Also the stability of other worldwide countries.
5.  Capitalism and Socialism Pros and Cons
6.  World wide population growth, and the population density of socialist and communist countries with laws relating to population control
7.  Study population, population densities of all countries worldwide
8.  Russia's and China's "friends"
9. Study the European Union, and the new push for a new international currency.  Study the influential players in the U.N. and their status as allies with the U.S.
10.  Study electronic currency.

Terrorism = Al-Qaida, Wiki-leaks and National Deficit

Who will ever forget the destruction of the world trade center towers September 11, 2001.  Often called 9/11, people who had never heard of Al-Qaida before, were exposed to the name in the worst sort of way and that “visible” attack created waves of panic, anger, and retaliation that would eventually take our focus off of other things and eventually lead up to where we are today.   9/11 was a very real and “visible” eye opener to all of us that there are people in the world that truly despise and hate the United States of America.  What many still fail to realize though is that Al-Qaida didn’t form overnight.  Those towers of smoke and flames we saw permeating from the television sets on that day was just a visible symbol of things that have been forming over many years. 

Al-Qaida is not the only organization that hates the United States of America, but they certainly became the “visible” target of our aggression, because they “so visibly attacked us”. Consequently,  our country has been completely ignoring other sorts of terrorism that are not so visible, or flamboyant , but still destroy people's lives in far larger degrees than a terrorist ever did.

 

According to some, there are over one hundred definitions for the word “terrorism”, and no universal definition of the word agreed upon worldwide.  Terrorists are an “invisible”, and then “sometimes visible” influence in the world and one reason terrorism is so hard to fight against and illuminate, therefore hard to eliminate is because we are not at war with a country, which is a visible target, but we are at war against individuals, organizations and hundreds of other things that are set out to destroy our great and wonderful country.

So, what are these “invisible things” that at some point will become “visible” and cripple our country and our economy?  After all, there is no agreed upon definition of terrorism, therefore no true and agreed upon definition of who the leaders of terrorism (also called terrorists) actually are?  It is my belief that in order to answer the above question, we have to look at what the ultimate goals of a terrorist organizations are, particularly the ones that hate us.  If we do this, we can make that which is working “unseen” under the radar become “visible” so that we can destroy it before it destroys us. 

According to “thinkexist.com” Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaida, has been quoted as saying “America is a great power possessed of tremendous military might and a wide-ranging economy, but all this is built on an unstable foundation which can be targeted, with special attention to its obvious weak spots. If America is hit in one hundredth of these weak spots, God willing, it will stumble, wither away and relinquish world leadership.”

So based on the above quote, we see that terrorists would see us stumble, and terrorists often use their horrendous acts to scare and promote their political agenda, and that political agenda supersedes the value of human liberty, safety and life.  Therefore one easily could surmise that terrorism is “any act” where a group’s political agenda is more important and valuable than human liberty, safety and life.

It was so obvious after watching the twin towers burn and fall to the ground on television on that dreadful day of what the “visible symbol” of terrorism is.  But it is so important to also be looking for terrorism that is not easy to see on the surface.  There are people in the world that love the United States of America because we “buy things” and help their economies in doing so, but many of those same people hate the United States of America as a political power and would love to see us crippled in that respect.  Also, there appears to be too many self-interest politicians, self-serving politicians, partisan politicians currently in government, and not nearly enough bi-partisan politicians and what I call patriot politicians.

“We can't accommodate terrorism. When someone uses the slaughter of innocent people to advance a so-called political cause, at that point the political cause becomes immoral and unjust and they should be eliminated from any serious discussion, any serious debate.”

~RUDOLPH GIULIANI, CNN interview, Sep. 11, 2002

Giuliani is quoted as saying this after the attacks.  My point is that there are many ways “to slaughter innocent people to advance a so-called political cause”. 

“Our enemies are fully aware that they can use oil as a weapon against America. And if we don't take this threat as seriously as the bombs they build or the guns they buy, we will be fighting the War on Terror with one hand tied behind our back.”

~BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 28, 2006

I think back do the Bush Administration and the war when gas prices increased exponentially.  Who controlled these price increases?  With over 320,000,000 people living in the United States, and a good portion of these people pumping gas weekly, spending an extra $50 a tank doesn’t seem like much until you multiply it times how many cars are on the road.  Some estimates say there are 240,000,000 vehicles on the road.  If we assume there are 200,000,000 vehicles spending an extra $30 per week on gas, then approximately $6,000,000,000 (6 billion dollars) per week.  Multiply that times 52 weeks and you get $312,000,000,000 (312 billion dollars).  Where did this money go in a time when people were struggling and really needed money and small and large businesses and shops were really needing people to be using that money on products by putting money back into the economy?

We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.

~GEORGE W. BUSH, speech, Dec. 18, 2005.

Reality tells us there has been a lot of partisan politics with our current President and even our previous President, but people do write some good quotes for them from time to time.  And it’s true, we “do” invite more terrorism by ignoring it.  It is not good to ignore or to not sweep bad things affecting our countries future under the rug, or try to “hide” those bad things with chemical dispersants.  Once the problem is brought to the surface for its ugliness to be seen by all, attack the problem head on. 

I recently read an article in the New York Times titled “Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning” written by Michael Cooper and Mary Williams Walsh, December 22, 2010.  The first thing I noticed about the title is that it left out exactly who Prichard’s scenario was a warning to.  After reading further, we see it is clearly a warning for city government officials and the voters who elected them to office; to be good stewards of both their office and their votes.  It seems it is also a warning for county government officials, state government officials, and even federal government officials and the voters that elected them to office to be good stewards as well.

In a nutshell, the City of Prichard, Alabama, has been attempting to file for Bankruptcy.  They have already completely “defaulted” on their retiree’s pension plans. In other words, through lack of planning and foresight on city official’s parts, “the checks stopped coming in the mail”.  Think about that for a moment, “The checks stopped coming in the mail.”  Faithful people working for the city, basing their entire retirement around their retirement checks all of a sudden quit getting their check.  Just because Prichard broke state laws in not mailing the checks didn’t stop them from not mailing them, after all, the money just wasn’t in the bank. Quoted from the article: “Far worse was the retired fire marshal who died in June. Like many of the others, he was too young to collect Social Security. “When they found him, he had no electricity and no running water in his house,” said David Anders, 58, a retired district fire chief. “He was a proud enough man that he wouldn’t accept help.”  This is just one unfortunately city right?  Wrong, as I type, there are many cities at the brink of bankruptcy.  It could happen to a city, or a corporation, but this could never happen to a “country” right?  Wrong, there have been multiple countries bankrupt over the years.  Do a little research into Greece and Iceland and read about their struggles.   Read up on other countries that has had to seek help through the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Don’t know what the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Group of 20 or Bretton Woods are?  Ever heard of the “Nixon shock”?  Ignorance is bliss, start reading. It was a “shock” to me right after the financial collapse of the Bush administration to read that the biggest holder of our national debt, a communist country which is called “China” was encouraging Russia and the European Union to “drop the dollar” and re-establish Bretton Woods back to the gold standard.  The dollar I am speaking of is the very same dollar that gives us a lot of “political clout” worldwide because the rest of the world uses it as a benchmark.  When Nixon blew off Bretton Woods, and the rest of the world in 1971 by dropping the “gold standard” (called the “Nixon Shock), the world began to “float on the U.S. dollar” instead of something stable like “gold”.  Now, there is a great push by some very influential countries to “drop the U.S. dollar, dropping the U.S. in the process” so that our problems won’t cause them problems.  This is a very serious situation.

Considering that our national deficit has increased exponentially over the last ten years, and every recent president seems to be bound and determined to spend our grandkids inheritance, leaving them only debt in its place, spending could technically called terrorism, and the spenders, terrorists. I’m sure that thought will raise some eyebrows, but considering, like Prichard, the thought of our government “defaulting” and out of the blue, hundreds of millions of people losing Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and welfare benefits, like Prichard, this could be a very real possibility.   What I am talking about is millions of people starving to death or dieing from other causes.  That makes the few thousand people killed on 9/11 look pale in comparison.  It is very scary that out national debt has gone from 380 billion to 14 trillion since 1970.  According to Wikipedia.com, the leading owner of our U.S. Treasuries (national debt) is communist China at almost 20.8 percent, Japan at 20.2 percent, the United Kingdom at 9.2 percent.  The oil exporters are next in line at 5.5 percent.  While it appears that oil exporters have far less faith in our treasury (at 5.5%) than does China (at 20.8), we find out that Russia has far less faith and support in our government treasuries, being next to last on the list at 3.2 percent.  There are only a few more that own our national debt such as Carribean Banking Centers at 3.7 percent, Brazil at 4 percent, Hong Kong at 3.3 percent, and the Republic of China at 3.2 percent.  Does history show that a country can “default” on a national debt?  Yes, history shows us this very clearly.  China and Russia seem to be the two largest powers pushing for Bretton Woods to be revised and dropping the U.S. Dollar in exchange for a new international currency based on gold.  It’s interesting to me that our largest financial supporter, China, and our smallest financial supporter, Russia, are conspiring together on this issue.  True, the United States economy plummeted for various reasons in 2008/2009, pulling the “world” down with it.  According to George Soros there will be a second “bubble” or plummet.  For a guy who was so adamant against Bush and supportive of Obama, he's now dropped support of Obama it seems, therefore where do his loyalties lie?  Like many billionaires, himself.  I agree, that the economy crash here in the States was embarrassing, and out of control, effected the world in a negative way and the leadership at the presidency, congress, the senate etal had their part in it, but the fact is, it is our 300,000,000 plus population of  convenience hungry people buying other countries products that gave those countries a market for things they produced.  Let’s face it, how many people live in France anyway?  Approximately 60 million.  The United States is five times larger.

They all suck up to us because we buy their products and help support their labor forces, but also because we still have a lot of potential growth, due to our vast land area, but many of them hate our political power and our wars.  Fact remains that many of them would love to see our country still be dependent on their products, yet fail as a world political influence.

That being said, Wiki-leaks is a terrorist organization.  I have no doubt.  They use propaganda to influence us to believe that they are about stopping wars and peace, yet the truth of the matter is, they hate us.  Also, they are bias.  They don’t target ALL countries, or all industries, only those that they want to, or those that attack them back such as the financial institutions which are abandoning them because of the controversy.  This organization has further set out to destroy our great country.  They have put the lives of many in severe danger, and consciously doing so.  The United States has recently sent out hundred of notifications to people whose names were identified in the Wiki cable leaks, alerting them to the fact that their life could be in danger.  Is this just propaganda or is it true?  Think about it, if a U.S. spy’s name was compromised, or an undercover cop in a big drug sting operation was identified, don’t you think their lives would be in danger?  Is this not terrorism?  Doesn’t the world all recognize that the tensions on the Korean peninsula are very high, with threats of war and even nuclear missiles talked about almost on a weekly basis?  We are talking about millions of people that could be in danger if South Korea and North Korea go to war.  So, assuming that Assange is a fairly intelligent man, and knows better, wouldn’t he recognize that those leaks could cause the two countries to go to war.  Again, Wiki-leaks and Julian Paul Assange could be one of the largest and most dangerous terrorist organizations I’ve seen; putting the lives of millions of people on the Korean peninsula in danger, but also attempting to cripple the United States of America as a world leader and financially, thereby threatening the lives and safety of over 320 million people who live here.  Now, that’s one pretty serious terrorist if you think about it.  What makes it worse is both the verbal, moral and financial support this terrorist organization is receiving.  Julian Assange and his terrorist supporters should be in jail.  A reward should be on his head every bit as much as a reward on Osama Bin Laden’s head.

If we hate the terrorists so much, then why are we acting like them and supporting them?  Please don’t be offended.  I mean it in the nicest name-calling way possible.  George W’s quote about inviting terrorism when we ignore it reminds me of a quote attributed to Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Edmund is also quoted as saying “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."  I think in tri-partisan politics you’d call those people falling “one by one” as neither Republican or Democrats, but as Independents.  What I believe he means is that when only a few stand to right the wrong, rocking the boat in the process, when the majority of those in the boat are corrupt and all the rest complacent and uncaring, the corrupt will destroy the last few of the good every time they stick their necks out for the complacent population.  I hope and pray that we never get to that point.

Terrorism is terrorism.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a visible bomb that kills thousands, or incompetence, corruption, greed, and complacency leading to mass layoffs, lawlessness and suicides.  Also, terrorism is jeopardizing the future of social security pension checks, welfare checks, Medicare and Medicaid, which would lead to mass hysteria, starvation, theft, killings and revolution.  Finally, terrorism is jeopardizing our countries political influence and economy and the lives of millions of people here and on the Korean peninsula by a “squealer” who is so obviously out to destroy our country through leaks of extremely sensitive data.

So many people seek to divide our country through partisan politics, bad policies, and playing on people’s emotions for their own political self interests and greed, defecating on our countries future as they smile and wave a magic wand, saying it will all be better tomorrow while at the same time continuing the poison of our countries future.  The writing is on the wall, it’s written on the floor, and it’s written all over the ceiling.  It is past time to trim the fat, cook the crooks, and bury the terrorists, obviously in the most diplomatic way possible, using your voice, your vote, letters, phone calls, influence and "do it" as "peaceful" as possible.  I wanted to say that in case some off balance nut like Jared L. Loughner, the suspect in the recent shooting and killing in Arizona, reads this.

"I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons".  

~OSAMA BIN LADEN

Bin Laden is quoted as saying that after the “very visible” 9/11 terrorist attacks, denying any responsibility.  Sounds like “non-accountability” and “finger pointing” to me.  Can’t you hear these very same words being said by every politician, every voter and non-voter, every single dissident and non-dissident, patriot and non-patriot, and every single illegal alien if complete chaos erupts in our country?

Winston Churchill said that “Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year and to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen”.  Right now there is so much writing on the wall, but without enough people actively searching for truth, then we won’t get to the “explain why it didn’t happen”, but only to the finger pointing.

For a patriot is not a title given at birth, or is it based on color, or is it self-inflicted; but patriotism is a title earned through a lot of heart and love of country, while actively seeking the absence of blindness, ignorance, incompetence and complacency.

Dewayne Allday

Selma, Alabama

Making a Positive U-Turn in Selma (Revised)

Original writing December 23, 2010, revised January 3^rd, 2011

I just read an article in the New York Times titled “Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning” written by Michael Cooper and Mary Williams Walsh, December 22, 2010.  The first thing I noticed about the title is that it left out exactly who Prichard’s scenario was a warning to.  After reading further, we see it is clearly a warning for city government officials and the voters who elected them to office; to be good stewards of both their office and their votes.  It seems it is also a warning for county government officials, state government officials, and even federal government officials and the voters that elected them to office to be good stewards as well.

I would greatly encourage everyone to read this article, understand what it’s saying, how they got there, and how it could have been turned around.


Here's the link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html

A few excerpts from this very important and eye opening article:

“PRICHARD, Ala. — This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.”

“Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.”

“The city’s rapid [Prichard’s] decline began in the 1970s. The growth of other suburbs, white flight and then middle-class flight all took their tolls, and the city’s population shrank by 40 percent to about 27,000 today, from its peak of 45,000. As people left, the city’s tax base dwindled.”

Census Bureau statistics show Selma’s population in 1970 at 27,400.  By 2009 the Bureau’s estimate shows a drop of 32% to 18,278, an average of 1.1% a year.

According to the Census, Selma’s decline began around 1970 just like Prichard but for twenty years it was only around 3% per decade.  Starting with the trouble within the school system  around 1990, this loss drastically increased to over 10% per decade which is where it still is today.

Prichard lost 40 percent of its population since the 1970s and Selma has lost 32% in the same time frame.

Dallas County has lost around 11% in the last decade where Elmore County has gained 20% in the same time frame.


I realize that Selma and Prichard are different in some “positive” areas, however, I also see a pattern of similarities that are very hard to leave unnoticed. 

Here are some of those patterns:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, both Selma and Prichard were similar in demographics, even though Prichard was a little larger in population and land area.


Therefore, Selma had a smaller population tax base and land base to maintain. I DO believe Selma has more people who love her however, and not nearly as many self serving, self motivated, negative crooks as Prichard had, especially in the current administration.  I think there are some good people working down there at city hall working hard and doing the best they can right now.  Prichard on the other hand, according to an article I read last year, there were some elected officials there who kept sticking their hands in the cookie jar (stealing money).  Certainly, that didn't help the situation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, both Prichard and Selma showed continual increases in the population base all the way up to around 1970, and then they both steadily have been losing population and tax base every year after 1970.

Prichard is at a 40% loss of population since 1970 and at the stage of bankruptcy while Selma is at a 33% loss of population.  The real question is whether or not the 40% population loss is the tipping point of bankruptcy.  If this assumption is correct, and I were a pessimist, then if changes in a positive direction are not enacted  quickly, then Selma will be in a very awkward position in about six years because according to the U.S. Census Bureau estimate, Selma lost approximately 346 more people between 2009 and 2010.   As of 2009, the U.S. Census has our population at 18,278.  The magic number Selma will need to be at to have a loss of 40% of population since 1970 will be a population of 16, 444.  If the census said we lost approximately 346 people between 2009 and 2010 and that trend continues then in 2010 we would be at 17,932, and in 2011 we’d have 17,586, and in 2012 we’d have 17,240 and in 2013 we’d have 16,894 and therefore Selma’s tipping point would be extremely close in 2014 at a population of around 16,548, therefore it will only take us approximately 3 or 4 more years for Selma to be at the 40% population/tax base loss that Prichard is experiencing currently.  And think about this; we do have an election coming up in 2012.  A negative campaign orchestrated on the radio and on the streets and the wrong person getting elected as mayor of Selma in 2012 could very easily cause the tipping point happen early.  In other words, if just 450 extra people moved out of Selma above the 346 census average by the end of 2012 due to the elections or a negative campaign, then Selma’s population would be at the 40% loss mark (16,444) the same year the Mayan calendar expires.  For you doom and gloom experts, that’s specifically December the 21st, 2012.  


Also, something else to consider.  According to the U.S. Census, only 46% of the population of the City of Selma is actually working as of 2009.  What that means is that in excess of 54% of the Selma tax base are not working, therefore bringing in less money, therefore spending less money to contribute tax dollars and spending in the system.  That means children, young adults, unemployeed, retirees, home makers, etc and from what I have been seeing, it is majority the working middle class that are the ones moving.  The 46% statistic was in 2009, but for now, let's assume that it has stayed the same as of 2011, therefore  46% times the estimated 2011 population of 17,586 is approximately 8,000 working citizens.  I have heard taht the population has already dropped below 17,000, which is true would put the working citizens at around 7,800.  These are the people that have more money to spend at locally owned businesses in town, although it's unfortunate that some of them drive to other cities like Montgomery and Prattville to spend at least some of it.  If I had to guess, Walmart is very important to the city of Selma right now, and will continue to be even more important for tax revenue in the next ten years.

However, if I were an optimist (and I am),   I believe that Selma will NOT go bankrupt as Prichard is seeking to do, and will NOT default on city employees retirement pensions in order to keep the payroll of the existing staff, and and being the optimist I am, I beleive that the world will NOT end with the Mayan calendar on December 21^st, 2012 because Selma has some things going for it that Prichard does not, therefore the actual tax base/budget numbers might be skewed in a positive direction somewhat.  Selma has a lot more tourism dollars coming in than Prichard does which greatly helps to keep Selma afloat.  Every tourism dollar, every positive effort, every tax dollar spent in Selma and on Selma, every effort to renovate and promote or expand existing recreational facilities, every effort to revitalize our downtown shopping center, Selma’s mall, pushing for a nice and safe movie theater here and some major visionary research and design of a beautiful, well lighted, well thought out and safe river walk downtown with ample parking in close proximity and some other major tourist attractions that will make not only make Selmians proud, but also make people want to come here, stay here, and spend their money here.


I am an optimist, but at the same time a realist.  Although I don't believe in showing your garbage for everyone to see, I also believe that hiding from key and very real issues, especially one that is SO IMPORTANT, solely for the sake of "image", is a dangerous plank to be walking on. 
 

Prichard’s story has special meaning to me since I have both a Prichard and Selma connection and also a Prichard U.S. Census connection.  I say that because at the announcement of my mother’s pregnancy with me near the beginning of the rapid decline of Prichard’s population in 1970, my parents were a part of the white and middle class population that the article in the New York Times was speaking of which fled Prichard.  I was born in 1971, residing still in Mobile County, but instead of starting my life in Prichard, Alabama, I began my life living in Chickasaw, Alabama, one of the "safer" suburbs outside of Prichard where some middle class whites and blacks fled to.   I can still remember the stories my parents spoke of about Prichard when I was a child, which I recently revisited with them in discussion after reading the New York Times article.  I can still remember them saying how unsafe it was there and about all of the stealing and the murders and shootings.  I can remember them talking about how a week didn’t go by that you didn’t hear gunshots in the city limits at night. 


My advice to the residents of Selma is; don’t leave, don’t move away.  I still have lots of hope for Selma and you should too.  If you leave, we all lose.  Also, all communitys in Dallas County will lose as well.  Selma has a lot of potential if people would quit trying to destroy it with negativity and political advancement at the expense of its citizens.  Let’s rebuild this battle scarred city and quit stirring up controversy and polarizing the city.  Polarization and negative talk only gets people stirred up, angry, discouraged, and makes them want to move to a more positive place.  Have you ever heard of escalating an argument – you know, that’s when you start cussing and throwing stuff.  It's a spiral effect that gets progressively worse until someone is man enough to say "enough is enough" and "this arguement isn't productive".  It’s not healthy and it doesn’t encourage business and growth.  Anger never loved anyone and I think it’s safe to say that a lot of negativity actually increases unhappiness, therefore increasing violence and crime in general.  Quit reopening old wounds and rubbing salt in them like some groups, organizations and individuals seem to want to try and do.  Quit all the selfish, childish stuff and quit supporting and encouraging those groups, organizations and individuals who do.  I am not going to name any names here (or radio stations), but I think you know who you are.

Get on your work boots and roll up your sleeves.  Start and/or continue rebuilding side by side with people of all races, and make Selma a better, more pleasant place to live.  Start encouraging positive, progressive and intelligent minded people to move here. Even if you have to work with someone you don’t like, do it because you love your city more, and yourself less, to benefit the good of the whole.

Because, if we don’t start working together in a positive direction and turning these statistics around, we could all be looking at losing at lot more than our pensions.

Dewayne Allday

Selma, Alabama