What Others Are Saying About Us

While in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to meet folks from around our country, since Gettysburg is one of the hot vacation spots in the U.S. I met people from upstate New York, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Delaware, etc., and some fine conversations ensued. When asked where we were from, however, some curious responses were given:


"So, where are you from?"
"The Detroit area."
1. "Oh! Home of the 'Hip-Hop Mayor'!"
2. "Are you packin'?"
3. "I'm sorry."
4. Oh! Little Baghdad!"
----------------------------------
"So, where are you from?"
"Michigan."
"Oh. Do you still own your house?"

Yes, these are actual comments/statements made to me during conversations made while on vacation out of state. Of course, I had to laugh because, well, show me what's not true? More people are losing their homes to foreclosure than ever before (there are probably at least a half dozen on my street alone - no kidding). Job loss due to lay offs, outsourcing, and just plain greed has affected, in one way or another, nearly every one I know, and the idea that the only jobs left are to become a greeter at Walmart or to become a fast-food employee has become a reality for far too many. And I am just a paycheck away from being in the same boat.
Detroit? Well, except the few years that the city had Dennis Archer as its mayor, Detroit has been nothing but an embarrassment to Michigan, as well as to the United States as a whole. It is a third world city in every sense of the word. Crime ridden like no other, its citizens are flocking to the suburbs in droves - faster than folks are leaving Michigan for the more prosperous southern states. Our socialist governor has done nothing to help the economy - oh, she talks up a storm, but has taken to keeping her nose up Kwame Kilpatrick's butt, doing whatever the hip-hop mayor wants her to do. She has been noticeably quiet during the latest text-message scandal...hmmm...could she have a role in it herself? One has to wonder...
Does anyone out there see a light at the end of the tunnel? I certainly don't. It's not mayor Kwame; it's not guv'ner Granholm; it's definitely not any of the Democratic candidates running for president (Hillary R. Clinton, B. Hussein Obama, or John McCain. Wait-----are you saying that McCain is a Republican? Ha! Could have fooled me!); it's definitely not our current president. There's no light at the end of the tunnel, and it's only going to get darker.
I have no answers - well, yes I do but none that will come to pass:
-Stop the outsourcing of decent paying jobs to low-income private companies on a local and national level.
-Bring back to the U.S. all current outsourced jobs
-Send back to their homeland all illegal immigrants. If you want to come to this country, enter legally and go through the proper channels
-Get rid of school of choice in all communities - forcing parents to actually to get involved and to work toward the betterment of their schools and community thus keeping the money brought in by their children's attendance in their neighborhood school system
-Lower gas prices to $1.50 a gallon - very reasonable - and keep it there. The oil companies would still be making billions but the morale of our citizens would get a major boost - pride would return, spending on goods would increase, and then the economy would strengthen tremendously. It's as simple as that.
As I stated, however, this will not happen. Instead, our country will cave in on itself within a matter of five years and the United States will be no better than the third world countries that Detroit has emulated. Especially when one of the BIG THREE presidential candidates gets into office.
Oh, the sad times in which we live.