Driving South, again:

Fried Chicken and the Lottery.

We are back in Miami. It will be our fourth February. Drove down in four days, stopping on the way in both Blue cities and Red rural sprawl. We are now here where it is vibrant, diverse, messy, noisy and warm. Seems like it will be a good time.

As I said in another post, for those who are wondering what the hell happened to America, a ride through the rural and semi-rural South will open your eyes. The contrast is between the Blue cities and the Red rural areas. We spend the night in Charlotte, NC. It has a busy downtown full of people getting out of work, and prosperous shopping streets nearby. There were brew-pubs full of bankers talking about on-line banking innovations, and how to keep the money flowing. It was restaurant week, to get people to come out in January, and there was an art crawl to keep people downtown.

As we drove though the rural areas of South Carolina and Georgia, it was quiet. We stopped for lunch, and drove further than the chain restaurants at the highway exits and found a BBQ buffet. The fired chicken was a bit heavy but irresistible. The pulled pork was tasty, as were the collard greens. The black-eyed peas were too salty. The place was crowded. $11 for seniors. All you could eat. I noticed, mostly because of what I’m going through, were the two photographs on the wall near the register. One of the founders had died recently, as had a long-time staff member. They were both a few years younger than I am now. They probably died of cancer, or perhaps of the symptoms from diabetes. South Carolina and Georgia did not take the money to pay for Medicaid expansion, They didn’t take advantage of Obamacare. That means that when a person gets cancer, it probably won’t be found as quickly as mine was, and that will make treatment more difficult, if the person can find treatment with bad, or no insurance.

Now, I don’t have the whole history of the people in the pictures. But I wonder.

We also stopped at gas station- convenience stores, which were a bit off the main road. I had to go in to pay for the gas. Either the credit card slot wasn’t working, or they didn’t trust their clientele to pay. Again, I don’t know. But ninety percent of what the store sold were products for those who seemed to need some distraction from depression. There was a huge wall consisting of about fifty different lottery tickets. The woman in front of me was slowly pondering which ones to choose. There were refrigerator cases full of beer, from cases to singles, mostly very inexpensive, and there was a wall full of cigarettes. That’s what they were selling and they were pretty busy.

The third thing that I was struck by as we drove through those areas, happened when I got my wife to stop listening to NPR or podcasts. I got to listen to one of the many, upbeat Christian music stations. The music was catchy, mostly either country music style, or dramatic salvation ballads. They were pretty much what I expected. What I didn’t expect was to hear a cheery female voice say that we listeners should “take the pledge,” which was to listen to nothing but Christian music, and this station for a month. That I found frightening.

I understand that people enjoy getting the word and feeling the joy. I understand that it can be uplifting to feel you are thinking the right thoughts and following the right path. But it upsets me when someone is telling you not to get any other information or hear from any different sources. Yes, there is so much information pouring in it is difficult to sort out what to think or believe, but it has become clear that if you don’t take on that task for yourself, someone will do it for you, and you run a very large risk of being exploited.

On this trip I only had a few, brief conversations with people in the rural areas. Everyone seemed friendly and helpful. Perhaps a little less so than two years ago, but nothing made me feel uncomfortable. All of us still seem to be living in the same country.

The impression I’m left with is that there is a large group of Americans who feel that they are being deprived of opportunities that are available to others. I strongly agree with that. I think that now includes about half to two-thirds of the country. Some of them have been sucked in by leaders and politicians who have told the poor and the struggling to fear each other. That’s why the lady on the Christian radio station bothered me so much. People need fresh ideas, new solutions to new problems. There didn’t seem to be too many new ideas in those convenience stores.

Seven hours later we were in Miami. The Lamborghinis were zipping passed. It was Saturday night and there was a huge limo parked out front and a very fancy wedding about to begin. There was noise, music and fancy drinks all around. People of all colors were dressed up in all kinds of clothes. It was fun to just observe the entire scene.

Everyone looked as if they had already won the lottery, or at least they felt as if they have a bright, promising future.