Final thoughts from Spring Break: Looking good, America
Journalists usually get slammed for being too negative. For ambulance chasing. For accentuating the negative.
But once again, I want to wade into the troubled waters of a little anecdotal optimism.
Troubled, because this is the thing that I usually get beat up for, from commenters on the left and the right.
During my two week vacation, we drove through ten American states, breezing across the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and the Great Lakes states.
The fascinating thing was how good things looked, at least in contrast with the daily headlines we read.
Restaurants? Packed. Truck stops? Jammed with tractor-trailers. Retail shops? Bustling.
Some other take-aways: Despite all the lamentation about America’s crumbling infrastructure, the roads and interstates that we traveled looked great.
Clean, modern, well managed.
What’s more, we spent the whole trip “wired-in” on my wife’s Blackberry, able to surf the net while we drove.
We arranged hotels, navigated, stayed in touch, all through our supposedly hopeless and antiquated telecommunications system.
In the middle of our trip, a cutting-edge American company (Apple) released a new must-have high-tech product (the I-Pad). Pretty cool.
After all the gloom and doom talk, I sort of expected to find a third world country out there.
The right leads you to believe that you’ll find hordes of restless illegal immigrants, gangs, and godless lazy people waiting for handouts.
The left mutters about obese, rage-filled tea partiers.
Nope.
I saw a lot of people up really early, working really hard. I saw a ton of energy. I saw…normal life.
I know this isn’t everyone’s experience. There remains a lot of pain, with unemployment high and some big systemic problems.
We have real debates, real challenges, real differences that divide us.
But it was still a comfort to find that America is still out there, humming along, looking good.
Mean while back in the NC we have no decent cell service(thank you APA, in part) So I keep my land line to the tune of $600 a year instead of a cheap and easy trac-phone that would only cost me $120. I know, if I don't like it I should either not have a phone or simply move.
Do you think the blue line has anything to do with the stark contrast activity? Here is an interesting op-ed pieceProsperity up north — Page 1 — Times Union – Albany NY
Brian, Are you trying to say "that for the first time in your lifetime you are proud to be an American"? I am just kidding! From my vantage point things are looking pretty good too. I wish we all were as lucky.
Brian – you've hit on something that I've been struck by since the beginning of this "worst recession since the Great Depression", which is the lack of visible evidence. I guess maybe growing up with Dorothea Lange's photos and newsreel footage of breadlines has left such an impact that I keep looking for something comparable. Instead, I see Plattsburgh's restaurants busy, box stores active and everyone still seems to be driving a newer car than I am. Maybe Americans today are better at hiding the impacts? Or maybe our standard of living is generally high enough to cushion the working-middle class a little better.
Tell me Brian, how many vacant stores and businesses did you see? How many abandoned malls, industrial parks, schools? How many corner diners and stores? Did you stop by unemployment centers to see if the lines were long or existed at all?Plattsburgh looks busy, unless you remember P-burgh 20 years ago. Ogdensburg looks busy, unless you remember it 40 years ago. Looks are superficial Brian.
Brian,Thanks for your upbeat post.The Adirondacks has always been "depressed". That's part of the charm. People are free to move to other parts of the country.Mike