As there is not too much going on in the city and I am still exhausted from walking in the parade while dodging Council’s evil stares, instead of writing a column, I would like to share my letter from the City of Laurinburg to President-elect Donald Trump:
Dear President-elect Trump,
First, please accept my congratulations on your election victory. I did not vote for you, due to some of things you have said and done in the past, and concern about no political experience. In addition, Scotland County, of which Laurinburg is the county seat, voted for Hillary Clinton.
So, why this letter? My community is in desperate need of your undeniable talents. Our county, believe it or not, has not only one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of North Carolina, but, at the same time our poor citizens are taxed by the local elected officials at the highest rate in the state. We are the 99th poorest county (out of 100), and our population is shrinking. But it doesn’t have to be this way, if you will come.
After learning of your bold and successful intervention with Carrier in Indiana, the idea of writing to you personally to help our community came to me. I believe that your unique ideas and skills could help turn around this most distressed rural community in this great state, and perhaps could serve as a road map for other similar communities. I even have visions of Anderson Cooper being forced to come here to cover another Trump miracle.
If you would, if you possibly could come here, here is what you, and only you, could do:
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, problems with our community’s economy is that hundreds of people who work here (teachers, school administrators, community-hospital employees), don’t live here. They take our tax dollars and spend them where they live in more prosperous communities that lie outside our poor county. This has a devastating effect on our unemployment and our local economy. Your idea of building a wall, this one around our county, would solve this problem. It would keep our tax dollars at home, circulating in our community. Maybe, like you are finding out in Mexico, a full-fledged wall is not needed. Perhaps just gates at all roads leading out of our county would be sufficient. I believe these employees are unlikely to walk to and from work from their out-of-county homes. These so-called ‘carpetbagger gates’ would surely be an immediate stop to the bleeding but would be unsightly. But, perhaps at the same time, you could introduce legislation in Congress that suspends federal funding to any school or hospital that permits its employees to make off with the poor’s tax money. Once this legislation passes, the gates could be removed.
Next, you could use your unmatched skills as a negotiator. Our elected officials are in the midst of committing our poor, over-taxed citizens to upwards of $60 million debt. Not for some bold plan of growth, but to build new government and school buildings that almost no taxpayer wants. These elected officials simply refuse to listen to the overburdened taxpayer. To most people here, the elected officials seem only concerned with their own private agendas and getting along with each other. Only with your personal charisma , now augmented by the majestic title of president-elect, I am absolutely sure these elected officials could be shaken from their elitist perches.
Lastly, you could bring your celebrated skills as a developer of blighted properties which has turned around neighborhoods and communities. These same elected officials, so ready to spend $60 million on buildings that do nothing for turning our local economy around, simply have no idea on the bold strokes needed for growth.
For instance, instead of a state-of-the art community center, that would instill pride and hope, not to mention make the community more attractive to spur growth, these leaders want to make little church rooms available to play cards. These ‘leaders’ know how to do one thing and one thing only, rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. They have put forth no vision for the people to get inspired by, they have demonstrated no true concern for the future of our community and they appear to lack the courage to take chances. Only you could inspire them to boldly pursue success without the paralyzing and defeatist group-think that holds our county hostage to failure.
Mr. President-elect, as the mayor of the proud city of Laurinburg, I humbly and respectfully ask you to consider taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule to consider this request. Only you and your incredible talent for turning around the most hopeless situations can save our community from its most serious problems, a complete lack of leadership and vision. Only with your energy, your business-savvy, your strength of will, can our leaders be shaken from decades-old habits of failing community. I look forward, hopefully, to your response.