Has our country gone so far into the abyss that we have lost our grace and compassion for our fellow man? The yelling is deafening. And, as I’ve said before, we have become the human equivalent of Dr. Suess’ Sneetches.

Icons such as Rev. Will Campbell are gone now that saw both sides of the coin and lived with grace and determination. He left a legacy of love and understanding of everyone. As Betsy wrote this morning, his legacy of helping those who felt most helpless is a lesson we all need to know.

I was asked last week by a former congressman what has happened to our news cycles. I told him the first thing that was on my mind that readers of Newscoma know I’ve been saying for years. We are overstimulated by a world that highlights Justin Beiber’s poor decision making skills or Jodie Arias’ trial and ignores that Headstart programs are being shut down. We ignore that corporations are making decisions about our day-to-day lives instead of our elected officials.

There is almost too much to process and it is easy to follow into outrage mode instead of thoughtful consideration of the world around us. We live in a world of media fast food that, just like a quarter pounder with cheese, it fills us up but it isn’t good for us on a daily basis.

He said back to me with a weary look on his face, and I’ve been thinking about this all week, “We have lost the art of governance.” I couldn’t agree more.

I am a Tennessean and a person before I’m a label. And we live in a world of being labeled. During my hiatus, I decided to go talk to people who identify in labels different than myself. It became very interesting, and honestly it was rather beautiful. Many of the people I had discussions with identify as Republicans. It didn’t matter the labels, it mattered that we agreed on far more than we disagreed on. I have also said this before. There wasn’t any yelling or screaming, which is all you see these days on television. There wasn’t any condescending arguments, just thoughtful conversation on everything to healthcare to background checks on gun purchases to the allegations against Pilot Flying J.

Adults can have conversations without trying to throttle each other and we did. The folks that I talked with are just as gobsmacked as I am about the lack of grace and, as the congressman said, the lack of governing in Nashville and Washington.

When you get right down to it, it is simple. People want a decent life. They want friends and family. They do not want to live in fear. They want effective leadership that will make sure a bridge doesn’t fall down when they are driving over the Tennessee River. They want the same things that all of us want. And yet the noise drowns out so much valuable conversation and ability to get our country back on track.

Of course, I’ve said many of these things before and I’m just a “blogger” which is yet another label. So I’ll say this as a person, let us find our own personal grace and pay attention that we are all human beings. And that all of us our extremely tired of the nonsense right now.

By Renard Francois

  My name is Renard Francois, and I have the privilege of serving as a Commissioner of the Metropolitan Social Services Commission.  Before I begin I would like to ask the staff to stand and thank them for their hard work and dedication to the many issues that will be discussed in today’s seminar. They are truly selfless public servants. And, I would like to thank you for your dedication to these important issues and for taking time out of your busy lives and days to be part of this seminar.

In 2009, Metropolitan Social Services Planning & Coordination Division completed a series of Community Needs Evaluations. The community evaluation process is a data-based method of monitoring and reporting that involved the public and private sectors in ongoing community-wide efforts to identify and address the needs of low-income Davidson County residents.

The 2012 Community Needs Evaluation is MSS’s fourth annual report on poverty and community needs in

• Food and Nutrition,

• Health and Human Development,

• Housing and Related Assistance,

• Long-Term Supports and Services, and

• Workforce and Economic Opportunity.

These Community Needs Evaluation reports give us an overview of the social service needs, the resources available to meet those needs and identify current and anticipated needs based on trends in the community. They show changes in the magnitude and patterns of poverty among diverse social and demographic groups. It is our hope that the information can be used to anticipate service needs and maximize the availability of social services among Nashvillians and is designed to guide policy makers, professional practitioners, advocates and philanthropists in their efforts to alleviate poverty.

In a time where we have witnessed incredible advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation, significant poverty persists.  In a city and county that has seen tremendous growth, publicity, and popularity, too many of our fellow citizens are trapped in poverty and cannot take advantage of those opportunities available in a city on the rise.

Although Davidson County has made strides, our poverty rate of 19.3% is higher than the poverty rate of the U.S. and the State of Tennessee. To put that in perspective, the number of Davidson County residents in poverty, about 117,000, could fill Bridgestone Arena to capacity about TEN TIMES.  And our younger citizens shoulder too much of the burden.  According to the Community Needs Evaluation, 30% of those residents in poverty are younger than 18. The number of Davidson County residents who are under 18 and trapped in poverty would fill up Bridgestone Arena twice. We know that growing up in poverty can harm a child’s well-being and development and limit their opportunities and academic success.

We have a great deal of work to do.

• Out of 35 Metro Council districts, 22 have double digit poverty rates.

• Of those 22 districts, 11 Metro Council districts have poverty rates above the Davidson County’s poverty rate of 19.3%.

• And, 4 Metro Council districts have poverty rates above 30%.

• Six Council Districts have poverty rates over 50% for those who are under age 18.

• For households with a single female and children under 5, 17 Council districts have poverty rates of 50% or greater. Almost half of our Metro Council districts have single women with young children who are fighting poverty.

We have seen the vicious cycle poverty creates for these individuals; ranging from

• Possible homelessness,

• lower educational attainment,

• higher unemployment (In Davidson County, from 2007-2011, the unemployment rate increased by 200% for those who didn’t graduate from high school),

• decreased earnings,

• health problems and

• involvement in the criminal justice system.

Unabated, long-term poverty also adversely effects Davidson County. As we see increased costs through lost productivity and higher spending on health care and incarceration. This at a time when there are fewer government and non-profit resources available to meet the increased need.

• According to The U.S. Conference of Mayors 2012 Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness, Nashville saw requests for emergency food assistance increased 8% from the previous year. But, 30% of the overall requests for emergency food assistance went unmet. The report identified the primary causes for hunger in individuals and households with children are unemployment, high housing costs and substance abuse.

• A Gallup poll conducted in January through June 2012 reported that Tennessee ranked 8th among states in which residents struggled to afford needed food items. In Tennessee, one-in-five persons are without enough money to afford food.

As a result, it is extremely important that we use the information in this report.

Unlike many businesses that conduct market research to better serve their customers and effectively and efficiently meet their needs, most non-profit and government service providers do not.  By providing current demographic, social and socioeconomic data about Davidson County, The Community Needs Evaluation can help non-profit and government service providers know more about their customers and begin to improve the service delivery system design and provide the services that will create meaningful change for our citizens in need.  It also recommends using evidence-based practices to promote the most effective and efficient models for providing social and human services in our community.

I was born and raised in Nashville, and have seen it change in many dramatic and wonderful ways. But, too many of our residents remain imprisoned in poverty. I hope that we can use the information this report and recommended practices to work together to overcome and eradicated poverty in Nashville.  Nelson Mandela once said “overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.”

You can find out more about Renard Francois here.

While we’ve been watching the Ag Gag bill, Campy’s antics on dangerous, attention-seeking legislation and other antics, there are some things that have flown under the radar. Teachers are quitting in droves, workers compensation has been gutted, public schools are under attack and women’s issues, don’t even get me started there. Even in national legislator land, we can have a bipartisan agreement on air traffic controllers in a matter of hours but don’t bring up Headstart or Meals on Wheels cuts?

And don’t get me started on the legislative junket to Turkey about charter schools. No, I’m not kidding.

What have we become? Dr. Seuss said it best with the Sneetches, we’ve become a society of those who have a star on their belly and those who don’t.

One thing I’ve noticed and received multiple calls and emails about is that folks who usually don’t watch this stuff are paying attention. I’ve said it until I’m blue in the face, we do have some control of our local legislators if we pay attention to what they do. The Ag Gag bill has pushed folks into asking questions about other legislation. In that way alone, it’s good. What bills do your Rep and Senator propose, what are they sponsoring and how did they vote on a variety of issues. In times like this, where Tennesseans are sitting at a kitchen table filled with crazy and downright mean legislation, it’s good to hold public servants accountable. What are the doing for the public and not for their own special interests?

I want what is best for the next generation and with so much of what I’m seeing, I do worry. I get tired of politicians talking at me instead of to me. Cal them, if they won’t talk to you let your friends know. Send them email, if they don’t answer them, let your friends know. Elected leaders work for you, not the other way around. Remember that. Your voice is just as valuable is theirs is.

I have heard that from a lot of people lately and the only advice I can give them is to follow Stephen Colbert’s advice because you damn well “Better Know A District” and that is where we all can make change. You don’t like what your legislator is doing, find someone who will work with you on a personal level and they are out there. You will be surprised who truly is accessible. If they aren’t accessible, tell your neighbors. That’s who any movement starts. And have an end game that isn’t just about winning elections but looks toward the future. and protects the children of tomorrow from the incompetence and irresponsibility of today.

Right in our own backyards and at our own kitchen tables.

This year we have become a national laughingstock more than usual. Sen. Stacey Campfield has introduced Don’t Say Gay, Starve The Kids and went as far to put up a pressure cooker photo this week less than a week after the Boston Marathon Bombing to attack the gun debate. Rep. Andy Holt and Sen. Delores Gresham introduced ALEC based  model legislation that is in a direct violation of the first amendment and is designed to slow down whistleblowers. Did I mention that they both own farming operation so the Ag-Gag bill will benefit both of them? Did I mention that Holt insulted Carrie Underwood in such a condescending way earlier this week when she asked the Governor to veto this horrible festering bill?

Let’s not forget that Sen. Frank Niceley introduced legislation that would have ended Senate primaries. Or that local authority is being whittled away at to give the state government more control.

That is just a sampling of the legislation that was offered this year. Workers’ compensation rights were attacked as well. And on the last day of session, 34 career centers across the state were closed. And on top of that, the only piece of legislation that really helped each and every Tennessean was a reduction of the food sales tax which is a whopping savings of about $3 bucks a year.

The supermajority was about volume but not value. It was loud and unruly, and I swear I felt bad for folks such as Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, Rep. Gloria Johnson and Sen. Lowe Finney, who tried to be the voice of reason in the blizzard of crazy that was this session in Nashville.

A friend of mine yesterday who lives in Washington reminded me of the old slogan “Educate, Medicate, Incarcerate” philosophy to governing on a state level. I thought about it a lot yesterday. I guess here in Tennessee what we saw was, to quote John Brummett at the Arkansas Times, is that we are looking at Placate, Litigate, Agitate.

This isn’t good governing, this is creating a mess that anybody in their right mind knows is about the next election and creating distractions to get people to vote against their best interests.

So what are we going to do about this? Running for office takes time, money, commitment, organization and passion. Here are a few things to consider:

• If your local elected official representing your area or is your Rep. or Senator representing special interests? (Example: ALEC model legislation.)
• Do you know someone that will be effected by the Governor’s refusal of the Healthcare expansion?
• Is your community fully aware of the legislation being introduced by your elected state leaders?
• What is YOUR willingness quotient? What I mean is are you willing to help and on what level are you willing to assist a candidate or a cause. Everyone has different willingness quotients and that has to be determined by you.

On a final note, head to Steve Ross’s online abode, who is conducting a fundraiser to assist the caucuses and also breaks down some of this session’s atrocities. 

It’s a lot to think about but the bottom line is simple. Public servants should serve the public. They should be held accountable to their constituents. Being elected to office is a privilege, not a right.

I’ll let Cari Wade Gervin at Metropulse explain what happened this year in her “Death to the Session” primer where she (and I for that matter) are relieved that it is over.

Last week, an Elvis impersonator tried to kill the president and a senator with poison, a terrible explosion pretty much destroyed a town in Texas and Boston came to a standstill as authorities hunted down a terrorist. In Tennessee, a Haslam, the more famous one that just bought the Cleveland Browns, is in trouble, accused of stealing rebate money from small trucking businesses. If reports from this morning are correct, the NFL was blindsided by this information.

One thing that went under the radar is the state of Tennessee is closing 34 career centers across the state and “relocating them”. So much for putting the focus on assisting people to find unemployment.

And let us not forget the horrendous Ag-Gag bill that passed which is a hell of a lot more than it seems. (Read Jack McElroy who is spot on here.)  The only way this festering piece of model legislation will go away is if Gov. Bill Haslam (the other one) decides to veto it. With all the infighting in his large political family, it could go either way.

On a final note, I’ve been pondering is the entire national media’s response to Boston. CNN has famously screwed up a lot of reports. News was fast and furious on social media sites, some was right and other times it was wrong. My thought is that with iReports and requests from citizen journalists over the years, cable newsers have repeatedly begged for input from the public. They encouraged it and they got what they asked for. It was experience (looking at you, Pete Williams) that was calm and collected in using traditional news gathering sources that was spot-on and accurate.

24/7 cable news is about filling the hours. Why do you think we have so many pundits screaming at us day in and day out. Last week was filled with non-stop news during several real crisises in this country. Thirty seconds before your competition is not a scoop, and in many ways, except in the cases of investigative journalism, the scoop is on life-support. And in many ways, if you were like me, there was too much news going on nationally and state-wide to even grasp and consider. It just kept coming without a chance to consider each thing fully.

Just my observations on this past crazy week in this country.

And it makes me angry. I guess they got what they wanted. Wall-to-wall media coverage, tapping into fear and creating chaos during, for so many, what is a joyful event.

These explosions aren’t like the ones on NCIS where Mark Harmon and his attractive team jump away from expected flames from a bomb then getting up looking just slightly disheveled. That’s not how it works. This is real life. You can’t just take a shower and the events of yesterday be just a dream. Bobby Ewing isn’t coming out of the shower. This isn’t a Pamela Ewing year-long slumber.

The heroes are all of those people who helped others despite uncertainty. They didn’t know if there weren’t bombs all over the damned place and they helped anyway.

As Craig Ferguson said last night, it’s getting pretty friggin’ old to say “This is not a great day in America.”

A kid who was headed to hug his father at the finish line is dead. Early reports are that dozens of people have lost limbs. I used to see some rather horrible stuff when I was a reporter but some of the pictures I saw yesterday were some of the worst things I’ve ever seen. This happens all over the world every day. It happened in our country yesterday.

It’s despicable. I cannot wrap my head around why a person would do something like this.  Who thrives on creating suffering and death? Who are these people?

And the only thing I can think of that if these asshats want people to be afraid and we deny them that.

I don’t understand, I guess I never will.

This isn’t really big news but it was disturbing on Thursday because my damned foot hurt. It hurt to walk on it and it was pretty much painful in general. The problem is that I don’t have insurance so I had to wing it. And this is when it takes a village and I’m damned glad I have a village of people who took care of me without judgement and with much kindness.

I called my stepmother who is a retired nurse and she gave me much needed advice about combatting the swelling. I was confused by what the hell was going on. I envisioned that I had been abducted by six-inch tall aliens who had messed with my mojo. Haiku Vibinc checked in on me and looked up pictures on the innertubes trying to help me with diagnosing this son of a bitch all the way from Memphis.

At that point I had no idea why my foot had taken on the qualities of Fred Flintstone’s cartoon hooves. A friend of mine is a former nurse and during the blinding rains of Thursday, she agreed to look at it. She took a look at it and said I’d been bit. A paramedic also diagnosed it citing that it wasn’t a brown recluse bite (my biggest fear as spiders scare the holy shit out of me) and that there was a stinger involved.

The village diagnosed, they nurtured and without even knowing it, comforted me. The consensus was that I had been stung by some sort of flying insect critter and had an allergic reaction from the venom.

Much Neosporin, elevation of my foot, tons of Advil and a little bit of hobbling, I’m okay.

It was also a reminder that for folks like me, who don’t have insurance, in which I’m always about a month away from a financial disaster. And I know I’m not alone.

At the heart of the matter, a bug bite is not a big deal. It’s not like I was killed by a beaver.  This situation was a reminder though of mortality and illness is in many ways is a card game with high stakes. Sometimes you get the right ones and you win, sometimes you don’t. Life is luck. I didn’t have to have medical attention that would have set me back hundreds of dollars. Believe me, that is scarier than a critter bite, I assure you.

This post brought to you by the Middle-Aged Crazies. You are welcome.

Although no one has come out and said it, it is almost like we are being told constantly that the American Dream is over. If you have fallen on hard times, “so what” seems to be the message.

The crazy is rampant, it really is. By not expanding Medicaid, what we are basically doing is letting people die, trickling as slow as molasses on a cold winter day dripping from a broken bottle. If one kid does badly in school, then the entire family suffers. You get hurt on the job, then bully for you. I know a firefighter that got hurt while he was working. Are we going to put him out to pasture because he can no longer work?

Tennesseans need to being say no, that the American Dream is not reserved for certain people. That civil liberties are not just reserved for the “good folks” because who gets to make that definition. There is a difference between a public servant and a bully pushing agendas that have nothing to do with this state as a whole.

Wade Munday makes a good point in his post from today:

 The challenge for Tennessee lawmakers debating this festering turd of legislation is to set aside an hour or two frustrated by some experience among Tennessee’s poor. They could be real statesmen and stateswomen if they stopped resenting others and represented them. The poor are all around us. They are also the people who make Tennessee the place it is today despite their economic well being. The Tennessee Republican Party should work to help them make this state even greater and oppose this bill.

As does Shane Rhyne:

Putting the burden of the family’s financial fate on a 3rd grader? Well, that’s a special kind of genius plan. You know, when famous Tennessean Davy Crockett was a young man it was an accepted practice to “hire out” your children to work off the debts of their parents. I can totally see these guys relaunching that forgotten practice in the next legislative session. Because, why not? That’ll teach those children to be in poor families and show them the value of a good education. You know, the kind of education their school mates get when they aren’t worried their inability to write a decent book report on Little Women will send their family to the homeless shelter.

The lack of compassion to children, the elderly, the ill, hurt workers and others just goes on and on. I’m not ashamed to say that I believe in the best in people.

There is an old saying attributed to James Freeman Clark that goes “A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman thinks about the next generation.” There is also a saying that I think applies very well to the state of politics in Tennessee right now where Charles de Gaulle said quite accurately “I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”

Oh de Gaulle, how right you are.

The problem in one respect is that the GOP are driving the message that there is a boogeyman under the bed, behind you, next to you and waiting to take something from you. I know more people in Tennessee who are kind, willing to help and are your neighbor. They want the same thing you do: shelter, food, employment, love and respect.

What we need are statesmen that remember that what we are doing now is making sure that the same American Dream that our grandparents taught us about is available for our children and their children.

How damn hard is that?

I guess I should be writing about what’s going on in state politics. How things have gone from Hillbilly Machiavellian (to quote Jeff Woods) to downright cruel. How our legislators are voting on bullying students, starving poor children (Oliver Twist Act, Ya’ll!), workers’ rights being completely dismantled and how this state has made the term “free market” into a buzzword equated to hurting people.

Outrage being used as a weapon of mass distraction is scary business and I’d bet my little toe that’s what is happening right now. What the hell is our state government hiding in the depths of this rubbish that they call legislation?

What I want to talk about is Roger Ebert, compassion, legacy and living in a world that is sepia toned these days. A world that may look it is set in technicolor but where I find that it tends to be more gray and brown when you look beneath the surface.

I watched Ebert as a kid when he and Gene Siskel made me want to go to movies I’d never heard of. I lived in a small town so many of the movies were not available in Hoots and the surrounding areas. I loved that both hosts were both smart and a bit cantankerous. Siskel died right before my mother did which holds some significance for me for reasons I can’t completely understand.  Ebert continued on.

Ebert, despite his age, embraced social media and I think that is when we started seeing the complete picture of him. When his illness robbed him of his voice, he found a new one and famously said “Because of the rush of human knowledge, because of the digital revolution, I have a voice, and I do not need to scream.” He humanized himself (a lesson many politicians could learn from because he basically wrote the road map for how being a public figure and a human being can be synonymous.) He found a new voice, used his snark sparingly and when he did use it, it always hit the target be it about movies or about politics.

He knew the power of words.

I have been thinking about legacies recently. It never ceases to surprise me how certain people pass and yet their lives remain on. Why do people still quote Teddy Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Ned McWherter, and Molly Ivins just to name a few folks whose words and actions still inspire.  Roger Ebert is also a man whose legacy, even just hours after his death, are being honored in traditional media, on blogs and on Twitter, a medium he loved.

A legacy is important and I think about it the older I get. What do we leave when we die? It is obvious that there are certain people that leave impressions which resonate generation to generation and continue to inspire.

And then there are legacies that are toxic, as we know. I can’t help but think about the legacies that will be formed now. “Hey, I’m the guy that sponsored the Starve Poor Children law.” Ugh.

My grandfather and mother were gentle people who loved others, gave back to their families and their communities. They weren’t famous but their legacies live on. Good people are remembered.

Ebert’s death reminds me of what everyone in their right mind would want their legacy to be.

And he was fearless with his words and in facing death. His legacy isn’t going anywhere for years to come because he never surrendered to illness or criticism. He inspired many a writer to be better and his message resonated with leaders and with average people. That’s the kind of legacy I think we should all aspire to achieve.

It honestly doesn’t take a lot of effort to find bills going into state legislatures all around the country as they tend to have the same theme. Workers Compensation “reform” – check! (Take note of the date that this was approved by ALEC and then the reapproval date.)  Charter Schools/Voucher programs – check! (Notice that North Carolina AND Tennessee are basically doing the same thing.) The word “reform” is tricky these days as when it comes to education, the bottom line is privatizing education for profit with tax dollars. And let’s not forget the Keystone XL pipeline where the Koch brothers stand to make millions and which will require eminent domain seizure of farmland and private property.

And let’s not even get started on Wage Suppression which hasn’t gotten as much play until recently in this state but, yeppers, there is a plan.

Even the bill sponsored by Rep. Andy Holt regarding the filming of animal abuse (dubbed Ag-Gag bills which would prohibit journalists from exposing abuse in corporate agribusiness) has ALEC written all over it. The ALEC agenda is not a fan of whistleblowers, campers, and what better way to stop them then create laws that subtly makes whistle blowing harder to do.

These are not things that are discussed that often in this state. There is so much information going on that it’s hard to focus on just one thing because there is so much happening at once, and this plan has been in play for awhile (I remind you to check the dates when this started being developed.) The thing about ALEC and its’ subsidiaries is that they are patient. ALEC has been creating alliances and coalitions for years and now they are dropping the puck and ready to get this bills into the net to turn them into law.

As you can see from this list from SourceWatch, the list leans highly GOP but there are a few members from the Democratic party here in the state of Tennessee.

All of this talk about ALEC isn’t sexysauce, it’s not, but it is important to know and it is crucial to understand the actual words being used. Tort reform is not tort reform, it is caps-on-damages in lawsuits, for example. The National Federation of Independent Business, well you might want to check on that one as well because words matter when it comes to these organizations. Take a few minutes and watch this short video that lays out very effectively how ALEC is trying to obtain influence in statehouses.

I’ve written about ALEC before (man, it was quite spirited in the comments at times,) but the bottom line for me at least is that I don’t want my elected officials being ventriloquist dummies spouting off model legislation that wasn’t even written in this state. And a great deal of this model legislation is pretty much mean rubbish.

Tennessee deserves better and we can’t count on anyone but ourselves at this time. Start talking about legislation that doesn’t pass that sniff test. Take a few minutes to figure out who is working in your best interest and who isn’t.

From the Times Free Press:

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell acknowledged Thursday that some Tennessee hospitals may face closure as fellow Republican Gov. Bill Haslam delays a decision on whether to expand the state’s Medicaid program under the federal health care overhaul.

But the leaders, who back Haslam’s decision to continue negotiating with the Obama administration, say that’s life in the free market.

And Jeff Woods weighs in:

Will Tennessee’s refusal to expand the state’s Medicaid program cause some hospitals to close? Senate speaker Ron Ramsey says so what?

“There may be hospitals that will have to close. But look, if you want to operate in a free market, things like that happen,” Ramsey told reporters today.

Ramsey also defended Gov. Bill Haslam’s decision, repeating the Republican refrain that it’s all the Obama administration’s fault. That damn irrational Washington won’t give Tennessee billions of dollars with no strings attached! Imagine that.

It is Vibinc, who’s been getting his math on like a boss this week, who puts the human face on the loss of these federal dollars and how it will effect Tennesseans across the state. Numbers ain’t fun, campers, but they are very necessary in understanding what the state will lose. I recommend you read the whole post but here is what I want to spotlight.

That anger has only gotten stronger in the past few days. As details of the pie in the sky negotiating tactics employed by Gov. Haslam have come to light, it reinforced an idea that I’ve had for some time: that Gov. Haslam, by virtue of many things in his life, is so far removed from the experiences of regular Tennesseans that he could no more relate to their circumstances than fly to the moon.

Speaker Ramsey, who I think must have played with mercury from broken thermometers as a child, just casts aside concerns, with little more than a “tough s**t” for these towns.

This makes me hurt for the folks who have poured their lives in their communities and will likely suffer under the weight of brinksmanship.

That may sound corny, but rural America is where I came from. You’ll excuse me if I feel a little nostalgic.

I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but I know that for rural communities to survive and thrive, they can’t be treated as an after-thought, or worse, without any thought to the outcomes.

Folks in rural America have strong wills and long memories as anyone whose talked to folks at a local diner or a local watering hole knows.

They know when they’ve been cast aside and forgotten.

They don’t take that slight lightly.

People don’t take kindly to being treated as disposable.

My advice:

I would go to every single county (and there may be as many as 30 counties on the line) who might lose their hospitals. And I would set up camp this summer. I would look at the polls to see how decidedly Gov. Bill Haslam won those counties and then start listening. After I listened I would start talking about how the current administration worships at the feet of profit over people.  And I wouldn’t let up.

And then, I’d do it again.

I would talk all over Tennessee about how the state wants to overrule local government bodies. I’d talk to the local papers and radio stations. I’d show facts about taxpayer money being offered to for-profit schools. I’d talk to veterans from National Guard units and I’d damn well listen to them.

And then, I’d do it again.

Finally, I wouldn’t entertain straw man arguments and I wouldn’t even entertain them other to debunk what is real and what isn’t.

Of course, I’m not the reigning queen of Tennessee, but if I was that’s what I’d say. I’d also tell folks in my own party to get out of my way.

But that’s just me.