Fairly predictable

[jhetley]

Well, various Tribal People have been muttering that the narrow (52% to 48%) defeat of the slot machine initiative is due to racism.  While I have no doubt that at least 4% of any given demographic is racist, I think the cause is more classist than racist -- as noted yesterday, the opposition is based in a galaxy far, far away from Washington County, a galaxy where people have actual, you know, jobs available...

One of the theoretical arguments advanced by CasinosNO! is that gambling doesn't represent "economic development."  Dude, in Washington County a job changing sheets on motel beds counts as economic development.

Comments

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I've got highly urbanized progressive friends who like to gripe about the way small towns and rural areas lobby to have a new prison built in their area rather than somebody else's. Few if any of them have ever seen the kind of economic depression a place has to sink into before having a medium-security federal penitentiary come to your neighborhood starts sounding like a good idea.

[prophet-marcus.livejournal.com]

I myself have only heard second-hand (from my ex-wife) just how bad off folk on the rez - and off - can be, but even that is pretty scary. I don't know that getting a casino would be much help. I understand tribal politics can be as murky as anything out of DC, so what would happen in the long run is anyone's guess - but hey, give them a chance. It'd probably boost the whole economy of the region just from tourist traffic.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I've done enough work "Way Down-East", including a couple of projects on the Pleasant Point rez, to understand why Washington County loses population every year. I know a tar-paper shack when I see one. And when the elementary school has mushrooms growing out of the siding...

No, a casino isn't great. But the sardine canneries closed decades ago, the paper mill just shut down, and, and, and.