New Leadership in Fayetteville

It's time to talk about the reality of Fayettenam.  The war dynamic always has been a part of Fayetteville fabric.  Although surreal in certain ways considering the preparation for killing only is a few miles away in the field, never did it overtake mainstream Fayetteville.  Always there was an elite social class who frequented Highland Country Club, filled the prestigious historical churches, and demanded a higher quality of life than war.  As this generation of older money began to die out, and BRAC brought Ground Forces Command to Fort Bragg, things changed.  9/11 ushered in a new American dynamic of domestic terrorism.  The Patriot Act was born, the NSA began monitoring our communication, and slowly we have succumbed to the military industrial complex.  The southern Eastern seaboard, Virginia to Florida, has become the military industrial complex.  It is not just North Carolina anymore.  (although probably it never was)  Norfolk, Charleston, Jacksonville, and much of Florida are hosts of the military.  The booming artillery of the Marines firing their guns at Fort Liberty only is a small part.  The breadth of aerial training is massive, and one only has to look at one of several free websites that monitor air traffic.  The most surprising (and it may be Robin Sage) is when four low-flying C-17's followed by four C-130 Hercules fly in circles around North Carolina.  An aerial brigade did deploy recently, so they must get their training.  The onslaught of Apache attack helicopters that flew four at a time through the night has waned.  None of this seems to be related to what has happened to Fayetteville.  Separately what is left of the city of Fayetteville is not dissimilar to the south side of Chicago, Watts, or any other barrio in a large city that has succumbed to poverty and crime.  If there are no trained workers who will work for less than minimum wage, then that faction lives on the street.  Covid dealt a stark blow to brick and mortar retail stores and restaurants.  The GOP does not champion small businesses.  Large corporate monopolies often owned by wealthy hedge funds have consumed America.  Now we are a big money entity, but most people can't survive.  There are the elite rich, and there are the poor, and a once active middle class has deteriorated.  Teachers once were a crucial part of the middle class.  It is simple and easy to understand this devolution.  We no longer champion public education.  Poor people are forced to live on the streets.  Shopping for groceries and home items has been invaded by indigent people.  They are using commercial real estate for their homes.  Private businesses are hosts for parasites, and the businesses are suffering.  This is wrong for many reasons, but laws are vague and indigents often wander free.  Fayetteville has not solved its homeless problem even with a brand new day center downtown.  The soup kitchens have closed.  What are these people supposed to do?  They create their own society, and it is recreational drug use, panhandling, and prostitution.  They are grifters, and it is a huge bumpy rash on the streets of Fayetteville.  I have not been threatened,  and I understand this subculture.  There are times when reason and sanity disappear, and chaotic mayhem ensues.  I was at McDonald's recently and ordered a No. 7, Medium.  (There used to be two choices)  I was charged for seven medium fries at a cost of $23.00.  I could not through their intercom explain I wanted a fish sandwich meal.  The line in the drive through was long, and I did not have the energy to engage.  I drove off in disgust and patroned Burger King.  Insanity it would seem has infiltrated mainstream America.  It is in politics.  There are no police.  With no cruisers,  street people push the envelope of decent living.  Leadership in Fayetteville is the problem; there are examples.  There is a lack of police.  We have a mostly unused minor league baseball stadium, and it is a view for expensive condos.  They are proposing a one hundred and fifty million dollar performing arts center in the middle of downtown, homeless central.  There is an unfinished professional tennis compound.  The paving work on Bragg Boulevard is a joke.  Streets in Fayetteville need attention, and there are pot holes and patches.  The Joe Biden infrastructure money is sitting in the bank, and it is being used for the wrong things.  The city and its patrons are being ignored, and a clandestine group of Fayetteville insiders are raiding the coffers.  It is time for new leadership.