00:01 well hello everybody and thank you for tuning in or for tuning in again this is episode number 242 Ernest truth a trip to small town America no woke no corporate just really nice it is Friday yay and um I normally don't do this but this is not um let's say normal but to hell with that I just wanted to tell you about my recent trip and I think you might find this interesting um I decided that we should take a trip kind of a mini vacation nothing really uh highfalutin or expensive just wanted to take a trip actually it was a gift

01:05 for my wife's birthday and we had we had discussed doing this for some time taking a trip and I wanted to surprise her and that's what I did so ended up going way south of where I live to small town America small town Oregon and there were two cities and um we settled in and got a cabin and O'Brien Oregon and the city to the north of it is called Selma and let me tell you something folks if you ever wanted an argument against corporate corporatism if you will

02:07 this is it because this was fabulous and I mean fabulous on so many levels what happened was was we went there and it was uh very beautiful and we had our cabin and um lugged their stuff in the usual thing that you do and then for the next five days we were going to go exploring and believe me exploring we did and although these are both admittedly small towns let me tell you there was more going on and more places to see and more to be seen than I could have possibly imagined

03:11 matter of fact um we didn't have enough time to do everything that as it turns out we wanted to do but that's what we ended up doing and um of course I was making my thoughts and observations about the place and so I'm sharing that with you now there was one thing that I noticed right off the bat was that there wasn't any kind of fast food there was no McDonald's no Arby's none of that none of that none of it was there and I thought okay well this this could be you know kind of slow

04:15 and um you know I wasn't immediately enamored with the lack of uh so-called amenities but that would change really quickly when you coupled that with the natural beauty and the friendly faces and absolutely no element of crime or any any of that any of that nonsense going on you could just completely relax and in those places and I thought wow so it actually took me at least an entire day if not two to fully appreciate this so um we went from place to place on our little artinuary

05:20 of places to see but the weird thing was was that it seemed as though it was every time we found the place and wanted to check it out we found three more but like I said what I noticed was um you know as you're out and about and you're well kind of hungry and you want to eat there were there were none I mean there were no corporate places to eat at all which is really strange when you're not used to that and I'm not and it was just purely local and then I got to thinking this place seems really nice

06:14 I'm wondering if there is any kind of correlation between these places these corporate behemoths that are missing and the overall General quality of life and as I found out it appears as though that well that's the case um because if you needed or wanted anything at all it was there you didn't have any problem finding anything that you needed but there simply wasn't any you know corporate Presence at all and this was actually so marked and so profound that um I actually you know in conversations that I struck up with

07:15 locals I'd I asked them about this and I said hey uh you know you guys well you don't have this and you don't have that and and the other and uh they looked at me and they said yeah we don't really want that element Mal can you imagine that working with you know their city council even though and these places that I'm talking about I'm talking about the cities of O'Brien and Soma in particular you know we're not talking about big cities these are small towns um and it's not a situation where they

08:02 you know have a lot of money but um apparently the city council there has pretty much made it a um a situation where as let's say these uh corporate behemoths are not welcome as a matter of fact when I had a chance to talk to a few of the locals they simply said yeah uh they're not exactly welcome here and I thought that that was I thought that was really refreshing um and what happened as a consequence of that was that I could enjoy uh everything that those towns had to offer and we're talking some very beautiful

09:02 scenery but beyond that I mean it was the people um they were super friendly and super nice and I know I know you're going to say well yeah it's small towns and small towns are known for that and maybe there's yeah maybe there's something to that because when you bring the behemoths of the big city into these places there seems to be a correlation that you can also bring in the undesirable aspects of those things and apparently both cities have worked really hard um to go you know exactly in the exact

10:02 opposite direction of let's say encouraging them to be there and typically the way this works if a town is wants to be up and coming with that some corporate Behemoth whether it be a fast food place or maybe I don't know even an auto plant or what have you uh they approach the city council or the mayor or what have you and they expect to have their ass greased with tax abatements so they don't have to pay you know any taxes um to the local city base for the next I don't know 50 100 years and uh yeah they just want to basically

10:59 what they want to do is get in there and make lots of money pay no taxes and you know after two or three years especially if it's an auto plant um or you know maybe it'll take five years but even so if if for some reason it doesn't quite work out then they at their option they can close up shop to say hell with you pull out and um no taxes no nothing no nothing to be paid and it's purely what it always is to hell with you it's been great and see you later but apparently these towns what I will say which I feel

11:48 is really good news have decided to um let's say stay small um but to Buck that trend and uh you know actively go against it and um there was everything and I thoroughly um want to all of the places we went we want to every place that you could imagine and then some and as I said we still didn't have enough time but um this attitude this this prevailing anti-corporatism that's there um was really a breath of fresh air because the place simply had an entirely different vibe it had an entirely different feeling

12:51 and um you know you didn't you didn't see a huge uh cop presence for instance because it simply wasn't needed and I feel that's a good thing and anyway went through this place and I also didn't see all of the bad elements that are associated with these cities that have gone beyond what I would call you know population don't control um measures you know they didn't have because one of the reasons is they didn't have huge population issues and also they didn't have a huge influx of people who were basically expecting

13:55 you know assistance and or a free ride now to it's important and I don't want to give you the wrong impression that these are very very well to do small towns that are you know exclusively for the the rich or the wealthy because they're not actually far from it and there are other towns in that region that have gone that route and yeah they've expanded and they have so much of that element going on but also by the same token you notice there's a whole lot of um as a whole lot of a very unpleasant

14:59 undesirable element as well and so as a consequence of that apparently the the council people or the mayor or what have you apparently have the intelligence and the foresight to see and notice this and so they have their own policies like I said that pretty much discourages that now if you think about this for a moment let's say you want to take a trip someplace do you want to take a trip with the area of the town and whatnot having all the amenities that you're used to in your city but by the same token they have the same negative and

15:59 deleterious aspects of um I don't know lots and lots of homeless people people living on the street people sleeping on the sidewalk and the whole the whole negative element that you don't want well if that's the case well there you have it because this is something that was really quite it was quite um fascinating for me and I thought that I should let you know I thought I should let you know because you know apparently this situation as far as having a belief system of just endless and Perpetual growth in

17:06 business um apparently um you know it it as far as I'm concerned it just um it doesn't hold up it doesn't hold up as far as the of the reality of what you can experience in Life or what you're going to experience and so after I had thought about this for a while I said yep if I ever I don't know hit the lottery or become rich somehow if that's the case I have a pretty good idea of where I might be heading I don't know if it would be either of those towns in particular but um they're definitely up there

18:10 and it definitely left a strong impression in my mind so I'm saying all this because there is with all of the people that I've talked to about traveling doing vacations and I I feel it's important that you know that I am far from well to do personally and this is um hell I haven't I haven't been anywhere in probably I don't know doing anything like this in probably three years at least and so it's it's not like I'm certainly you know well to do and I have an RV and all that I I don't we just had the car

19:06 and had your uh cabin that I rented that had few amenities other than electricity and uh you know we did this on the cheap as much as out of uh Principle as out of necessity you might say but the accommodations other than that were great and the main thing again was the people and the people there were besides being really friendly uh were not crazy they were not um you know just really dismissive or you know they were just nice folks and uh when you haven't when you haven't had that in a while and when you haven't been treated that

20:05 way it's a big deal and or at least it is to me and we uh very much appreciated that and the wife was talking with me and saying uh jeez you you know you you wouldn't you wouldn't be treated like this or have this experience in in Portland and I was like No I I wholeheartedly agree you wouldn't because Portland is pretty much become crazy so um yeah I went the opposite direction and um these towns are um roughly I don't know about four or five hour drive uh pretty much pretty much due south of Salem

21:01 which is the state capital for those of you who um may be listening somewhere else and um that's what we experienced and um so I was telling you this um because I don't know if you even where you live I don't know if you even have this kind of option uh in your state or not but I am fortunate enough that I was able to have it and as a consequence here I am sharing this with you normally on on a Friday I will you know often talk about you know politics or perhaps world events or something like that

22:07 but this I want it to be you know a bit different I just wanted to um share with you this experience that I had had and the main thing is I don't I don't know if you would consider this to be political or not but it does seem to tie in with um at least two of the very important issues that I talk about often which is you know generally speaking politics and population the big the big PP if we'll call it that politics and population but um yeah there wasn't I didn't with maybe one or two rare exceptions it wasn't

23:07 like I it wasn't um really any radical right-wing element there um or conversely um a left-wing element it was just it was just folks it was just working working folks and they um they you know they were living their lives um and they seemed completely you know pretty much content and and happy with the place they were living in now I know this is this is all perhaps a bit superficial and you know let's face it I mean if you're gonna talk to people at length and if I'd had that opportunity I mean you know people can

24:03 always find fault where they live and and such but the fact is is that there are problems and then there are problems and I can tell you this much those people at least that I spoke to and what I experienced um by comparison even compared to where I live here in Salem there there was no there was no comparison um and the the general I would say the general um attitude of the people was just well normal and outgoing and friendly and that is a good thing um I have been to I have been to small towns before and but these were small towns that had

25:09 a also had a very strong corporate presence let's say so the same kind of you know the Walmarts and and bi Marts and and all these fast food places and all that those elements were there and like I said before they were there seemed to be a correlation with the overall demeanor of the folks that live there but in this case it was very different and I was and I still am um I mean I'm feeling I'm enjoying it I'm stilling I'm still enjoying the residual effects of you know how it felt and um you know it was it was one of

26:05 those deals where um finally you know the time the time flew by and I was you know uh talking with the wife and time flew by and it's like okay before you know it it's time to go back home it was okay and um yeah so um I didn't when I was there and believe me I was looking I was looking everywhere I didn't see I didn't see poverty anywhere idea I was not seeing absolute just you know just people wandering aimlessly and that whole element it it just wasn't and it was really refreshing uh not to uh have to experience that for

27:09 a few days oh um whatever it is and I'm going to uh on my own time I'm going to follow through with this and I'm going to do my own research on it but you know when I encounter something like this and it makes me you know feel this good I want to know the main thing that I want to know is what is it that they're doing uh that seems to be working and seems to be positive as opposed to other places where well it appears as though it's not working and so like I said um kind of an unusual um broadcast I know

28:04 um it may be but um at least I can say that that's what I did and I really um for a change I really enjoyed myself and if you have had or can tell me or have had a similar experience please by all means feel free and you know and let me know but like I said um if there's you know I look for correlations and um there there was no corporatism there um really to speak of and for that matter it was you know as they say very old school but you know you could leave your door unlocked at night and you really wouldn't have any worries

29:01 and that is something rare um especially when all we hear about all the time is you know chaos and Mayhem and deaths and shootings and it just gets old and get just really gets old so um that's what I wanted to share with you and I wanted to say that means basically hey if there's a better way of living or doing something or whatever elements are involved and if that for instance may just happen to be a you know a very significantly lowered population if that's the case whatever it may be whatever the it is in the equation

29:58 [Music] um and it's you know for all I know besides population or lack thereof it um is probably other factors combined with that as well I'm sure but that being the case um I think it deserves mentioning and talking about I'm thinking about because like I said I just wanted to share that with you and um hopefully um we can you know study on this a little bit and maybe we could even come up with um our own little Utopias even if those Utopias might even be in the city take care why should you listen to the earnest Man

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