On the face of it, Trousdale TN is the most dangerous County in the US with regard to COVID-19. One in seven residents have been infected. But that’s only the top line, MSM megaphone story. The real story is more nuanced and deserves at least a cover article in the New Yorker. I would offer but I don’t have time and they’re not asking.
The city of Hartsville is the county seat in Trousdale County. It’s only about 50 miles from Nashville but it’s always been a tiny bit of nothing in the middle of nowhere. Twenty years ago, everyone knew everyone else and had for generations. Back in 2000 there were fewer than 2,400 residents and over the previous 80 years the population had only doubled. It wasn’t a destination. Today it’s growing fast. Over the last 20 years Trousdale County has grown at almost 18% a year to 11,000 residents. You would not want to meet about 20% of these residents in a back alley.
Trousdale County has been trying to dance with the devil for over 50 years. In the late 1960s TVA was buying up land to build a nuclear power plant. By 1983 TVA had spent $2B and the plan was cancelled. Then the good folks that lead the County legalized parimutuel gambling. One assumes the city fathers were more focused on the vig than jobs. There were no takers.
And TVA had a useless nuclear tower and lots of land so they solved both problems by leasing land to a private prison, (yeah, CCA is the worst). Now mom and dad can get off the farm and go work in the thankless business of housing dangerous and angry people. Unfortunately, the prison has not been well run because the business of private prisons is to house dangerous angry people as profitably as possible. Mom and dad probably net $400 a week and take their lives in their hands every work day.
If you blame this part of America for voting for the current president you should be ashamed. For them a nuclear power plant was a good choice 50 years ago. And today, this guy is a good choice because the political system has been so broken for so many years they just want to break it and create one that works for the average American. I don’t blame them and again in 2020 we won’t offer any real change.
The private prisons and a thousand other large entities will pay both sides of the aisle to ensure the good people of Trousdale are left behind and as prisoners are released with no real future, some will settle in Trousdale. Howdy neighbor!
If you want to understand November, try to understand Trousdale. We have to solve this problem to solve our much larger problems.
