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Tent Cities Are Good

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Message Grant Lawrence
"....Fresno, Calif., Portland, Ore., Seattle....Other cities where tent cities MSNBC reports on the growing rise of tent cities in America.

Like many Americans I have been a bit distressed about the bad economic news. I occasionally feel sad when I read about how people are being effected by hard times. I was even kind of disheartened when I read recently about the 90 year old Ohio woman who tried to kill herself when they attempted to foreclose on her home.

But one thing I learned from the recent Vice Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Senator Joe Biden is that--"say it ain't so, Joe"-- we can't afford to look back. Alaska's Governor Palin exuded so much optimism that I realized it was still "Morning in America" and that America can still be that "Shining City on the Hill." Some naysayers might say that the shine they see is from a city on fire--but that would be looking back and I refuse to do it. You may see a city burning down but what Governor Palin and I see is a city that is vibrant and full of warmth.

In that spirit, I refuse to do any backward thinking so I won't dwell on how we arrived at what some would call our economic misfortunes, because that is not positive and not constructive. How can you drive your economic engine forward if you are always looking in the rear view mirror?

Instead we have to continue to unleash the economic miracle that results from unregulated markets and unrestrained capitalism, as Governor Palin pointed to in the recent VP debate. That means, that contrary to what you might think, economic hard times as exemplified by the recent rise in tent cities across America are actually a good thing.

When some "negative Nellies" look at tent cities they might see poor and desperate people without adequate access to running water, heat, sanitation facilities, and the basic necessities that we have come to expect of modern American living. But what forward looking and thinking people like Governor Palin and myself see are people starting over. People that are no longer living beyond their means and trying to "keep up with the Jonses." When Governor Palin and I see tents sprouting up all over America's cities, we know it is "Morning in America" again. We know the tent people with a "can do" attitude are "saying it ain't so, Joe" and not looking back. The tent residents are proud "to be Americans where at least they know they're free" and they don't regret their circumstances or the decisions they chose that brought them to their economic new beginning. They should know that they aren't good enough to be fully employed here at home with living wages, but they likely understand that they are good enough to die in wars to protect our freedoms in foreign lands.

The good citizens of the tents must also know that they brought it all on themselves because they were greedy and didn't like to do hard work. They were wasting their money by buying things like food and putting their money into living expenses instead of investing in unregulated financial instruments. But Governor Palin and I are not about finger pointing, because that would be looking in the past and we know "Joe, that it ain't so" good to be looking at what brought about our present economic problems.

No, Governor Palin and I intend to celebrate an America that is free to fail and free to live in tents or on the streets. Now don't you "commie libs" go talking about the past by telling us about the trillions used to bail out the rich. That was yesterday's news and Governor Palin and I aren't about yesterday.

In fact, America should celebrate tent cities by naming them just like we do our sports stadiums and civic centers. We could get corporate America to sponsor tent cities for a nominal sum and, for that, the corporate sponsors could have a tent city named after them. After all, the corporations and financial institutions helped Americans realize that they were too lazy and greedy to employ here at home. So they outsourced their jobs to people that know the value of working very hard for very little. Corporate America, with the help of our government, taught selfish Americans that they were not good enough to employ because they no longer could do the job as well as citizens of other 3rd world nations.

Just think about the possibilities of bringing corporate sponsorship to tent cities. Some of the largest outsourcing companies should have first crack at buying into the corporate sponsorship of our American tent cities. We could have IBM Town, Hewlett Packard Villa, General Electric Heights, Time Warner Colony, and the names of many other large corporations that are not much interested in employing Americans anymore.

Corporate sponsorship of tent cities would be a positive step forward and a new economic beginning that could tap into the miracle of modern American propaganda to enlist the American people into supporting the new global economy. It would be the McCain/Palin version of a "New Deal" for an America of the 21st century.

So let's get rid of that "stinking thinking" and join the hockey mom's of America to a new beginning that doesn't look back and doesn't question how things got the way they did. "When life gives you lemons then make lemonade" and every true American knows that.

If you find yourself without a job, health care, and the basic necessities of life don't look back and don't blame anybody but yourself. Just be thankful you live in the "greatest country on earth" where you have the opportunity to experience a new economic beginning. Be thankful also that America's sweetheart, Governor Palin, is there to positively encourage and cheerlead America into the the great deal that is the new global American economy.
have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio...."

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