tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2088603658552825500.post7311434072496260255..comments2023-11-05T05:53:29.465-05:00Comments on The Hickory Hound: Boost or Bust HickoryJames Thomas Shellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04359970774315269896noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2088603658552825500.post-20135994704561890812014-10-19T15:40:16.173-04:002014-10-19T15:40:16.173-04:00I regret to be the one to point out the obvious, b...I regret to be the one to point out the obvious, but, they want your money, they don't want you.<br /><br />Hickory...for better or worse, rightly or wrongly, is what it is, because it is, why it is.<br /><br />Appreciably, Hickory hasn't changed that much across time. Oh sure, the semantics have morphed over time. Demographics have likewise changed as well as the names. But underneath, behind door number two, behind the curtain, it’s still the same dog and pony show. The same people or their direct descendants are still pulling the levers, still calling the shots, still are eyeball deep in all that Hickory is…and isn’t.<br /><br />It used to be that the older power brokers understood how important the illusion was to keep people pacified. Now, the neo-powerbrokers, they simply don’t care what people think, what they reveal to the public, or anything else. They are going to get voted in time and time again, they are going spend your tax money in the way they choose, and they are going to turn Hickory into a legacy to and for themselves and their families; because… they earned it. Since it is they that have vision and the control to make it happen; despite or in spite of, those that speak and/or think otherwise. Obviously the nay-sayers are in the minority, otherwise, they would be sitting in the cusp of power.<br /><br />Doubt that? Take a look at the connections and the families enmeshed and intertwined in the referendum last year to change how council represented the city. Oh sure, there were some neophytes to the cause, but the core, the base, the brains and financing were mostly the old, established, Country Club families and names. Those that worked and built Hickory to be what it is. And at the core of it all is, their own little personal community. A place where you are born or marry into that place. In some limited cases, you can move in with money and gain a place of prestige, but you can only do so over time and it means that you are accepted at that level, but never quite as a peer. Every other thing exists to make that life livable and opulent.<br /><br />So as long as you have some money to spend, you're welcome. When you want a place among them, well, leave your money, but you've got to go. The rolls at the top are filled and any vacancies have already been spoken for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com