The old political joke used to be that late-in-life conservatives are just liberals who have been pick-pocketed. There’s definitely some truth to that old saw, but I don’t know what it means when a lifelong conservative finds himself agreeing with a liberal! That’s the situation I’m now in after reading Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial page editor Paul Greenberg’s recent column on federal funding in the Delta.
It was certainly a shock to read Greenberg, an old school liberal, but left-of-center nonetheless, actually advocate such measures as vouchers, charter schools, tax free zones, and a citizen keeping his tax money. He did just this, though, and then some, in an excellent editorial entitled “Feds drop billions into Mississippi Delta, but vague effort predicted.”
The column centered around the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission which Greenberg, humorously refers to as a “boondoggle.” This commission, backed by the bureaucrats and academicians, and suspiously devoid of many business people, has poured approximately $217 billion into what is supposedly the “Delta”, and not much has happened besides photo ops and press releases.
First of all, as Greenberg emphasizes in a point I’ve often made in this paper, the government needs to get a proper definition of what the Delta is. Somehow, I just don’t think Alabama should be included as part of the Lower Mississippi Delta, although I’m sure some fine senator from our neighboring state might beg to differ. Besides Alabama, the Commission doled out tax monies to some 235 counties in eight states, all, presumably, part of this strange, new “Delta.”
Secondly, Greenberg notes that all of this $217 billion, when broken down, would come out to $24,000 per person living in the geographical areas designated. I can almost hear Cuba Gooding, Jr. screaming “Show me the money!” Some $23 billion alone was spent in fiscal year 2000, going to 42 Arkansas counties, Greenberg’s home state, equaling $2,650 a person. He makes the point that literally throwing sums of cash like this at a region which continues to struggle with issues such as illiteracy, drug abuse, and poverty is absurd. Yet, interestingly enough, Greenberg does not suggest as a remedy the usual liberal stance of upping the ante and spending more money. Not even close.
Greenberg says, and I agree wholeheartedly, that the government should look at making the Delta, the REAL Delta, a tax-free zone. The private capital would come pouring in, he claims, and, folks, he is dead-on correct. Businesses would flock to the region and the logic that is capitalism and entrepreneurship would turn the Delta around faster than you can say The Great Society. Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before others see the light and set market forces free to create jobs, wealth, and opportunity.
The suggestions of private solutions, i.e., school vouchers, business capital, bidding by enterprises, etc, are ones that must be seriously looked at. How long can government failures be kept up and enshrined while people suffer just for the sake of a politician’s resume? My hat is off to Paul Greenberg for having the insight and courage to suggest what he did in his column. No doubt he is taking immense heat for these opinions from his bleeding heart peers; but someone once says that telling the truth is a lonely business, and they were right.
As a business man, and business newspaper publisher, I can tell you that the Delta needs less government involvement and more private initiatives if we’re going to have a fair shot at success. Pragmatically speaking, the federal programs, even if you concede that they are all well-intentioned (which I don’t), have proven that they just don’t work. Taking responsibility away from citizens doesn’t make them more responsible. It’s time for a radical change for a unique part of the country.
As always, your comments and suggestions are most welcome. DBJ

Scott Coopwood
Publisher