It is Independence Day tomorrow- we have a hurricane, first of the season, coming up the coast. Only the Outer Banks of North Carolina should get spanked, and we are hoping all we get is some rain, but preparations still have to be made.

That is what hung up the story yesterday- I had a buddy explain how I could get screen capture images off Google Maps, and I wasted an inordinate amount of time looking at all the houses in which Mom and Dad lived. The ones of Detroit were particularly poignant- both of those early houses are still there. One looks pretty good, the other seems to be teetering on the edge of becoming one of the hulks.

(Raven and Big Mama’s first house in Detroit. It is the place with the people on the front porch. Imagine screen grab from Google Maps).

Anyway, between that and some other stuff I didn’t get to anything with which I wanted to bother you. But in response to the story about Detroit’s beleaguered water works, and the fact that the UN Special Rapporteur felt the need to insert herself into the affairs of the city, I got a long and thoughtful note from my Coon Ass pal down in Metarie, Louisiana.

Considering the serial disasters that have befallen us- I think this morning it is the thousands of foreign children being dumped across our borders- the Union we celebrate tomorrow is looking a little ragged. I should not have been surprised that some people are thinking about what to do next.

Here is what Boats wrote:

“I’ve been fascinated by your descriptions of the rise and fall of Detroit. Now your description of Chicago makes me wonder if there is something “inorganic” about the cities of the upper Midwest.

New Orleans has survived a British invasion, a Yankee invasion and occupation, River floods, hurricanes (including Katrina) that some sincerely thought was the death throws of city. We survived the desegregation era, experienced white flight and are now experiencing white return.

We have serious violence issues as exhibited by last week’s shooting incident on Bourbon street, yet people stay, moreover more people are coming. Young educated people are joining the police force as fast as we can find funding for more police officers.

Despite the problems people are optimistic about New Orleans and the economic indicators show it. I think we escape the “Detroit factors” because of something “organic” about this city.

First, there is the unique New Orleans culture that seems to draw the new residents in and stamps the character of natives. Anyone born here and many who only have been here a few years evolve this attachment to the culture.

A displaced Orleanian can’t seem to find “decent food” anywhere else.

A displaced Orleanian is confused by the lack of “Frankish” expression in the language in the rest of the U.S.

The seasons elsewhere are quite confusing ( Pre-Mardi Grais / Post Mardi Grais) is so much easier to deal with.

But I think there is a geographical element at work too. Now that Metairie, Kenner, Algiers, Gretna, Harvey, and Westwego, the suburban towns and neighborhoods that share the physical isle of Orleans with New Orleans are filled in with people, surrounding water bodies and protected marshes force any one who wants to live farther out to go way out by our non-commuter culture standards.

We think that despite the constant threats to the existence of New Orleans (being below sea level in hurricane alley) the populace really believes that this is an eternal city. Once we were threatened by tropical epidemics, now that is no longer an issue. Everyone believes that somehow we will beat our geography, Holland did it, so can we, despite a much smaller population and tax base.

We look to Houston, our bankers, and home offices and we see the kind of sprawl and boom town type development that we see in the threatened cities of the Mid West such as Detroit, Garyville, East St. Louis, Chicago, maybe Cleveland. We see some similar demographics.

But when we visit Houston, we encounter that Texan “pride of place” that parallels in a very different way the Louisiana pride of place. It is shared across the entire demographic.

Talk to an Asian, African, or Hispanic American in Texas and you find that everyone’s primary personal identity is “TEXAN”, just as in Louisiana it is “COON ASS”.

We wonder if we have any cities in Greater Texas (that being Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas,) that have the vulnerabilities of Detroit?

Looking South, what’s your perspective on our cities? Looking West and East what about the areas coming into the Greater Texas orbit (Mississippi, Alabama, Western Tennessee, New Mexico)? Do you see any areas that might not be good candidates for admission into our “Greater Texas” concept (a confederacy within a fundamentally broken federal union that we pretty much ignore but stay in to avoid another war).

Greater Texas doesn’t have ambitions of taking over the United States. We don’t think the North East, or Left Coast populations could ever adapt. We are not a non-diverse culture, but we have several highly compatible “over cultures” that pretty much firmly reject the system imposed on America by the “Demicans” and the “Republicats.”

This culture is about building a bigger pie, not about re-dividing the existing one endlessly.

Parts of the Midwest and the Far West east of the Rockies could fit, but we don’t want to over extend our reach. Four states are already “in,” and we see eight as the maximum we can “admit”.

But maybe there are some areas within the “candidate states” that are not a good fit. As a keen urban observer, what do you make of Memphis, Oklahoma City, Jackson MS and Albuquerque NM? Could we be biting off more than we can chew?

Plus, there are practical issues. For example, how does a state get “Admitted?”

A Nullification act is one step, signing a multi-state compact on economic development is another, and the sheer weight of economic ties to Houston is a crucial test.

There is no formal published criteria, which keeps the Feds guessing, but we recognize our limits.

Do you see the immediate candidate state’s cities as showing any caution lights? Greater Texas has a simple goal: to prosper and defend ourselves regardless of what Washington does.

If the Union completely collapses we want to be ready to emerge unscathed and ready for a prosperous independence as a sane middle power. If the Union ever gets it head on straight, naturally that would actually work better for us.

But are not optimistic about this existing union. We want to be very careful about with whom who we plan our alternative future.”

I completely understand the frustration, but this is further down the road than I had ever seriously contemplated. Maybe it is because I am a creature of this city, and a junkie for its bizarre politics. But I wore the uniform of this nation proudly, and can’t imagine that there are those who are thinking about what comes next.

Honestly, I never thought I would see a state of affairs like this. And on the eve of the 4th of July, no less.

Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303