An Arkansas Adventure

Probably no place in the country compares to rush hour in Los Angeles or New York City, but I did experience a shock the other day in my mission to buy goats.  I live about 20 miles from the Arkansas state line, so it's not like going to Arkansas is a day's journey.   Unlike the miles of nothingness the new overpasses have created in Missouri, the progress in Arkansas is in vast contrast.  I'll take this moment to point out the fundamental difference.

The change in Arkansas revolves around a single corporation that was started by a businessman over half a century ago.  The change in Missouri was brought about by government job creation.  I now have a fuller understanding of the true difference between "pro" and "con."  I'm not even going to address what any third generation does to a company they merely inherit, but Arkansas had a visionary that invested his own blood, sweat and tears, resulting in "progress."  Missouri had job creation, by Congress.

BellaVista is just across the Arkansas state line.  It used to be a retirement village, and I guess it still is, but in reality it's now a suburb of Bentonville, Arkansas.  Literally, as I travelled south on 71/49, the BellaVista signs were interspersed with Bentonville signs, then came Rogers, with not so much as a lull in the traffic.  As I continued, I rolled in to Springdale, still no lull in the traffic and no change of scenery to speak of.  Businesses, churches, hospitals, and billboards just lined both sides of the interstate.  There were the exits for the smaller towns, but nothing like the stark highway of Missouri.

The traffic was still bumper to bumper between Springdale and Fayetteville.  The only noticeable difference in 40 miles was the signs along the side of the road that indicated the flow of traffic had now reached a new city limits.  I haven't darkened the door of a Wal*Mart in over a decade, so when I started this article, I had no idea this would actually be a plug for entrepreneurialism vs. government job creation.  Now in retrospect, those businesses in Arkansas appeared to be thriving and the cities have expanded into each other, whereas; the new signs, concrete blockades, and shuttered businesses now stand in Missouri as a haunting tribute to government job creation.

I'm not crazy about what Sam's grandkids are doing with his business, and I don't think their big corporation is deserving of tax breaks, but when I see what my tax dollars went for in Missouri, it's plain to see the difference between Progress and Congress.