The struggle of North Dakota.
North Dakota experienced a bitter 20th century. While most of the United States has prospered, North Dakota’s population has stagnated, its fortunes declined. The highly educated population is being held back by generations of mostly ultraconservative state leaders who have resisted all change and progress just for the sake of doing so. As a result, North Dakota has never developed a large industrial base. North Dakota is filled with creative and hard-working people, but may soon become the poorest state of the union. The state is relatively crime-free and has good schools, but business and job opportunities have been impeded by the backward thinkers who run the state. Thus, each year, young North Dakotans are forced to leave the state in droves.
Matthew Engel has an informative piece on North Dakota in the Guardian. (*) It’s a pretty good overview, but Engel is all too willing to shift responsibility for the predicament North Dakota finds itself to poor excuses such as the weather. The fact is that new ideas and fresh thinking are not welcome in the state. As a result, innovation and the creative process are stifled. If it wasn’t done 40 to 50 years ago, it should never be done, the thinking goes.
For example, a few years ago some teenagers organized a small punk rock concert in Fargo. A few dozen kids showed up sporting tatoos and odd piercings. They had the temerity to walk around the downtown area. Instead of welcoming them, the City of Fargo cracked down on the concert permits they had arranged, tracked them down, and then maced several of the young tourists as they were trying to enjoy Lindenwood Park. They actually maced them. North Dakota ranks last among the many states in attracting tourism.
In recent months, someone is trying to open an adult bookstore in Fargo. While you might think that a new business would be tolerated, if not welcomed, just for the sake of generating more economic activity, an attorney is in court trying to make sure this entrepreneur is completely blocked. Unfortunately, this kind of “welcoming committee” happens all the time in North Dakota. It is especially ironic because in private life North Dakotans are extremely hospitable and generous, even to a fault.
The Fargo Forum has been examining how to save North Dakota, before it gets turned over to a so-called “Buffalo Commons.” (†) Here’s the change that is truly needed: open up North Dakota for change and progress. With that, all the other necessary steps will fall into place. Thus, for the sake of avoiding disaster in the 21st century, most of the elected leadership in North Dakota must be replaced with people who embrace a dynamic future. Then the process of saving North Dakota can begin.
Last updated: 15 February 2003. Phrasing.
February 12th, 2003 at 23:54
Well, your brethren in South Dakota feel your pain. Our towns are dying, our conservative leadership isn’t accomplishing anything to revitalize the state, and our Senators are impotent.
At least Sioux Falls is doing better than Fargo- In addition to having an adult bookstore (a mere block from City Hall) and regular punk rock concerts, we also have Citibank, Wells Fargo, a booming medical industry, a fantastic fine arts and convention center, and a growth rate that’s nearly doubled the city in size since 1980 (in addition to bringing some diversity to this town). I guess it must be the warm, sunny climate down in these southern reaches. :)
Your point is taken- this corner of the country (SD, ND, Wyoming, and Montana) is turning into the "new south"- our agricultural economy is drying up. Hopefully building a wind power-hydrogen economy supplemented by tax breaks and investments in high tech industry will save us- but it’s a longshot.