Rural Lifestyle

Life in Rural America

Tag: higher education

Survivalist: Living In The Boonies

Kevin Felts on a hiking trip

Is it possible to live too far in the boonies? Yes is it. There comes a point where it is not feasible to live in a rural area, and find gainful employment. There also comes a point where high speed internet ends. Believe it or not, not even dial-up is not available in all areas.

Let’s call this line, “Living on the edge of modern civilization.”

I may live in the sticks, but there are some who live further in the boonies than I do. If I drive several miles past my home, there are some people barely have access to electricity, much less internet. Water is from a well, while sewage is handled with a septic tank.

For the people who live past the edge of modern civilization, it takes them around hour to drive to work. This means the round trip is almost two hours. That is at least 10 hours a day dedicated to work.

As much as someone would love to live without money, it just is not possible. We all have to pay taxes, especially property taxes. Do not pay your taxes, and the county takes your property. This means having a job and distance to the job must be figured into our survival plans.

We Need Socialized Higher Education

Kevin Felts, blogger and political commentator

What is the prohibitive factor slowing down progress? Besides greed.

Why do so few US citizens own their homes?

Why do we have widespread income inequality?

It all boils down to ease of access to higher education. Whether it is a skill trade such as welding and heavy equipment operation, or a professional such as being a doctor or lawyer, people need access to higher education.

A simple fix would be to socialize higher education. What the student pays would be based on their income and their parents income. For schools like Yale, Harvard, Brown, A&M,,, they would do a lottery system for applicants.

If a homeless person applies to Harvard and is drawn through the lottery, that person would attend school for free. That homeless person would be attending for free because the government would set the rates of the school.

Kevin Felts © 2008 - 2018