To trust or trust not

Imagine this. Driver’s licenses issued by each state as usual, but before a Massachusetts citizen is permitted to drive in Rhode Island, she must apply for a non-resident license, take additional training, provide personal references, and pay exorbitant fees. And in spite of all this, she will almost certainly be denied the permit. Because Massachusetts drivers are simply not to be trusted on the streets of Rhode Island. So she must circumnavigate Rhode Island, perhaps via Connecticut, assuming, however, that she can secure a Connecticut non-resident license. A quandary.

Indeed a quandary, for a Rhode Island driver likewise could not drive in Massachusetts nor Connecticut or New York or New Jersey without applying for and being granted separate non-resident permits. (And remember that non-resident permits are rarely approved). A road trip to Florida would require at least ten different non-resident state permits, each acquired at great expense and great difficulty, each with different experience and training requirements. Such a road trip would be nearly impossible.

This is the reality faced by persons wishing to exercise their right of self defense.

While licensing of automobile drivers and concealed carry permit holders is decidedly different, both have one major element in common: trust.

Do we trust our neighbor to drive safely, prudently, observing relevant laws and regulations? Beyond immediate neighbors, do we trust our fellow citizens from other states to operate their vehicles carefully? Witnessed by the ease and prevalence of obtaining a driving license and the reciprocity observed among the states, the answer is a resounding yes.

And for the most part, that trust is warranted. But we each see, every day, that road-racer wannabe using the rest of us as pylons as he swerves through traffic at high speed on I-95. Or the scofflaw (usually from another state) who cuts you off or blows a stop sign or red light. Every day there are reports of drunk drivers arrested for their third or fifth offense, often after having caused some heartbreaking carnage.

But we look to the common good derived from the wide availability of driving licenses and the interstate recognition thereof. We hold our noses in spite of traffic accident statistics telling us the chilling truth that getting into an automobile is by far the most dangerous thing that most of us ever do.

Trust.

But when it comes to carrying the means to self defense, that trust is much more guarded. And oddly, it tends to be political. Those in the middle and right of the political spectrum tend to trust their fellow citizens. Those to the left do not.

Concealed carry permit holders are statistically the most law abiding among us. They have willingly submitted to finger printing, background checks, training regimes, and paid substantial fees. Yet a Rhode Island permit is not recognized in Massachusetts and vice versa. Connecticut permits are not accepted by any northeastern state save Vermont (which in its wisdom requires no permits of non-criminals). Pennsylvania is likewise not recognized by New Jersey. In the liberal northeast, we claim to love our fellow (hu)man but don’t trust her if she lives across the state line.

Which is exactly what befell Shaneen Allen.

Shaneen, an African American mother of two, medical professional, and resident of Philadelphia, had recently obtained a concealed carry permit. She had been robbed twice and wanted to be able to protect herself and her family. After completing the required training and paying the required fees, she was granted her permit by the state of Pennsylvania.

Shortly after, Shaneen crossed the bridge into nearby New Jersey to attend a surprise birthday party for her son. A police officer pulled her over for a minor lane violation. Shaneen immediately informed the officer that she was a concealed carry permit holder and had a small handgun in her purse (this notification being an essential part of her Pennsylvania training). But there is something about the northeast that makes a state line a trust barrier. New Jersey arrested Shaneen and she spent 46 days in jail before being bailed out. She still faces trial as a felon and, if found guilty, will serve from three to eleven years in prison, not able to raise her young children.

In our northeastern, liberal zeal to make us all perfectly safe, we seem to have gotten it wrong. Gun crime is a terrible thing, but it is committed by sociopaths, not by the Shaneens of the world. Perhaps it’s time to trust our fellow honest citizens a bit more and redouble our pursuit and prosecution of actual criminals. There are plenty of them to keep us busy.

Waves of change

Railroad trestle in Spartansburg, PA

The first wave of prosperity to lift New Bedford, Massachusetts, was whaling and related nautical industries.  Through most of the nineteenth century, we lit our homes, streets, and factories with whale oil lamps.  Fortunes were made and New Bedford flourished.  Then, an innocuous event occurred in northwestern Pennsylvania just south of the small town of Titusville.   In the summer of 1859, Col. Edwin Drake drilled the country’s first commercially viable oil well, sealing the fate of the whaling industry.  A spur railway was quickly built from the nearest railhead in Corry, through the Amish village of Spartansburg, and on to Titusville.  Soon, tanker cars steamed eastward carrying petroleum to be processed at former whale oil refineries, at much less cost, risk, and greater profits.  Consumers and the country benefited, but the world’s whaling ports began to wither. 

New Bedford faltered, actually losing population according to the 1870 census, but quickly recovered on a new wave of textile manufacturing.  By the 1880s, the city was growing again, buoyed by robust, expanding textile manufacturing.  It was no secret, however, that former able bodied seamen and harpooners were not necessarily the best loom operators.  A new set of skills was required to become gainfully employed. 

Then, another wave.  By the 1940s, textile manufacturing moved to the southern United States where wages were lower and business burdens lighter.  New Bedford again faltered, but quickly rebounded on the wartime demand for manufacturing.  Tool and die operations sustained the city through the post war years but began to ebb in the 1970s as these products were increasingly supplied by Japan and other countries.

Today, New Bedford’s unemployment rate averages about 10%.  Still a robust fishing port, the employment offered by this industry cannot support the city’s population.  Health care and some limited manufacturing round out the employers, but many of the city’s workers lack the skills for these jobs.

What are the points that may be gleaned from this?  There are several.  First, it seems that waves of change are inevitable, and government can be of little help in assisting us.  We could subsidize whalers, and loom operators, and buggy whip assemblers, but to what effect?  The best that we can do for ourselves, and that government can do for us, is to provide training and skills enhancement.  In our increasingly knowledge-based economy, it is important to be agile, adaptable, and engaged in order to be employable.

Far be it from me to be an expert, but long observation gives me a few suggestions on how to achieve this goal of maximizing employability in an ever-changing economy:

• Be literate in spoken and written English.  While it may be comforting to press 2 for Spanish, that will not help your employability.
• Likewise, be literate with basic mathematics.  Math has to do with logic and reasoning, and will serve you well in many fields.
• Become comfortable with computers and the Internet.  They are the fabric of our information economy. 

How to accomplish these goals?  First, use your local public library.  In addition to supplying books and periodicals, they also provide computers, internet access, and often classes in English proficiency.  Many local high schools offer adult continuing education classes ranging from Photoshop to woodworking to welding.  Potential employers want to see that you have solid, basic skills and are capable of learning new ones.  This is what sets you apart from the permanent minimum wage crowd, who may well be comfortable where they are (which is largely unemployable). 

Titusville, Pennsylvania, suffered the same fate as New Bedford.  Multiple waves of change have washed over her, and her citizens are dumfounded.  Even the few manufacturing jobs that remain require the ability to operate sophisticated CNC milling machines.  The only cure is to rise to your potential, to learn basic English, mathematical, and computer skills, and to mentor those who are struggling.  We are all in this together.