(1) to further personalize the narration represented by NPP’s research and talking points, and
(2) to look at the Iraq (and partially the Afghan) War in terms of its effect on regionalized political economies.
America is after all a federal nation with different regions holding different perspectives and experiences. Regional economic linkages are too often ignored by focusing only at state level politics.
HEARTLAND: EXAMPLES FROM 5 NEIGHBORING STATESI, like most Americans, have lived in more than one U.S. state.
In fact, I was born in northern Illinois in Dekalb County, which gave its name to the corn industry long ago. Later, while still a child, my dad moved from his native state, Illinois, to that of my mother’s birthplace: Missouri.
By the time, I had graduated from high school & had completed my undergraduate degree and first M.A., I had lived, studied, and worked in both Oklahoma and Kansas.
Finally, a decade later, I moved to Texas where I taught and also earned a second master’s degrees.
Unlike eastern U.S. states these five states--Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas—are not connected nor typically divided historically simply by bodies of water or by clear geographic distinctions.
For several centuries, these 5 states have been connected simply by a corridor of roadways and trade routes—moving from Mexico towards Canada and Michigan. Specifically, more goods follow the transport network of roads on and around the Interstate 35 and 70 Highways (including Old Highway 66 and modern I-44 in this region) than any other roadway corridor in the North America.
These two roads, I-35 and I-70, serve for the North America politically, economically and socially what the spice route in Asia once did.
Likewise, this corridor on the plains and prairies serve of the Midwest what the Nile River delta did for ancient Egypt or what the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers did for Mesopotamia.
As far as the defense of the USA is concerned , communities along these two roadway systems have served the USA for generations. From Ft. Riley in Kansas to Ft. Hood in Texas (or from Ft. Sills in Oklahoma to the Great Lakes’ Naval Base), my uncles, my aunts, my cousins, my brother, brother-in-law, and various other friends or relatives from this 5-state region have served in the U.S. armed forces in forts or bases in these same states.
Moreover, I have also taught in several towns in these states where many parents and some students were serving in the National Guard when called up for war over the years.
These towns include Wichita Falls, Texas (Fr. Sheppard Air Force Base) and Great Bend, Kansas (National Guard) . In College Station, Texas I even taught Korean students who had come to join the renowned Texas A & M ROTC as cadets. (Only West Point has seen more generals pass through its university gates and training program than Texas A & M has.) In short, when one works in these 5 states, one observes a linkage between civilian and military life everywhere.
According to the NPP reports from August 2007, the Iraq War has directly cost these five states the following billions of dollars in terms of federal funding--funding which could have been used in other ways:
Tax Payer Cost State$24.7 Billion Illinois
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