Thursday, April 21, 2005
New Census projections - 7.4 million Tennesseans by 2030
OK, now I am for putting a Pat Buchanan-like wall around Tennessee, because I wonder if the changes that this kind of population growth would make the state that I love more like the states where I have lived that I, well, didn't enjoy.
The figures do seem to make sense based on everyday observances. For instance, the surge in Latino immigrants quoted as a 278% increase can be seen everyday here in Knoxville. A great deal of these new residents (as is my understanding) work on large farms in counties surrounding Knox County and venture into the city for shopping purposes. The issue of bilingual education - once foreign to Tennessee but encountered by Southwestern states and others such as Florida - will be a challenge for a future Tennessee governor.
Of course, Bredesen could campaign on that issue for 2006 and then do nothing about it for four years, just like he did with TennCare and TDOT funding in 2002. I doubt many would notice, because there sure isn't a groundswell of misgivings about his failure to deal with his two main campaign promises from the previous election. There is no reason to believe that as a lame duck governor that anything would be different the next go around.
The figures do seem to make sense based on everyday observances. For instance, the surge in Latino immigrants quoted as a 278% increase can be seen everyday here in Knoxville. A great deal of these new residents (as is my understanding) work on large farms in counties surrounding Knox County and venture into the city for shopping purposes. The issue of bilingual education - once foreign to Tennessee but encountered by Southwestern states and others such as Florida - will be a challenge for a future Tennessee governor.
Of course, Bredesen could campaign on that issue for 2006 and then do nothing about it for four years, just like he did with TennCare and TDOT funding in 2002. I doubt many would notice, because there sure isn't a groundswell of misgivings about his failure to deal with his two main campaign promises from the previous election. There is no reason to believe that as a lame duck governor that anything would be different the next go around.
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 9:27 AM 
