Kentucky Sucks?

Kentucky is a diverse state. There are places in Kentucky that are great places to live, friendly people, low cost of living, law enforcement that actually works, and schools that are among the best in the nation. Kentucky manages to accomplish this by allowing a large level of local control. If you ask a Kentuckian where they are from, odds are, they will name the county and not the city. The dark side of this is, that when things go bad, they go Boss Hog, Billy Jack bad very fast, and there is no recourse for the average citizen.

How can you tell the difference at first glance? Look for out of state companies that have invested in factories in the area. You can be pretty sure that they've analyzed the area. If there's a plant within an hour of your location, you might be in a good area. Next, go to the plant. If you see a lot of immigrant workers, run, don't walk away. It means the locals are too busy with their meth labs to want to work. It means the local government enticed the company there with some sort of incentive that outweighed the poor work force. If you see all locals working there, you might have found a good area. Next apply the cop test. Walk up to an officer of the law and say, "good morning" or "good evening" or whatever is appropriate. If they respond in kind, you've probably found a good area to live. Kentucky has places that are as close to a middle class paradise as anyone could reasonably want. It also has places that look like they filmed Deliverance there. Caveat Emptor.