One Out of Four U.S. Counties Are Dying Off

The phenomenon of aging populations and an exodus of younger residents is driving populations down in many parts of western Virginia. Even Hampton Roads - cosmopolitan and dynamic by southwestern Virginia standards - is seeing a net loss of college educated young adults. The fleeing residents are seeking better job opportunities that generally concentrate around more diverse and innovation friendly regions and more liberal social climates. Yet here in Virginia, too many municipal leaders seem to think taking the same failed measures over and over again will by some miracle lead to a different result. Compounding the problem is the bigotry and intolerance that Virginia has institutionalized in its laws and the way that the ignorance and closed mindedness of the Christianists has been embraced, particularly by the Republican Party of Virginia. Its a slow form of economic suicide. The new data reported in the Virginian Pilot ought to be a wake up call, but I suspect it'll be ignored. Openness to diversity and new ideas is what is needed, yet too much of the failed leadership simply wants to cling to the past. Here are some story highlights:
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Hit by an aging population and a poor economy, a near-record number of U.S. counties are experiencing more deaths than births in their communities, a phenomenon demographers call "natural decrease." Years in the making, the problem is spreading amid a prolonged job slump and a push by Republicans in Congress to downsize government and federal spending.
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Johnson said common threads among the dying counties are older whites who are no longer having children, and an exodus of young adults who find little promise in the region and seek jobs elsewhere. The places also have fewer Hispanic immigrants, who on average are younger and tend to have more children than other groups. . . . "In some cases, the only thing that can pull an area out is an influx of young Hispanic immigrants or new economic development."
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Not all U.S. areas are declining. Most places with the fastest growth since 2000 were able to retain or attract college graduates and young professionals who came for jobs and later started families. Metro areas with diversified economies such as Austin, Texas, Raleigh, N.C., and Portland, Ore., all saw gains in college graduates; other places seeing gains or reduced losses in young adults, such as Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco, have burgeoning biotech industries.
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Will local leaders in Hampton Roads get the wake up call? I'm not holding my breath and frankly expect to see more stagnation as long as the GOP controls the House of Delegates and continues to block laws that would say the state is open for business for all citizens, not just white conservative Christians who place blind reliance on the Bible over education, actual thought and the acceptance of others.