Some food for thought as Nero sits in the White House and fiddles while our borders burn. When I was born in 1943, the population of Texas was just over 7 million. When I graduated from high school in 1961 it was about 9.8 million. The 2014 census estimate was 27 million.
My wife is proud of the fact that Fort Worth is the 16th largest city in the U.S. It’s also the 5th largest city in Texas.
So, what is my complaint? Those of you who live in the wilds of Montana or Utah or Nevada or Wyoming wouldn’t understand. I envy you. You can go get in your car and go somewhere without tripping over several hundred thousand other drivers in your path as they try to get wherever they’re going.
Unfortunately, nearly 100 million of us are crowded into the ten largest metro areas of the country. Here in the DFW Metroplex, I share the roads—and breathing space and everything else—with nearly 7 million other people. Getting to the grocery store is a major undertaking.
The U.S. population the year I was born was 134 million. In 2014, it was 319 million. And Nero continues to fiddle, and more and more people continue to flood our borders and bloat our cities.
My daughter lives in a suburb of San Antonio. The main route to get there from Fort Worth is I-35. The speed limit—in between construction zones—is 75, but one can rarely attain that speed and keep it for any length of time. And you can count on having at least one, and frequently several, jams where traffic creeps along in stop and go fashion.
It’s 253 miles from our house to hers, and Google Maps lists the time as 3.5 hours. With all the construction and other stoppages, it routinely takes us 4.5 hours to get there. That says nothing about how little fun it is to sit parked on an interstate highway.
There is an alternate route that goes through some beautiful country. It’s only 10 miles or so farther, but it’s not interstate. You get to deal with local traffic and lights in every town along the way. Even with that, it would be a far better route than I-35, if it weren’t for the town of Granbury, TX.
Strangely, Granbury has a population of 6,077 people, and yet there are always at least 15,000 cars on U.S. 377 going through town. I haven’t actually counted them, but I’m sure that’s a fair estimate. And there are several dozen traffic lights along the highway to make sure no one gets through unscathed.
Several years ago, I came across a YouTube video illustrating our population problem with the use of gumballs. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM1YU-Ni_84) This video illustrates the nature and magnitude of the problem of allowing an unchecked flood of immigrants to enter our nation. Aside from the dangers posed by the terrorists we allow to enter and the unemployed aliens we allow to bloat our welfare system, the sheer numbers of people entering, added to our already huge population, are going to sink the good ship U.S.A.
And Nero continues to fiddle while all this is happening.
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Writers may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
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David N Walker 
The gumball are a very good representation of what’s going on – but too many people don’t believe that. It all goes back to the Indians (their endless argument). If we could do that to them, we can have others invade what is now the USA. I’m sorry, but I had absolutely nothing to do with anything that happened before the year I was born – and neither did they. We were born into what ‘was’ at that time. And now we’re leaving this country in a mess for future generations because people can’t let the past go and think about the future. They seem to think there’s an endless supply of everything and more than enough of it for everybody. Yeah. Right.
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Absolutely right, Kristy. I never cheated an Indian tribe or owned a black slave or any of the foolish malarky people try to blame us for.
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Ah yes, the madness continues as we bump around into each other every day. Yet, it always amazes me when I travel how much open space there seems to be in certain places. It is odd that the vast majority of folks choose to lives in cramped up cities with nowhere to run.
Interesting stuff to ponder, Dave.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
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Thanks, Patricia. And it gets worse every year as we allow more and more people to invade our shores.
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David, Thanks for the information. I also entered the world in 1943 and am a 1961 Paschal graduate. I am in total agreement with traffic headaches in the Metroplex. Going West, I can breathe when I leave Weatherford–East it is past Greenville. I’m afraid to travel North or South.
A 1971 graduate of NTSU I could get to Denton and in class on time an hour after I left my home on May Street between Berry and Morningside Drive. Now I would not try to get to North Fort Worth in an hour from Trail Lake Drive. I allow about that much time to get to the Hospital District in South Fort Worth. I do miss much about the former Fort Worth, but is is nice to watch Seminary South–opened in 1961 or so–go to Cemetery South–but arise as Grande Plaza and become vibrant again!
If we could only get rid of the orange cones and just let the potholes and speed bumps slow our travels.
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Thanks, Johnny. I can’t remember if we met at one of Sharon’s Paschall reunions or not, but I appreciate your readership.
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Hi David, I hope All is well with you and your family. I was just wondering if you are still interested in co-authoring the book with me? Please let me know as I have so much more to tell you. Have a Beautiful, Blessed day.
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I’ll send you a P.M.
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Good morning David, This is a problem that will never get the proper attention. While I can Appreciate your duly concern, this is the least of the problems we are facing. The entire World is pretty much sinking. We as a Nation, should be So Much More concerned with Babies being killed due to abuse, and Hunger. Not having proper Medical Attention, Forgotten in Cars and tossed in the Trash. We have Babies having Babies, Children being used as Sex Slaves, and I can go on and on. Last, But Sadly not Least, a person who is not Mentally Stable walking into a School with Guns and Killing Our Children. I See so many people turning their heads to these problems and Most wear Blinders. It’s All about The Almighty dollar, and Life does not seem to matter anymore. God has been Taken Out of Everything. Without God, there is No Love and without Love there is No Life.
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Yes, Rose Marie, I recognize each of the problems you’ve mentioned. I’ll probably address some of them in future blogs.
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