Confused

In a few months it will be time for my annual report of another year in the contradiction that is Tennessee. The one thing that confuses me the most is the way workers are treated here; and from what I've been told in much of the South. There are no labor movements here, or any that you hear about anyway. Corporations rarely give bonuses nor do they pay what they should, then they wonder why their retention numbers are so low. I just recently received a raise (thank God) and my new Boss and I were discussing this. She's from Boston where Companies spread the wealth. I know large Corporations hold back bonuses when times are hard, but those same Corps spread the wealth when they are doing peachy. Ntt's Brain works at a computer game company (I'm not sure if he's mentioned the name before, so I won't) that's pretty damn huge. Do you think he'd work 7 days a week with all that pressure he's under a lot of the time if the compensation wasn't worth it? That same company out here, there'd be no compensation whatsoever. Too bad so sad...you got a job don't you??? That's what you'd hear. This State is a contradiction of terms, it really is. Back home in California, construction is done by mostly Union Employees who make decent money. Out here it is done by mostly Latinos who are non-Union and getting paid as little as possible, probably under the table. Back home, the Latinos mostly work in the Fast Food industry or the retail industry. Out here those jobs are held by mostly White, middle class Americans. Odd.....very odd. Out here there are very few Unions. The Teachers have one as do the Cops and Firemen. Oh, but get this, the Metro Nashville Police who used to be represented by the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police.....the cops Union) are now represented by the Teamsters?!?!?!?!?! Huh? Jimmy Hoffa's folks, my Dad's folks (and my Dad drove a BreadTruck for 30 something years). Seems odd. The average citizen out here is Middle Class and just making it. These same Middle Class folks tend to vote Republican. I'm confused. Republicans do not care about anyone but themselves. They cater to the Rich and strive to keep the Middle Class in it's place. But yet these folks love these guys. Republicans love to wave that "Family Values" banner and "Pro Life" and "America is a Christian Country" so I guess that would be why. These folks don't see living in a trailer as bad. I would love to live on a good patch of land but the problem with that is you live outside of the City limits and in the County Limits which means you aren't beholden to the rules of the City. You also usually don't have sewer but septic, and you and your neighbors can do pretty much what you want with your property. We drive by these sections and some of the homes are beautiful...gorgeous big homes with well landscaped property, right next door to PWT in his rusty trailer with 20 cars parked wherever, a shack and a bunch of animals running around doing what they want. Nice!!!! Makes you want to take a molotov cocktail and throw it at the trailer to see if it will burn. Or folks set up businesses like junk yards on their land. Nice huh? You get 5 or so acres for a great price, have a gorgeous multi-room home built on it, spend a fortune on ponds, trees, a nice lawn and right next door is Sanford and Son. Do people just not care? I know folks who have bought a nice piece of land then had a manufactured home placed on it. I know the land was cheap, so why not pay someone to build you a nice house. These homes aren't trailers, they are essentially wide rectangles that are put on a foundation, all built in a factory and transported to the location of your choosing by semi. A mobile home is one that has wheels and a hitch, these don't. They are manufactured homes. They cost about 50 something to 100-200 thousand depending on the design. I haven't had a house built, but from what I can figure the price of the land plus the price of the manufactured home is probably equitable to paying a contractor to build you a house. So why not have the house you want built? I'm confused. I wouldn't do that, I just can't see why. Not that these houses aren't nice (some are really nice looking) but you can tell them for what they are. They are big rectangles. Nothing unique or interesting about them. The house I bought is unique. It's 30+ years old and from what I can see in the attic has been added on to and the roof raised. I'd love to find a picture of what it originally looked like back in 1973 or so. That would be interesting.