Dolly’s Greatest, And Most Reaganesque, Legacy

She entertained, well, everybody.  She is one of the most accomplished and awarded song writers of the modern age.  But around these parts Dolly Parton was much, much more.  The two-room cabin she shared with eleven siblings and two parents sat just about 25 miles from my home here is East Tennessee.  The story of her upbringing did not flow from her publicist’s pen – it is truth.  That is where the story of her greatest legacy starts,

We live in a nation that tears itself apart, quite regularly, over urban poverty – ghettos, slums and homelessness crowd our headlines.  But rural poverty never seems to make the papers.  Yet it is very real and it is as oppressive as anything our big cities can muster.  This region, southern Appalachia, was a region of deep rural poverty.  It still is to some extent, but not nearly like it was prior to WWII.  Remember, this region did not have electricity until FDR formed the TVA in the 1930’s.  Dolly Parton was born into that poverty just after the war.

Of course, she long ago left such poverty behind.  But more importantly she has done more than you can imagine to make sure no one else in this region has to endure what she did.

Most people have heard of her Imagination Library – a program that puts books into kid’s hands monthly.  That program has probably done more to end the ignorant hillbilly stereotype that plagued this region than any other single factor.  Prior to the program illiteracy here was well above 50% – now it will well below.  Here is just one example of the kind of impact the program can have.  I guess you could consider giving kids books a handout, but the program is far more in line with the old adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  With increased literacy rates, prosperity in the region has increased, dramatically.

Dolly Parton has never owned Dollywood –  a company that runs numerous amusement parks does.  She, and now her estate, has a licensing agreement with them that includes sufficient control so that her brand cannot be harmed by the deal.  But that said, she was the driving force behind the deal.  She talked that company into purchasing a small, down-on-it’s-luck amusement park and infusing it with massive capital.  The park has done nothing but succeed since – and it is an economic engine for the region.  People may come to see Great Smoky Mountain National Park – just a few miles away, but they are going to stay a few extra days to spend in Dollywood and all the road trip tourist kitsch you can imagine in Pigeon Forge.  An area where once, not so long ago, men had to travel hundreds of miles and spend weeks in the Kentucky coal mines to feed their families, now has to import workers in special programs from the Caribbean and other international locales because the local labor pool is too small to meet the seasonal demand.  Dolly did not give people money , but she did create jobs, lots and lots of jobs – and prosperity followed.

Once perhaps the poorest region in the nation, East Tennessee, is now growing at a fantastical rate.  It took no longer than a lifetime – Dolly Parton’s lifetime – as she lead that charge.  She did not limit her charity to the select few – she blessed the entire region. And she did so not by giving people money, but by giving them opportunity.  And as a result she is loved around here in a way no simple benefactor would be.  People here hold their heads high, knowing they earned their newfound prosperity.

When the news broke, all the local TV stations went into special event mode, and they have stayed there since – now some 10 hours later.  I can almost hear the Smoky Mountains weeping tonight.  Dolly never, ever said anything political.  But her actions were solidly in line with principles of Ronald Reagan, and the results speak for themselves.

Well done Dolly.  Extraordinarily well done.