Roger Milliken passes

[Stephen Fox]

A Force in the GOP; some say personally drafted Goldwater to run in 64.

A friend of William F. Buckley to whom Buckley dedicated one of his books.

Milliken gave more money to Nixon than any other man in America in 1972.

Milliken was great benefactor of Wofford College and other institutions.

His son Roger, Jr. and I were good friends the summer of 1970.

http://www.goupstate.com/article/201012 ... -at-age-95

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.goupstate.com/article/201012 ... l&tc=pgall

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/us/01milliken.html

[Gene Scarborough]

Steve--

Thanks so much for the info on Roger Milliken! It offers much for thought. I would compare his empire in textiles to that of the Candler Family of Coca-Cola fame in Atlanta. They were the financial backers of Emory University's masive growth over the last 40 years. When I graduated in 1967, they were on the cusp of this growth. The Candlers gave the largest bequest to a private institution in the history of US education.

Both the Candlers and Roger Millliken are true giants of industry in this country. They achieved such by keeping an eye to the future and using money to make a positive difference.

Despite all this, our country seems to be running on a corporate mantra where only money rules! Millliken was more than wise to advocate we keep jobs here. All over the South we see the scars of its abandonment. I used to drive I-85 between Wake Forest and Atlanta, then Rocky Mount and Atlanta. From Charlotte through Spartanburg and Greenville it is bordered by major industrial buildings for manufacture. Sadly, almost all the Textile Buildings now are vacant.

A good Conservative does not look backward. Rather, like Milliden, moves to the future without deserting people who helped him achieve the success of the past. I applaude his kindnesses to his employees and his community! We need far more people like him. He was an Episcopalian and transplanted Northern Gentleman according to Spartanburg newspaper reports.

[Gene Scarborough]

(cont.)
The movement of so many jobs overseas is one of the major factors in our economic crash. Rocky Mount, NC, where I work is a classic example. We moved there in 1986. My wife's family had needs for our presence / the town of 50,000 was an ideal place to raise our teen children X 2. It worked well for us.

Now, in the past 15 years EVERY major industry has left. The last is RBC-Centura Bank and their headquarters building is now moving to Raleigh. Rocky Mount advertised itself as "The City on the Rise." Now it needs, for accuracy sake, "---In Drugs and Crime Only!" It is all the product of racial tension and Corporate Greed.

A town which used to pride itself on equal parks and facilities is taken over by black race-baiting leaders. It is so bad that Law Enforcement cannot arrest a gang member or punk in the hood without cries of "racial profiling" from black leaders. The black neighborhood is filled with drug selling and gunfire all night / every night. Good and kind citizens who are retired there must sleep in their bath tubs to protect themselves from random bullets going through houses. It is more unfair than anything else I know.

This economic crash sees NOT ONE DOLLAR going to small business. Everything spent is with large Banks / Corporations / Investment Institutions. It assumes "trickle down" economics works---so why aren't all GM products sold at a 61% reduction since us taxpayers now own that much of GM? If our money trickled down and back to us---this would be the proof it works. Rich are getting richer / poor are getting poorer. Education is a farce. Welfare is now a 4-generation trap rather than a help to rise above poverty.

In this sense "Conservative" means a return to the injustices and poverty of England and Europe from which our ancestors fled for the "land of opportunity."

I just hope the Conservatiism of Milliken might somehow return to that ideal term. It made us great in the past, but is now dragging us deeper into a polorized country where hate reigns and poverty seems to be our future.