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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, today is the day I hate being an 'Alaskan'. Of course I am not an 'Alaskan'. Not really. Neither apparently are my girls. Nor my wife who is raising them here. Today is the day I get to see people who arrived here after me get their PFD. People who I goddamned well know will leave before me. I own two houses here. Am going into my fourth winter. My second child was born here. Kadee has not left Alaska soil since arriving at six months old. I spend my life energy fighting for the rights of Alaskans to be free from the Government. On the smaller scale I fight for the freedom of individual Alaskans every single day. I pay the highest gas prices on the road system of anywhere in the United States. I pay property tax. Sales tax. Car registration fees. In every measurable way I am an 'Alaskan'. I put up with all the disadvantages of Alaska. But. I also love this place. I enjoy it and use it in ways that not even many of the people here do. I feel privileged every day to be here. 364 days a year that is enough to keep me in awe. I mean this is Alaska for God's sake!. But on the day that the PFD checks arrive, I feel bitter. Oh, I understand the legal reasoning of the Supreme Court in Andrade. I get it. But let me be honest. $5200 would change my family in ways I can't measure. That amount will take me years of work and saving. $5200 would take us from living on the edge every month to a certain level of comfort. How sad. $5200. The purpose of the PFD is to encourage settlement of Alaska. Hell, I am settling. But the response from the State is this: Well right back at ya Alaska. You will pay my girls.

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on October 09, 2009 (boomark / email).