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♦ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2006
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
Eminent domain amendment
will curb power
Georgians will vote on several consti
tutional amendments next Tuesday
and one of them is important enough
for all of us to make sure that it passes.
The amendment concerns eminent domain,
which is a way to force property owners to
sell their property, whether they want to or
not.
Until recent years governments have not
abused eminent domain. It is a necessary
tool to acquire property for government
use, such as highways, and for utilities to
provide their services.
Recently, cit
ies around the
country have
been abusing
this law. They
have teamed
with real
estate devel
opers to con
demn proper
ty for condos,
apartment
complexes
and shopping
centers. The
United States Supreme Court, surprisingly,
has ruled that the cities can condemn prop
erty if it is for the “public good” and gave its
blessing to this onerous practice. The cities
say that taking property for these develop
ments is for the public good because it will
create more taxes.
Any sane person knows that is not so.
However, some local governments have run
roughshod over people who have lived in
their homes for many years and do not
want to move. Seldom do property owners
who are victims of eminent domain receive
enough money to replace their homes with
something comparable.
Winners are greedy developers and politi
cians who have their eyes on more taxes,
rather than doing what is right.
It isn’t right to deprive people of their
homes and businesses just to be greedy.
Amendment One on the ballot next
Tuesday will limit the government’s pow
ers.
The condemnation must be held in pub
lic but still can be done if it is defined as
a “public use.” We wish the words “public
use” had been more clearly defined.
However, it is unlikely that local govern
ments will risk public wrath by doing some
thing clearly wrong and this amendment
sets the parameters.
There already have been examples of
abuse of the power of eminent domain
in Georgia, but, thankfully, we have not
seen any evidence that elected officials in
Houston County, Warner Robins, Perry or
Centerville are so ruthless.
Letter to the Editor
Hidden tax agenda
The President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform
was composed of two ex-senators serving as chairman
and vice-chairman, an ex-House congressman, an ex-sen
atorial staffer, three college professors, one investment
analyst and an executive director. Politicians and
See LETTER, page >/l
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Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Until recent years
governments have not
abused eminent domain.
It is a necessary tool
to acquire property for
government use, such
as highways, and for
utilities to provide their
services.
Self-interests trump voting records
Members of the United States
Congress are back home fight
ing for their political lives in
many contested races.
They have frittered away opportuni
ties to accomplish something all year
and now find themselves with abys
mally low public esteem, though there
are a few exceptions.
Only a week from today voters will
determine the direction of our coun
try for a long time to come. Will they
permit Republicans to hold onto a slim
majority in Congress? Or will they
blame the majority party for doing a
lousy job and turn control over to the
Democrats?
Supposedly Republicans believe in fis
cal restraint and low taxes. They have
reduced taxes, but they are the spend
ingest bunch in history. Democrats
believe in spending and raising taxes
and, presumably, will live up to their
reputation and promises if given a
chance.
The odds are that we will have a
stalemate in Congress for the nest two
years before the Democrats take over
the government.
Jack Cafferty of CNN repeatedly
tells his listeners that they should
defeat every incumbent in Congress,
regardless of political oarty. He may be
onto something.
Members of Congress have turned an
institution that our forefathers consid-
V>°(*
All those wasted days and wasted nights
Last week I examined polling that
shows Republicans poised to lose
control of at least one chamber
of Congress, and I rhetorically asked
Americans if they really wanted to take
that step.
Probably they do. So now I’ll look
back at a January column of mine.
It told the story of too many wasted
days and nights by GOP lawmakers.
They squandered precious weeks and
months, and their chronic inaction
may soon abruptly end perhaps the
last, best chance fiscal conservatives
have had to make a lasting, positive
impact in Washington.
I told the story of Tennessee
Congressman Zach Wamp. He pointed
out to the press that on a home visit
his constituents were less interested in
changing “the culture in Washington”
than they were in a new best-selling
book about the “Fair Tax.” Apparently
Wamp was the only congressman
attuned to this political groundswell of
sentiment. His Republican Party lead
ers sure weren’t.
Polls say the Iraq war is the main
issue driving the Republicans into the
ground.
We can examine these public surveys
until the cows - or the troops - come
home, but I’ll stay convinced that if
Congress had given the people just
some of the domestic policy changes
they’ve been clamoring for, more con
gressional races today would be lean
ing Republican. Now, if the Democrats
take over either chamber, tax reform
- which has broad public support - will
be shelved, probably for years.
Nor did the current Congress satis
factorily address illegal immigration.
The “border fence” bill that just passed
was a last-minute “we-have-to-do
something” action. Most Americans are
justifiably skeptical that it will address
OPINION
"Don’t worry, the politicians will bring back
your mud just as soon as the election is over!”
Foy
Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
ered a part-time job into a year-round
job.
The founding fathers saw Congress
as a job that would be handled by
part-time citizens, who would go to
Washington a few weeks out of the
year to tend to the people’s business
and spend the rest of the year back
home.
It isn’t that way now.
Being a member of Congress still is a
part-time job, but it is now dragged out
over a full year.
Look at this information: According
to reliable sources Congress will be in
session about 90 days (three months)
this year. This will be spread out over a
full year, with numerous recesses.
They don’t work full weeks. They hold
sessions Tuesday through Thursday,
and rush back home. Three days a
week on the job* And many weeks not
there at all. (These are the people who
criticize President Bush for taking a
“vacation” during which he still con
ducts the obligations of his office.)
Matt
Towery
Columnist
Morris News Service
the problem, even if it’s ever really
built. Immigration Band-Aid number
two, a guest-worker policy, is also tenu
ous because it builds a philosophical
“wall” of its own - a divide between
opposing factions within the GOP
Allow me to contradict myself. Last
week I questioned the tempting impulse
for voters to vote out the congressional
Republican majority. In fairness, I now
must ask why not? What good will it do
to keep them in control? Bloated, debt
laden government will only continue.
In effect, the Republicans are like a
cheating spouse, asking pretty please
can they have one more chance. But
they’re in need of counseling first. If
given absolution by the voters, will
they drain the moat around the Capitol
and allow pragmatic ideas to enter
by the front door? Will they tax their
brains more and our wallets less? Will
they end “welfare” as we know it for
foreign countries that despise our own?
Or raze the mountain of red tape too
many Americans must climb to access
adequate health care? Will they review
their Medicare drug-benefit program,
the first new massive federal entitle
ment in a generation?
On foreign policy, many Americans
say in public surveys that it isn’t nec
essarily war in Iraq that so severely
troubles them.
What they want in dealing with Iraq
or Iran or North Korea or anyplace
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
The pay is good. The benefits real
good. And, of course, there is the pres
tige. And power.
We send good men, usually, to
Congress. They become part of the
establishment and even if they want
to accomplish something they cannot.
Renegades who buck the leadership
can’t get the bacon that a politician
must bring home to get reelected.
The best Congressman in the world
cannot get elected on merit alone. We
seldom judge them on that. We judge
them on what they have done for us
and it better be a lot or we throw them
out of office.
Isn’t that the way we look at it here
in Houston County? Do we really know
much about voting records? We do,
however, know if members of Congress
are credited with protecting our base
and make sure that we get our share of
the military pot.
It boils down to self-interest. And
in the end Congress’ failure to deal
with the nation’s problems can be
attributed to the institution itself. It is
easier to put things off than to be bold
in the face of opposition that could cost
votes.
We might be more impressed if they
took their jobs seriously enough to put
in a full week’s work for full-time pay.
Or better yet, become true part-time
legislators as envisioned by the found
ing fathers.
else is a coherent and realistic plan.
They want to do whatever can be done,
and be done. No promises, just mission
clarity.
Instead, a sincere and well-meaning
President Bush digs himself and his
nation a deeper and deeper foxhole. For
practically forever we weren’t going to
budge in the face of our enemies. Now,
suddenly, in a recent press conference,
instead of “staying the course,” we’re
going to “react as is necessary,” but
also ... stay the course.
Governing the world’s only super
power nation - and sometimes, it
seems, the whole stinking planet - is
perpetually problematic for the White
House and Congress and the citizens
who put them there and remove them.
But that doesn’t excuse our top elected
officials from having spent the last
year or two barking at one another and
chasing their tails.
Maybe it’s time these old dogs got
kicked off the porch.
Sure enough, Americans may be
strapping on their boots just in time to
do just that on Election Day.
Regardless, if and when the
Republican Party again controls both
the presidency and the Congress - be
it next year or next lifetime - they’d do
well to go to school and study the mis
spent days of 2005-2006. Precious days
they’ve been indeed, and now lost.
Matt Towery served as the chairman
of former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s
political organization from 1992 until
Gingrich left Congress. He is a former
Georgia state representative, the author
of several books and currently heads the
polling and political information firm
Insider Advantage. To find out more
about Matthew Towery and read fea
tures by other Creators Syndicate writ
ers and cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate Web site at www.creators.