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4A ♦ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2006 B&msicm Umlyi 3Jmmuxl 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 HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor. Letters should not exceed 350 words and must include the writer’s name, address and telephone number. All letters printed in The Daily Journal will appear with the writer’s name and hometown - we do not publish anonymous letters. The news paper reserves the right to edit or reject letters for reasons of grammar, punctuation, taste and brevity. Letter writers are asked to submit no more than one letter per person per week. We cannot guarantee that a letter will be printed on a specific date. The Daily Journal prefers that letters be typed. Letters to the editor are published in the order they are received as space permits. There are three ways to submit a letter to the editor: E-mail it to hhj@evansnewspapers.com, mail it to The Houston Daily Journal at P.O. Box 1910, Perry, GA 31069, or drop it off at 1210 Washington St. in Perry - between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 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.