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PAGE 4A BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 Opinions “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. ~ Thomas Jefferson ~ Georgia Press Association, first place, Best Editorial Page; first place, Best Serious Column Things I’d like to see the new president do Many times by September every four years, we have a pretty good idea who will win the next presidential election. Presidential races have swings to them where one candidate surges and then cools off fol lowed by the same swing by the other leading candidate. Such has been the case in 2016 since the parties officially selected their candidates. However, this year is different in that it is real ly hard to determine who is going to win. We realize it will be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. As a Libertarian, I don’t mean to dis count Gary Johnson, but a third party or independent candidate in this country faces such an uphill bat tle that we would likely learn the moon is made of cheese before someone outside the Democrats or Republicans is elected president. It’s really a coin toss at this point and time between Clinton and Trump. It’s hard to predict the outcome because both are so vilified in many circles. Clinton represents the devil to those in the conservative movement while Trump is genuinely hated by those on the left and even many in the Republican Party. Regardless of who ultimately wins — and in some ways it’s still hard to believe that one of them is going to be the next president — there are many issues facing our country that need to be addressed. If I had the power to influence either one of them, here is a “Wish List” I would present to either President Hillary or President Donald J.: •Eliminate the income tax: Hard-working Americans are grossly overtaxed. It happens at the local, state and national level. By ending the income tax, it will give more Americans the chance to take home more of the money they rightfully earn. Go to a national sales tax where consumers pay taxes only on the goods they buy. This will help keep the economy healthy since people will actually have more money to spend. By keeping more of one’s paycheck, it will also make it easier for people to get out of or stay out of debt. Common sense. •Quit being the policeman of the world: It is not the United States’ responsibility to solve every problem around the world. Some coun tries have been at war for decades or centuries. Our intervention is not going to help or stop that. We cannot afford to continue giving billions in foreign aid either. Keep that money at home. • Do something about the care for veterans: As stated before in this space, all veterans should receive free health care for life. Personally it’s the one thing I would not mind paying taxes for. Veterans are grossly neglected in terms of mental and physical care and it continues to show up in the number of suicides among these brave men and women. Fix the issues dealing with our veterans. Quit talking about it. Fix the problem. Fix it now. • Make a push to bring back manufacturing: The loss of these jobs, mostly to overseas sweat shops, has been a major disaster for our econ omy. In many states, manufacturing jobs were the livelihood for families for generations. Most of those jobs are gone. Give tax breaks for new manufacturing plants to open. This will allow them to pay their workers a good salary where they are able to support their families. • Quit putting people in jail who commit vic timless crimes: It amazes me when I read how many people in Barrow County are arrested each week. While some are certainly serious crimes, there are some where arrests really aren’t necessary. It’s time to legalize all use of marijuana and eliminate the crime element to it. It should not be a crime to decide what one does with his or her body. As long as you are willing to accept the consequence, it should be no concern of the government or law enforce ment. It may not be wise to do a lot of things, but that does not mean the government needs to step in using the power of arrest and loss of private property. • Be honest with the American people: Don’t always be in cover-up mode. You would be sur prised at how far honesty can go with people. If something doesn’t go as planned, say so. When was the last time any level-headed American really believed what our government was tell ing us, regardless of which party the official belonged to? Honest has become a long, lost policy it seems. • Represent all Americans: Don’t simply think you are there to represent those who voted for us. We are one country. The president should do what’s in the best interest of everyone, not the Republican or Democratic parties. Wouldn’t it be great to have a president elected without a party affiliation one day? Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow News-Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal. com. At least we’re not in North Carolina If you want to see how badly politi cians can mess up a state, look no far ther than our neighbor North Carolina. On March 23, the North Carolina legislature met in special session to pass the now-infamous HB 2, a bill that restricted transgender peo ple to using only government and school bathrooms that cor responded to the sex listed on their birth certificate. The bill also killed an anti-discrimination ordinance passed by Charlotte to protect the civil rights of gays. Gov. Pat McCrory signed the “bathroom bill” into law a little more than 11 hours after the special session had convened. A week earlier on March 16, Georgia legislators had passed a similar law, HB 757, that was not quite as far-reaching as North Carolina’s new law but could have legalized dis crimination against gays in the cause of “religious freedom.” Unlike his counterpart in North Carolina, Gov. Nathan Deal waited until a few days after the Legislature adjourned and then, much to every one’s surprise, vetoed HB 757. “As I have examined the protections this bill seeks to provide to religious organizations and people of faith I can find no examples that any of the things this bill seeks to protect us against have ever occurred in Georgia,” Deal noted in his veto message. Deal was crucified by religious con servatives for not signing the bill, with one of his critics decrying that the governor “chose Mammon over God.” Several months later, however, it appears that the Georgia governor took much the wiser course than the North Carolina governor on this issue. Since Deal vetoed the bill, no major movie productions have been can celled in Georgia, and such corpo rations as Honeywell, Voestalpine, Global Payments, Adidas, Voxpro, and Keysight Technologies have announced they will either move here or expand existing operations in the state. Things haven’t gone quite so well in the Tarheel State, which has been pay ing a steep price for passing a law that is seen as discriminatory to the LGBT community. Music acts like Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam cancelled concerts scheduled for North Carolina. The German financial giant Deutsche Bank said it was halting an expansion of its North Carolina offices that would have employed 250 people, and PayPal abandoned plans for a 400-employee operation center in Charlotte. The NBA cancelled plans to hold its 2017 all-star game in Charlotte and will move the game elsewhere. The NCAA struck the biggest blow last week by saying it will withdraw seven athletic championship events scheduled for North Carolina, including men’s basketball tournament games, because of HB 2. That’s the ultimate heresy for a state where college basket- Write a Letter to the Editor: Let us know your thoughts: Send Letters to Editor, The Barrow News-Journal, 77 E. May Street, Winder, Ga. 30680. Letters can also be emailed to cbridges@barrowjour- nal.com. Please put “Letter to the Edi tor” in the subject line. Please include the city of the writer. ball is worshipped. Georgia Tech President G. P. “Bud” Peterson, who is the chairman of the NCAA’s board of governors, explained that the organization will not endorse a state that discriminates against a por tion of its citizenry. “This decision is con sistent with the NCAA’s long-standing core val ues of inclusion, stu dent-athlete well-being, and creating a culture of fairness,” Peterson said. One day after the NCAA bombshell, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) said it was also moving its championship com petitions out of North Carolina for the 2016-17 season in response to the passage of HB 2. North Carolina politicians who were so eager to pass HB 2 last March are now reeling from the financial and polit ical impact of their actions. McCrory, a Republican who is running for another term as governor, has been trailing his Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper, in the polls. “I did not realize the consequences of this bill, that it would have worldwide consequences, and they just keep piling up,” said state Sen. Tamara Barringer, ! one of the lawmakers who voted for HB 2. She’s now calling for the “substantial and immediate” repeal of the law. While North Carolina legislators try to cope with the results of the actions they took so hastily, Georgia lawmakers who introduced the religious freedom bill say they will try to pass another version of the measure next year. Our neighbors to the north have shown that ideological purity comes with a high price tag. Are Georgia’s pol iticians really willing to wreck the state’s economy to please some religious con servatives? It could all come down to Deal again and his willingness to use his veto pen. Tom Crawford is editor of The Georgia Report, an internet news ser vice at gareport.com that reports on state government and politics. He can be reached at tcrawford@gareport. com. The Barrow News-Journal Winder, Barrow County, Ga. www. Barrow Journal. com Mike Buffington Co-Publisher Scott Buffington Co-Publisher Chris Bridges Editor Jessica Brown Photographer Susan Treadwell Advertising Sharon Hogan Office & Reporter Also covering beats are Alex Pace and Scott Thompson POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Barrow News-Journal 77 East May Street Winder, Georgia 30680 Published 52 times per year by Mainstreet Newspapers, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Winder, Georgia 30680 (USPS 025-132) Email: chris@mainstreetnews.com Phone: 770-867-NEWS (6397) SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25.00/yr. Strong little dog Everyone pretty much knows by now that I love dogs. I’m much more inclined to go talk to a dog than I am a person. Dogs are just better than people a lot of times. They don’t act with malice. Plus they can be more understanding than a human ever could. As I’ve mentioned before, my parents’ seven month old puppy Ruger makes me smile every day. His sweet little face and his stubby little tail wag so hard it would make anyone smile. He’s a happy go-lucky pup who loves to cuddle on the sofa and go for walks. He is also going blind. Ruger’s had a rough start in life. He spent two weeks with a family before my parents adopted him. It turned out they were allergic to him. He spent most of his time in a kennel so they decided to find him a loving home. At the time we couldn’t fathom what issues Ruger had because everything appeared normal. The first vet visit went well, and nothing out of the ordinary was spotted. The next time, the vet noticed some issues with his eyes. A couple vis its to UGA later and Ruger had a laundry list of congenital eye issues. From holes in his lenses to growing cataracts, we were told that it wasn’t a matter of “if” he goes blind but “when.” From that visit, he’s now developed a skin condition we are still trying to solve. He scratches himself raw and is still recovering from his hair loss. His eye sight has gotten worse, and we fear for the news we’ll receive later this month at UGA. Besides his health concerns, he’s a happy little guy who doesn’t let his health get in the way of his fun. He likes going for Jeep rides to Sonic or Dairy Queen for ice cream or sitting in the cart while shopping in Bass Pro Shops. He plays fetch in the living room and practi cally drags us around the neighborhood during our walks. The only thing that really affects his spirits is the lack of animal friends he has. Our two cats want nothing to do with him. He tries to get them to play, but they just swat and hiss. You can see the hurt in his eyes. My boyfriend’s elderly dog came to play with him twice and that didn’t go over well. She, too, wanted nothing to do with him. Then two or three more dogs came to the house to play and they wouldn’t play with him. This feels so much like Rudolph, the red- nose reindeer to me. He’s got so many health issues and medicines to take, and that doesn’t faze him. All he wants is a nonhuman friend who will accept him. And then he met Nugget. Our neighbor across the street told us his daughter and her dog were moving back to Georgia and that they should get together with Ruger. Last week we made the play date happen, and Nugget proved to be the friend Ruger needed. He grinned from ear to ear as he chased her around the yard. They shared slices of watermelon and wrestled each other to the ground. You could see in his face that he was so over the moon with excitement that he made a new friend. Of course, his bad eyesight caused some problems. Nugget ran too fast for Ruger and he lost sight of her. He looked around everywhere trying to find her, but she was gone. Suddenly Nugget went running back to him and nudged him, letting him know she was there. He smiled and chased after her. What was so amazing in that moment was that Nugget seemed to sense her new companion was having trouble, and she came back for him. It’s almost like she knew that he has limitations. Instead of wandering off, she came back to help him. He felt included which is something he was lacking with other dogs. We are all so thankful for Nugget for bonding with Ruger and becoming his friend. It taught us all a lesson in uncon ditional love and friendship. Winder resident Jessica Brown is the staff photographer for the Barrow News-Journal. You can reach her at picsbyjessica 1 @gmail. com.