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PAGE 6A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Letters to the Editor
Thoughts on the election
Acey is the right
choice for BOC
Dear Editor:
I support Dwight Acey
for the Barrow County
Board of Commissioners.
Commissioners determine
how our tax dollars are
spent.
An examination of the
financial data, purchase
proposals and money
requests that a commis
sioner must study and
digest before each voting
session is staggering.
Mr. Acey has done
graduate work in busi
ness administration and
can separate necessary
spending from desirable
but wasteful expenditures.
I’ve worked with Mr. Acey
for five years and have
been impressed with his
careful use of money and
his desire to lower taxes
and county spending.
There is no substitute
for experience in public
administration.
Mr. Acey has worked
in county government for
twenty years. He knows
the importance of coordi
nating the efforts of local,
state and federal agencies
to get necessary improve
ments done.
He is focused on the
transportation, water and
sewage infrastructure this
county must have to com
pete for new businesses
and the jobs and tax dollars
they generate.
Quality education is an
issue for Barrow County.
Mr. Acey is an enthusiastic
supporter if a top notch
education system in Bar-
row County including our
new technical school’s mis
sion to provide high school
graduates with work ready
business educations.
As the pages of this
newspaper attest, public
safety is a major issue in
Barrow County. Mr. Acey
has made a career in law
enforcement. He under
stands the needs and sup
ports modern law enforce
ment in Barrow County
Sincerely,
John Blair
Winder
Barrow County doesn’t
need more debt
Dear Editor:
We cannot afford to have
Barrow County burdened
with the kind of massive
debt that former commis
sioner “Bill” Brown is
known for.
Blatant examples are the
Barrow County Airport
fiasco, which cost millions
of dollars, and the illegal
placement of the Ten Com
mandments in the County
building against state and
federal law. What doesn’t
“Bill” Brown get? I am
a devout Christian that
clearly understands why
the founding fathers, after
suffering from horrendous
religious persecution in
Europe, wisely choose to
seperate church and state.
He should have paid all
of the legal fees himself
not passed it on to Barrow
taxpayers - or others.
“Bill’s” 2008 Winder
Barrow airport expansion
disaster cost millions! We
paid for what is now a
field of weeds (with the
exception of one small
hangar used by Zaxby’s).
Yet another example of his
poor decisions. Why stick
the taxpayers with the bill
for his foolish choices?
Our county is growing.
We need someone who
makes wise decisions.
Someone new, not the
same old tired politican
that takes wild gambles
with our hard-earned
money. We deserve better,
our children deserve better.
The best way to stop
“Bill” from wasting our
money is not to elect him
again. Dwight Acey has
shown better judgement.
Please vote for Dwight
Acey on Nov. 8
Sincerely.
Johnnie Ellington
Winder
Money a motivating
factor for Trump
Dear Editor:
I think that I have real
ized what Trump is doing.
He is not a dumb person,
but money is his God.
He can make more
money if he is not presi
dent.
The bigger the uproar
the more money he makes.
I predict he will publish
a book soon after the elec
tion and he will make a lot
of money while laughing
at us.
Sincerely,
Jim Freeman
Winder
Random Rants in Rhyme
Trump may seem crude
“Trump may seem excessively crude.
He may at times be excessively rude,
but America got into this mess
by practicing excessive political correctness.
There are times when a spade must be called a spade -
and the rot and ruin be exposed unafraid.
America’s government is terminally sick,
and cannot be cured by petty politics.
If you had a cancer that was invasive and aggressive,
would you want a doctor that was perfectly passive?
No! You would want one who’d attack every problem
and aggressively find a way to solve them.
In the “Belgian bulge” of World War II,
crude General Patton knew what to do.
He took action that was “unheard of and drastic,”
but he got results that were truly fantastic.
Political correctness has led America to the place
where she stands in abject disarray and disgrace.
Our enemies are encouraged and our friends pushed aside,
and the people of this land are far from unified.
Our country needs a leader who will stand tall and strong,
who loves our Constitution and believes in right over wrong.
We need a leader who is not too quick to “mediate.”
Excessive “mediation” stopped us from being great.
Sometimes, some feelings must be hurt for things to move ahead.
It’s better that some feelings be hurt than for America to be dead.
A soldier on the battlefield will be much more resourceful
with a commanding officer who is rather, tough and forceful.
With his courage of convictions, Trump might turn this thing around.
If we continue our direction, America will run aground.
If partisan politics and “backroom deals”
continue the way they are today, America’s doom is sealed.
Americans should kneel and pray, asking God to send revival.
Unless we turn a different way, there’s no hope for our survival.”
© 2016, cbs
skelton
These are not the best of times when
it comes to politics.
Nobody seems to be happy with
either candidate with an eye
on the Presidency.
The castigation factor has
never been more intense than
it seems to have been in this
year’s presidential campaign,
but if you reflect back, you
likely agree, we have elected
some rather unsavory charac
ters since ole George retired
to his farm at Mt. Vernon
where his most productive
cash crop came from distilling
rye whiskey.
There is a book with all the inau
guration speeches which reflects that
historically the persons elected to hold
residency in the White House, make
beautiful speeches.
Especially at the outset. Some
times there is head turning verbiage
sounding forth. They touch on the
most basic things that are important to
Americans.
They provide insight into what they
want for our country, espousing the
most uplifting preachments.
Then they get elected and that uni
fying speech on a blustery Washing
ton January day will be given high
marks, but more often than not, when
retirement comes about and they pack
up to move out of the White House,
they depart without glowing approval
ratings.
Some of that is that the electorate is
as fickle as Monday morning quarter
backs. Some of it is that it is just plain
hard to run this country to the absolute
approval of a majority of Americans.
Scandal seems to be a White House
plague for countless administrations.
Potomac Fever seems to trip up so
many. No President is immune to
controversy or shenanigan.
Affairs, even in the White House,
have gotten traction countless times.
Andrew Jackson was the Great
Adulterer, having married a woman
who was not legally divorced.
Who said so? The Republicans,
that’s who.
Each party seized on any opportuni
ty to bash the party in power. Nothing
has changed.
Another President is supposed to
have fathered an illegitimate daugh
ter. It wasn’t scandalous, but when
Republican William Howard Taft (332
pounds) got stuck in a bathtub, the
Democrats had fun throughout Taft’s
presidency.
Nixon’s staff was so clumsy, becom
ing preoccupied with cover-up phobia
that he had to resign from office.
Bill Clinton was impeached but kept
on serving. History reminds us that
the Teapot Dome scandal of Warren
Harding’s administration involved a
cabinet member who traded influence
for personal profit and cattle.
“Just throw in a few head of
cattle to-boot.”
Everybody seemed to like
Ike who liked golf and played
a few rounds with Arnold
Palmer.
About the only one to leave
Washington unscathed was
Harry Truman, who served one
full term and a partial term
after Franklin D. Roosevelt
died in office in 1945.
Truman was the last Presi
dent to campaign by train, a whistle
stop routine which must have worked
since he upset the favorite, Tom
Dewey, of New York when the latter
was the overwhelming favorite.
In those days, there were not an
abundance of polls which measured
the intent and mood of the populace as
there is today.
The Chicago Tribune printed its
morning edition the day after the elec
tion with a front page headline which
screamed, “Dewey Wins.”
Truman was photographed holding
up the Chicago paper and displaying a
wide grin that told the real story.
An apocryphal vignette about the
election would become popular.
On the eve of the election, Dewey
is said to have been sitting in the
parlor with his wife and remarked,
“Tomorrow night, my dear, you will be
sleeping with the next President of the
United States.”
The morning after the election, the
story goes, Mrs. Dewey said to her
husband: “Let me get this straight,
am I going to Washington or is Harry
Truman coming here.”
Somehow or other, mud-slinging
seems to be the choice of all major
political candidates.
Will we ever see an election when
there will be more civility, a candidate
raving about good things and taking
the high road?
Castigating opponents goes way
back. In 1892 Grover Cleveland ran
for President and was elected, even
though there was a widespread rumor
which claimed he was the father of an
illegitimate daughter.
The opposition came up with this
doggerel, but it didn’t keep Cleveland
from serving in the White House:
“Ma. Ma where’s my Pa?”
“Gone to the White House, ha, ha
ha.”
Loran Smith is a columnist for the
Barrow> News-Journal. He is co-host
of the University of Georgia football
radio pre-game show.
loran
smith
Buffington continued from 4A
to take over. Clinton will
not have defeated the GOP,
the GOP will have beaten
itself.
The real question, how
ever, is: Will Trumpism’s
populist nationalism sur
vive if Trump loses?
There are two schools of
thought about that. Some
observers believe that the
angry mob of white vot
ers who make up Trump’s
most vocal core support
will continue to seethe and
will be a force in future
GOP contests.
This view believes that
the economic dislocation
of some of these voters
will drive them forward no
matter what the election’s
outcome.
The issue for GOP lead
ers in that case would be to
decide if the party should
embrace that faction in
spite of its extremist right
views, or should the party
reject such extremism?
The other view is that
Trumpism is a one-off
movement that won’t sur
vive if Trump loses.
This view holds that
while some of Trump’s
core supporters may be
angry because of eco
nomic changes, many are
angry because of Trump’s
own extreme rhetoric
stirred that passion.
This view holds that with
out Tmmp on the national
stage egging on his dark,
conspiracy-laden vision
of America, many of his
angriest supporters will
calm down and become
less of a force within the
GOP. Trumpism in this
view is little more than a
cult of personality that will
deflate when the personal
ity is gone.
But no matter how it
plays out, it’s difficult to
see how the GOP comes
out of this election without
a major revolt within its
ranks.
Even if Trump loses
next week and even if
Tmmpism fades as he exits
the stage, Trump may have
damaged the GOP in ways
that cannot be repaired.
Tmmpism has perhaps for
ever framed the GOP as
the party of older, angry
white voters.
And here’s the reality:
The nation’s demograph
ics are changing. We are
much more diverse than
we were just a few years
ago. In 2000, 78 percent
of voters were white. This
year, only 69 percent are.
By 2055, whites will make
up less than 50 percent of
the nation’s overall popu
lation.
In addition, younger vot
ers of all demographics
aren’t as conservative as
their parents and thus less
likely to vote with the GOP
as they reach their 20s and
30s. And Christian evan
gelicals, an important part
of the GOP in the past, are
declining in the U.S.
There are really no good
demographic trends for
the GOP’s future. That
would be tme no matter
what happened this year,
but Tmmpism with its base
of angry white voters, may
hasten the party’s decline
as it has become a wedge
within the party itself.
For the GOP to survive
as a viable political force,
it will have to expand its
base. It needs Hispanic
and Asian voters. It needs
younger voters. It needs
educated white voters.
All of those groups have
been turned off by the
rise of Tmmpism and will
be even further alienated
if Tmmp is elected next
week and pursues his
nationalistic agenda.
So here’s the ironic real
ity of this issue: It would
probably be better for the
GOP’s long-term future
for Tmmp to be defeated
next week by a landslide,
thus hopefully ending
Tmmpism as a movement.
If Tmmp wins, the GOP
may occupy the White
House for four years, but
with Trump as president,
the Republican Party
might be forever tainted
with a stench of white
nationalism that makes it
impossible for the GOP to
ever bring young voters,
Hispanics and Asians into
its fold.
And without those
groups, the GOP will die a
demographic death in the
coming years.
Mike Buffington is
co-publisher of Mainstreet
Newspapers, Inc. He can
be reached at mike@main-
streetnews.com.