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Page 17 NOVEMBER 7, 2010
Commentary
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“Not just what happened, but what matters”
Susan m. horn
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Sam gentry Susan l. j. duncan
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I look forward to continued
progress in Carroll County
Sue
HOORN
EDITOR/
PUBLISHER
Carroll County voters returned District 4
Commissioner John Wilson to the seat with
a resounding 68.75% win. With that, I' look
forward to the continued progress in our
county government. Wilson has been and, I
expect, will continue to be a conservative
vote with a common sense voice. Congratulations, Mr. Wilson, and I thank
you for the time you spend away from your family for us citizens.
Wilson’s opponent, Jim Watters, was a long shot, if not simply because he
was a write-in candidate. The other long shot was because Wilson was
already putting into action what Watters said he would do if elected. There
was no need for any ‘changing to conservatism’ in that seat - it is already
strongly represented.
What I’ve learned so far about Watters leans toward him possibly being a
candidate to consider in the future. He espouses a platform that is clearly
conersvative, he has the interest in serving, and, I believe, politics excites
him. He currently lives in the District 4 area, quite close to the District 5 line.
In January, the Georgia Legislature will redraw the voting maps (based on
the 2010 Census results). No one knows what changes may come out of it
except that there will be some boundary changes.
With that in mind, I asked Watters if he would run again for a district seat
or if there were other positions he was interested in? His response was, “My
interest is and has always been in giving back to this community through
involvement in public service and encouraging others to do the same... I’m
a public servant, so if I can help out locally I will.”
I also asked him if he thought the Tea Party - whether on a national level
or local level - is the party he would stay with or identified most strongly
with? He answered “First, the tea party isn’t a political party. It is simply a
name identified with the resurgence of conservatism in America, resulting
from decades of growth in progressive idealism. I am a conservative, and the
Republican party is the party today for conservatives. So I will continue to
work with the Republican party to promote the conservative / tea party
values of limited government, free markets and lower taxes.”
Those are the right words. I will be keeping my eye on Jim Watters.
CHAPPELL from upper right
The “Tea Party” mantra more con
cerned national issues, not issues of
governing locally. The “Tea Party”
obviously didn’t understand that,
and, if they had, they should have
been putting their candidates and
resources into national offices, such
as congressmen and senators. From
my point of view, the local “Tea
Party” did a lot of damage to itself
by overlooking and misdirecting
their actions and energies.
The handover of the local organ
ized Republican Party to Tea Partiers
certainly hurt the party and the indi
viduals who were responsible for
that action. I have discussed this with
a number of conservative leaders, in
and out of government, and found
that most are in agreement on that
point.
True conservatives exist in the
Republican, Libertarian, Democrat
parties, and Independents, although
the Democrat variety seems to be
becoming an endangered species
versus the old days when Southern
Democrats were in power and were
extremely conservative.
The Carroll County Board of
Commissioners has been conserva
tive fiscally since I’ve been chairman
and since the sitting district commis
sioners came on board. But we have
gotten a lot of things done and have a
lot underway, including development
of land bought for passive parks, a
new Judicial Center being built, a
new Public Works Vehicle
Maintenance Facility, acquired good
heavy equipment for the Road
Department which has worked very
hard and effectively since a change
of leadership, a much improved fire
department, as well as many other
things.
Provide services/contain expenses: what it’s all about
Congratulations to the winners
of all the political races that just
concluded. Thanks to all the
unsuccessful candidates for giving
voters choices; competition
improves peoples’ performances
and sharpens their wits.
Particular congratulations to
District Commissioner John
Wilson for winning another term
on the board of commissioners.
John has been an excellent district
commissioner who has done an
admirable job looking after the
interests of his constituents and
looking out for the benefit of all
Carroll County citizens. I look
forward to continuing to' work
with John in the future.
At local levels of government,
these jobs and races are not about
party affiliation, although we run
in one party or the other. Our jobs
Bn,i,
CHAPTER
CARROLL COUNTY
COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
are about providing services while
containing expenses. There is
nothing party related to being a
good commissioner or a gopd
council member. It makes no dif
ference to me what party a citizen
supports, as my job is to work for
all citizens of the county.
On the board of commissioners,
six out of seven ran and won
under the Republican label. One
(our longest serving member,
Trent North) has run and won as a
Democrat. Trent, too, has been an
excellent commissioner, and, I
feel sure, will tell you the same
thing, that party affiliation is irrele
vant to the accomplishment of our
jobs of providing services while
being cost conscious and cost
effective.
I write this because I found it
very disturbing that certain “lea
ders” in the organized local
Republican Party chose to ignore
the incumbency of a conservative
commissioner who has been a fine
commissioner and who had run
and won as a Republican (Wilson)
in order to support a candidate of
the local “Tea Party”. The “Tea
Party” candidate had no experi
ence in government, most particu
larly in local government. His
knowledge and experience on
local issues and local problems
was very low.
* See CHAPPELL lower left
Consumer pain in the financial
For almost three years now the
press has been full of descriptions
of a “great recession,” “financial
meltdown” and “economic disas
ter.” The reports of banks closing,
pictures of long lines of unem
ployed and tragedy of people los
ing their homes through foreclo
sure persuade many that this
country is in dire straits, suffering
now and in danger of future
bankruptcy.
The danger of bankruptcy has
likely been postponed, not
removed, but all signs indicate
that the worst part of this long epi
sode, so far, is the publicity. What
has changed in this country to jus
tify such descriptions of economic
mess?
One would expect such news
Harold
brown
GEORGIA PUBLIC POLICY
FOUNDATION
reports to be accompanied by
widespread destitution, despera
tion and even hunger. News
reports say things like, “Consumer
confidence is tumbling.” At the
end of 2009, according to one
account, “Consumers are still shell
shocked from the massive losses
incurred during the recession.”
Housing prices certainly took a
tumble, and both automobile and
financial companies suffered mas
sive losses and justified (in gov
ernment circles) taxpayer bailouts.
Pension funds and private inves-
meltdown?
tors saw their portfolios decrease
by half or more in value. Some
people who lost jobs certainly suf
fered and still do, but financial
despair is not widespread enough
to be very obvious in the streets
and stores.
Government reports don’t
reflect the dire straits cited in the
news. According to figures from
the U S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis, alcohol sales (for off-
premises consumption) in 2009
were at a record high, as were
food purchases. Americans con
sumed the equivalent of 28 gallons
per person of bottled water last
year. Sporting equipment pur
chases in 2009 were off just one-
half of one percent from 2008.
See BROWN page 19
Blue Gold Part 4: Battle to the death for water
“Hold a glass of pure water to
the eye of the sun!
This is the nearest analogy to
the essence of human life.”
* Hugh MacDiarmid (1962)
Water. Life. All life, human,
animal and vegetable, is not pos
sible without potable water.
Unlike some of the rhetoric cur
rently bandied about and pre
sented as facts in this, the political
“silly season”, that is an undeni
able fact and not debatable; life is
not possible without potable
water. It is emblematic of the
sorry state of our 21st century
political discourse that I feel it
necessary to say that a fact is an
“undeniable fact” when the mean
ing of the word “fact”, of course,
is that the statement in question
has been proven beyond doubt or
debate and therefore, “undeniable
fact” is redundant. There is no
other kind of fact.
In parts 1,2, and 3 of this series
I have discussed the issue of pota
ble water shortages in Asia, India,
the Middle East and the combina
Stuart
'
tion of the effects of drought and
the melting glaciers of the
Himalayas in Tibet and the polar
ice caps. Now it is time to address
the issue of potable water as it
affects us here in the United
States. It is a bit different here
since the only glacier we have is
in Palinland, except of course the
imaginary one in Oklahoma
whose Senator has not only
assured us that it is not melting,
but who, as recently as January
4th, 2005, said on the floor of the
U.S. Senate that global warming
is the “greatest hoax ever perpe
trated on the American people.”
Here in the actual United States,
however, where, unlike
Oklahoma, every other street
doesn’t have a pumping oil well,
the overriding problems are
focused on the combination of
drought and a burgeoning popula
tion. Allow me to remind you
again that we have no more or less
water than we had a million years
ago. What we do have is a whole
lot more people who must have it.
When we speak of Nevada our
minds naturally turn to Las Vegas
where the demand for electricity is
enormous and growing. Those of
you who have been to Las Vegas
to drop off your money, know first
hand the 24- hour a day neon lignt
show that made this desert city the
Mecca it has become. It costs a
fortune to keep the city lit. (There
is a juicy pun there, but I’ll let it
go.) So a company came along
and announced plans to build two
large solar farms. These farms
would harness the sun to generate
large amounts of electricity and
double the benefit by creating hun
dreds of jobs. All true. However, it
was soon discovered that the
power plants would use 1.3
See YAIIMpage 33
