About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2022)
PAGE 7 A Send a letter to the editor to P.O. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534; fax (706) 265-3276; or email to editor@dawsonnews.com. DawsonOpinion WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2022 This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and others. Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writers and artists, and they may not reflect our views. What will RITOO Republicans do in general election? Okay, RITOOs (Republicans in Tramp’s Orbit Only), what’s next? Planning on sitting out November’s general election in a funk so that Democrats can elect Stacey Abrams governor and give Georgia four or perhaps eight years of left-leaning policies? If so, you will deserve every bill passed, every act ratified, every liberal gubernatorial appointment made to every department, board and agency in our state. And trust me, that is a lot. Please feel free to yell RINO (Republican in Name Only) at any point in this treatise. In the meantime, let me share a few observations with you. First, all of Donald Tramp’s candidates, save two, were waxed and left for roadkill in the Republican primary. Tramp’s two main targets, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger easily won without a runoff. Kemp beat former Sen. David Perdue by more than 50 points (!) while Raffensperger defeated Cong. Jody Hice with a nearly 20-point lead. Down ticket, Tramp-endorsed candidates for insurance commissioner and attorney general were soundly defeated. His two wins were State Sen. Burt Jones, who beat Gainesville Sen. Butch Miller to get the Republican nomination for lieu tenant governor and Herschel Walker, who easily won the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Admittedly, the Republican winners were bol stered by 37,000-plus Democrats who voted in the open primary. That may have helped Raffensperger avoid a runoff but Brian Kemp kicked tail without them. So, what happened? Several things. Let’s start with the 2020 presidential election. News flash: It is over. Done. Finished. Most people are tired of hearing about it. It is time to move on. Why are Republicans so terrified of Donald Tramp? If he was so all-fired popular with American voters the election would never have been close enough to question the outcome. Ronald Reagan, my all-time favorite president (along with Harry Truman) won reelection in 1984 running against a Joe Biden-lookalike named Walter Mondale with almost 60 percent of the vote (58.8%, to be precise.) He carried 49 states (Mondale barely won his home state of Minnesota and also carried D.C.) and 525 of 538 electoral votes. Why? He made us feel good about ourselves as Americans. He didn’t insult people. He didn’t polarize people. I don’t ever remember hearing the term RINO in the Reagan era. And he was effective. Regan and liberal Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill would engage in serious hand-to-hand political combat all day (Reagan usually won) and in the evening they would get together and share an adult beverage. Those were the days. If my mail is any indication, a lot of long-time conservative Republicans don’t like Donald Tramp as a person. They approved of his conser vative agenda but not his bullying, his constant insults (his petulant comments about the death of Gen. Colin Powell were totally unnecessary and off-putting) and his hyperbole. Another interesting theory was advanced to me by a leader among Georgia Republicans back when Tramp was doling out campaign contribu tions to Kamala Harris’s campaign for attorney general of California. He says Tramp’s mistake was telling Georgians how to vote. A history lesson: In 1938, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt was frustrated at the U.S. Supreme Court for declaring many of his New Deal pro grams unconstitutional. He proposed packing the court with additional justices. Georgia’s senior Sen. Walter George opposed the idea, so Roosevelt recruited U.S. district attorney Lawrence Camp to ran against George. (Sound familiar?) Despite FDR’s power and influence, Walter George was handily reelected to a third term. The moral? Don’t tell Georgians how to vote. Not then. Not now. Instead of obsessing over a failed election, Republicans need to focus on 2024. With infla tion at a 40-year high and showing no signs of abating, illegal immigrants pouring across our borders (including, I suspect, some terrorists dressed for the part), big government advocates pushing big government programs using our tax dollars and a president who looks at times like he’s not sure where he is, this could be the GOP’s finest hour. But they need to look ahead, not behind. Make friends, not enemies. Broaden the party’s appeal. In Georgia, hopefully RITOOs will get behind Gov. Brian Kemp and support his reelection cam paign and quit fretting about what Donald Tramp says or does. Then again, they may choose to sit back and watch Stacey Abrams take over the gov ernor’s office in November and get their precious revenge and her liberal-leaning policies. Frankly, I’m not sure what they want. I’m not sure they know, either. You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dick- yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb. DICKYARBROUGH Columnist VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIME X-RR y Spreading like a cancer The unbreakable likeness of melamine It was well over 10 years ago when I wrote in a column about how my husband broke so much stuff. My then-editor. Kristen, looked at me across the newsroom and asked, “Did he really break this?” I nodded. A few minutes later, she asked another question. “And that?” I nodded again. Moments later, she wanted to know if I had anything left. “Some Dixie cups,” I responded. It was not a lie or even an exaggeration. And he has broken even more since. So much more. As much as I hate using paper plates, I have been resigned to doing so because all my regular, everyday dish es have been broken, thanks to my husband. You know how people say to use the good china because every day is a special occa sion? Here, we don’t do that. In fact. I didn’t register for china when we married. My friend, Courtney, did get me a gorgeous tea pitcher set I had been eyeing for a while as a wedding gift. She should have known better. I was saddened when the last glass broke and I’ve never heard the real truth about the pitcher. Feeling guilty about using paper plates, I decided I had to find a more durable option. I thought, briefly, about those tin camping dishes. You know, the blue speckled ones that you eat out of around the campfire that are heat and break proof. Not that I ever go camping, but I’ve seen them. They’re metal but lightweight. Those may actually work, and may seem appropriate for our cabin, since I feel like we’re glamping most of the time, “I don’t break everything, you know,” Lamar replied defensively one day, after I questioned where something was. His immediate defense made me question if he had indeed broken what it was I was looking for. As I was grocery shopping one day, I came across some dishes that were quite cute. I liked the blue and white colors. I’ve had the fall col ored sets, the ones that are earth toned, the solid white. so these were a welcomed change. I picked them up. They were made from melamine. I had dismissed this materi al, as the dishes I was used to seeing made out of it were just kind of plain and ho-hum. But these were cute. I got small plates, dinner plates, and bowls that can’t decide if they are plates or bowls. I like them because food doesn’t slide off them. “Cute plates,” the cashier said as she checked me out. “I thought they were,” I replied. The bagger even checked them out as he wrapped them before putting them in the bag. “They are made out of melamine, so they should last a long time.” “Let’s hope,” I said. I brought them home and Lamar examined them. “Unbreakable?” he asked. “Supposedly,” I said. “Of course, they haven’t been put through the Lamar test yet.” So far, none have broken. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been other things that have. One of my cute little aqua colored bowls that were just the right size for a snack. His “I like big mutts and I cannot lie” cup, to which he said, “See -1 break my stuff, too.” Followed by my Wonder Woman cup. The Coffee Then Conquer cup I bought to replace it as my morning coffee broke a week later, but that wasn’t his fault. The handle just broke off and not in a way where it was re-gluable. So much for caffeinated motivation. As I was shopping recently for a new pan, I decided to take a peek at the dishes. Some cute little green and yellow bowls caught my eye and I was thinking ice cream sundaes would look adorable in them. They felt like they were some sort of plastic so I felt like they’d be a safe choice. “More bowls?” Lamar asked. “What kind of plastic are they made of?” I shrugged. “Hopefully something Lamar-proof.” Come to find out, they’re made of bamboo. A durable, versatile materi al that is unbreakable. I plan on getting everything made out of it. Sudie Crouch is an award winning columnist and author. SUDIE CROUCH Columnist LETTERTOTHE EDITOR New laws needed to protect against crime We need new laws to protect our selves against the rise of theft. If we are going to restrain thieves, we need some other means than after-the-fact policing to maintain society. I propose new state and federal laws appropriately drafted which contain the following idea. “It shall be legal by a property owner or any agent of the owner to use any form of force to pre-vent theft by those in the act of stealing proper ty.” Simply put, if someone in the act of stealing your stuff, you can stop them using force, even if the act of theft is not a direct immediate threat to you. A sort of a “stand by your stuff law.” I can hear the outrage now over this. Some will say that it will be an excuse to hurt those we find merely objec tionable. Or some will say this an excuse to bash those who merely steal a loaf of bread to feed their family. Well, we have tried the notion that theft should not be prosecuted based on the value of the property stolen. That notion has not stopped a wave of theft. Abuse might happen that is true, but which is worse, potential abuse or sinking into total lawlessness where professional thieves rain and bankrupt innocents. Some state should at least test drive it and see what happens. My guess is that stealing, and plun dering, and looting, will stop in that place. Gary Pichon Marble Hill Trickle-down theory does not work Our economy is in a state of flux. But as I pointed out a few weeks ago, things will get rough, but we will get through this. The Biden administra tion and the Federal Reserve are tak ing action. But as most economists know, you must take it slowly or steps to stop inflation could cause a reces sion. Part of the problem is “trickle-down economic theory” which was designed under Ronald Reagan in 1981 by David Stockton who has since, very vocally, said it does not work!! The theory states that if we funnel more money to the wealthy their wealth will trickle down to low- income people. But the top 1% has gotten wealthier while the bottom 20% has gotten poorer. One way to get wealthy people more money is to cut their taxes. Rep. Wade and Sen. Gooch, our state legislators, talked about the tax bill passed this winter as if it will help all Georgians. An analysis of House Bill 1437, which will shift Georgia from its graduated income tax to a flat tax of 5.49 percent, shows that the bill is estimated to cause over $2 billion in annual revenue losses. Most tax sav ings would be directed to Georgia’s top earners, with 22 percent of all tax cuts going to the top 1 percent and 84 percent of the $2 billion in net tax cuts to the top 40 percent (over $62,000). 60 percent of Georgia tax filers, those with the lowest incomes, would see just 16 percent of the legislation’s total tax savings, In addition, the $500 rebate coming to some Georgians this summer and fall is coming because of the American Rescue Plan which sent $8.4 Billion in Federal money to Georgia. This stimulus was supposed to help low-income people. The essen tial workers—grocery store clerks, restaurant workers, farm workers, truck drivers and warehouse work ers—were the ones hurt most by the pandemic through low pay and lost wages. Many of them did not make enough money during the pandemic to pay income taxes. That means that they ARE NOT getting the $500 rebate. And so under trickle-down conser vative theory, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Bette Holland Dawsonville Letter policy Letters should be limited to 350 words and may be edited or condensed.The same writer or group may only submit one let ter per month for consideration. Letters must be submitted by noon Wednesday for weekend publication. We do not publish poetry or blanket letters and generally do not publish letters concerning consumer complaints. Unsigned or incorrectly identified letters will be withheld. Mail letters to the Dawson County News, P.O. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534, hand deliver to 30 Shoal Creek Road or email to editor@dawson- news.com
