Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
April 2. 2008
^Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
OUR VIEW
Point Blank: Cartoons best understood via last week’s Reporter
Grand finale, or great
escape, for lawmakers
B y the end of the week, Georgia lawmakers
will pack up their suits, ties and, for some,
their sizeable egos, so they can head home
to face the voters. At presstime, we still
don’t know whether their 40-day at the
state capitol was well-spent.
There are encouraging signs. For one, the house and
senate have both overwhelmingly approved meaning
ful tax cuts for Georgians. Returning money to the
hard-working families of this state is a more positive,
powerful step than any social program or welfare
hand-out that lawmakers can concoct. This is good
government, and a positive step toward solidifying
Georgia’s reputation as a pro-growth, freedom-loving
state.
Now lawmakers must decide which tax cut they can
agree upon. The house dismantled the car tag tax. The
senate voted to cut the state income tax by about 10
percent. Both have merits. Most economists have said
the senate’s version, the income tax cut, makes better
sense for its wider economic impact. Plus, we should
remember that Georgia competes for retirees and busi
nesses with two neighboring states, Tennessee and
Florida, which have zero income tax. Lowering the
income tax, which currently tops out at 6 percent,
could go a long way toward giving the economy a need
ed booster shot.
But then, most would agree the car tag tax deserves
to go the way of the Edsel. What kind of benevolent
government imposes a fat car tax on your birthday of
all days? Happy Birthday, now please cough up $69 at
your nearest county office.
We’d like to see legislators axe both taxes.
This most recent legislative session has also been
remarkable for its progressive efforts on education.
After years of pouring money into the education estab
lishment and offering generous annual teacher raises,
Georgians have decided lack of funds is no longer the
problem in public schools. It’s a systemic problem
incumbent with any monopoly — when there’s no com
petition, the people suffer. Witness the collapse of the
Clayton County school system. Those kids are trapped
in failing schools which have now lost their accredita
tion, rendering students’ diplomas meaningless.
So lawmakers have begun over the past two years to
open the system up to competition. Last year they let
special needs students have access to scholarships to
attend private schools. This year, students whose
school systems fail for seven years in a row (not too
high of a bar, huh?) can also have access to other
schools. Whether this key reform becomes law isn’t
clear. But lawmakers deserve credit for taking on the
educational establishment to open other avenues for
parents and children stuck in failing schools.
We are fortunate in Monroe County to have an excel
lent public school system. But most parents recognize
our system is the exception. It hurts all Georgians
when we refuse to open up our school systems to inno
vative ideas that put power where it belongs: with
parents and students to choose where to attend school.
That kind of systemic reform is the only way to ensure
schools compete to offer the best for kids.
On taxes and on school reform, the legislature is
making headway. Our only lament is that due to
power plays and ego trips, we’ve come down to closing
time and these important issues still aren’t resolved. If
somehow these vital reforms survive lawmakers’ final
bare-knuckled brawl, we will be reminded that even a
stopped watch is correct twice every day.
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
OUR STAFF
Will Davis
Publisher/E ditor
publisher@mymcr.net
Gina Herring -
Reporter
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Trellis Grant -
Business Manager
business@mymcr.net
Carolyn Martel -
Advertising
Manager
ads@mymcr.net
Wendell Ramage
Contributing Writer
wendellram4@
bellsouth.net
at 30 E. Johnston St., Forsyth, GA 31029
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Publication No. USPS 997-840)
POINT. BLANK
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Rep Ben Harbin (R) takes a page from John Kerry's (D} playbook...
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voted obtain it ft...
On the Porch
Freedom goes against the grain
i
I heard a story this
past weekend that’s
too funny not to pass
on. Many of you have
probably
heard of or met
Brian Owens, a new
Monroe Countian
who also happens to
be the assistant
commissioner for
the Department of
Corrections. A lot of
locals know
that Owens
has worked as
hard as any
one to make
sure the DOC moves to
town and that it does it
right. One thing you may
not know is that Brian
waited kind of late to have
children. He’s 51 and has
two bright middle school
age kids. Anyway, so a few
years ago, he brings his
then-elementary school age
kids to work and is intro
ducing them to his staff.
They get to the desk of
Travis Kennedy, then a rel
ative newcomer to the
DOC. So little Evan Owens
is learning to make conver
sation with big people and
asks Travis, “What do you
do here?” Travis thinks for
a minute and comes up
with what he thinks is a
jewel of a response:
“Whatever your granddad-
dy tells me to do.” I am
sure Travis worried about
his job security when his
co-workers informed him
the boy is Brian’s son. As it
turns out, Travis happens
to be the brother of another
Forsyth newcomer, Kelli
Finch, wife of MP principal
Jim Finch. And the Finches
are the Owens’ next door
neighbors. Small world, eh?
• • •
Here’s one from the file of
You Know You Live in
Georgia When: You know
you live in Georgia when
the top story on the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution Web
site is “Georgia lands defen
sive back,” about a 17-year-
old kid’s decision to go to
UGA (and, oh yeah, he’ll
play football when he’s not
studying) in 2010. Now I’m
as big a Bulldog fan as
there is, but this recruiting
coverage has gotten more
out of control than Brittany
Spears at happy hour. I
know it’s important news to
a lot of people, but I’ve got
news for them: if recruiting
blue chip athletes was so
important, Ray Goff would
still be Georgia’s football
coach.
But alas, we’re a football
state, what can we say?
It’s an election
year, and that
means politicians
will be disturbing
the peace and
flooding the media
with promises and
attacks soon. As a
political junkie, I
have to
remind
myself
often that
most people
r-x
nix*
pay scant attention to poli
tics. And sometimes others
remind me too. Like last
week at the Forsyth
Kiwanis Club meeting at
the Royal Palm. Each week,
Kiwanis vice president
Steve Anderson pitches a
trivia question to high
school Key Club students,
tantalizing the teens with a
gold coin for the right
answer (no small prize
these days!) Anyway, Steve
asked our two sweet, pretty
high schoolers (who shall
remain anonymous to pro
tect the guilty) last Tuesday
to name one of Georgia’s
two U.S. senators.
Obviously, the girls, stand
ing alone in front of a crowd
of the town’s graybeards,
were a little nervous. Let’s
give them that. So there’s a
pregnant, awkward silence.
I thought I would bail them
out by changing the ques
tion, “OK, name the vice
president.” Again came the
deer-in-the-headlights look,
and an embarrassed shrug.
“We took civics two years
ago,” they pled. Everyone
was relieved when they
were allowed to sit.
Perhaps their ignorance is
not all bad. William F.
Buckley used to say that
Switzerland was the best-
run country in the world,
and as proof of that, he
observed that no one in
Switzerland could tell you
who was their president. If
government properly limits
itself to the few things it
can do well, leaving the rest
to a free people to do for
themselves, then it’s fine if
no one knows who is in
charge of the government.
That’s healthy. Politics is a
distraction and unwelcome
intruder into ordinary life.
And despite the panic
attacks and conspiracy the
ories of the left wing media,
Dick Cheney probably has
had a limited impact on our
everyday lives.
Which gets me to my
point. As you prepare to
vote this year, it may be
helpful to know the main
differences between our two
parties. It boils down to
how much (or little) the
state impacts our everyday
lives. Here’s how I see the
differences: The liberal,
usually a Democrat, wants
the state to have more
power and money to “do
good.” They believe in using
the power of the state to
collect more tax money so
they can fund programs to
address every problem that
registers in the human
experience. After taking the
government’s cut of the
money, they send what’s left
to whomever they want:
usually subsidies for farm
ers (who are already
wealthy, it usually turns
out), subsidies to universi
ties to study global warm
ing, more food stamps for
the non-working poor and
more government-run
health care for people. This
used to be called socialism.
Liberals usually say they
care for the little man and
are just trying to help. But
their programs to redistrib
ute wealth have had tragic
results everywhere, most
notably here with the Great
Society and War on Poverty.
President Lyndon Johnson
started the Medicaid, food
stamp and other welfare
programs that have now
spent untold trillions to
“help the poor” since 1965.
Those who’ve studied the
results say rather than cur
ing poverty, they have
merely sapped people’s
sense of responsibility and
work ethic in exchange for
slavery to the next govern
ment check. And it’s nearly
destroyed the black family.
We’re told that 70 percent
of black babies are now
born out of wedlock. That
ought to break our hearts.
Is it possible the welfare
system has contributed to
that? And as more people
become dependent and bet
ter at exploiting the system,
the result is a cynicism
more corrosive than the
poverty it set out to cure.
On the other hand, there’s
the conservative view of the
state. It says that the free
market is the best way to
let people meet their own
needs, and that the state’s
role should be as a passive
observer to enforce the rule
of law. This belief says
allowing free people to pur
sue a profit by meeting
each other’s needs will
inevitably lead to competi
tion, thereby keeping prices
at their lowest and deliver
ing the best services to peo
ple. This is the belief that
freedom begets a creative,
enterprising society. This
philosophy says that it pays
for businesses to meet cus
tomers’ needs, whether for
healthcare, education or
food. It believes freedom
teaches responsibility, and
treats citizens as adults,
allowing them to enjoy the
fruits of wise decisions and
to endure the pain of poor
choices, believing both have
teaching value. Freedom
produces better character
in its citizens. This has
been the traditional
American view. Its aim is
not a perfect society, which
it believes impossible, but a
functioning society, which it
has historically done. But
it’s fighting an uphill battle.
The problem is that as we
have experimented with the
aforementioned socialist
model, an increasing num
ber of people have become
dependent on the govern
ment for a check, EBT card,
pension, whatever. This
means liberalism, or social
ism, has a built-in political
advantage. It has a natural
constituency that will
ALWAYS support politi
cians who promise to deliv
er more goodies from the
state trough, at the expense
of freedom and the taxpay
er.
Fortunately, Georgia
remains a relatively conser
vative, tree-market state.
Our own Georgia legisla
ture is actually debating
two tax-cut proposals: one
to cut the state income tax
by 10 percent over several
years and one to discard
the car tag tax. Either of
these would restore to
Georgia families money
that was rightfully theirs in
the first place.
But again, these efforts
are like fish spawning up
the stream. They are bat
tling currents that run
strongly in the direction of
more government power
and taxation and spending.
Without strong taxpayer
resistance, that’s the direc
tion politicians will
inevitably go. So how are
you gonna vote this year?
Email Will Davis at
publisher@mymcr.net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Like it or not, we need a new Wal-Mart
To the editor:
I support a new Wal-
Mart Super Center
coming to Forsyth. I
would have preferred a
different location as the
preservation of our historic
districts is important to me.
However if I have a choice
between no Wal-Mart at all
and one in the location they
seem determined to build, then so be
it - build it.
Economically it is too impor
tant to our community to let
it go elsewhere. I was not a
big fan of Wal-Mart coming
into small communities and
destroying the Mom & Pop
small businesses, which is
BASWELL w ^ at happened in Forsyth
when it first came here. Now
that it has been here for many years
it is virtually the only place to shop.
Like it or not we need the new store.
So please drop the lawsuits and let
progress move forward. No one
would want it in their front door but
do what is best for the community in
the end.
Barbara Baswell
Forsyth