Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4A
February 4, 2009
^Reporter
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
OUR VIEW
Thou shalt not steal
A man who puts on a ski mask, picks up a shotgun
and kicks in the door of a private home to rob it
ought to know such actions could cost him his
life. And we’re glad Marvin Bowdoin was there
an Tuesday night to remind him.
The thief had barely begun his work when Mr. Bowdoin
fired two .22 bullets within inches of the intruder's racing
heart. The criminal quickly found the exit and scampered
back into the darkness.
Sadly, the home invasion reminds us how our culture has
lost its respect for life and private property. And it’s not only
a problem for individuals. The problem extends to our gov
ernment. Uncle Sam is confiscating an increasing amount of
private wealth from its citizens, also under the threat of force
(jail, IRS probe, etc.). It's been estimated that many
American families now pay about half their income in taxes.
This is not the way it’s supposed to be.
How do we regain the respect for life and private property,
the principles that made our country great, in our culture?
We can go back to our founding documents, which spell out
this value. The Declaration of Independence proclaims that
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are God-given rights
that should not be taken away from citizens. By extension,
this establishes that a family's wealth belongs to its mem
bers, not to the state or to a thug.
Or we can go back even further, to the foundation of our
foundation, the Bible. There’s where we find: "Thou shall not
steal.” That’s where we learn that each human being is made
in the image and likeness of God, and therefore possesses an
inherent dignity no ruler or criminal can rightfully trespass.
But until we restore that sense of the sacredness of human
life, we had better all imitate Mr. Bowdoin, and exercise our
Second Amendment right to protect ourselves from those
who don’t understand our founding principles.
KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR
Name: Hollis Johnson
Age: 25
Education:
Graduated from
Mary Persons in
2002. Graduated
from Gordon
College in 2006
with an Associate
degree in science
and graduated
from UGA in 2008
with a B.A. in
Psychology
Family:
Doug and Karen Johnson
(parents), Aubrey Johnson
(“new” niece), Jacob
Johnson (brother), Kellis
Boland (twin sister), Sean
Boland (brother-in-law)
and sister-in-law Stephanie
Your Job: Back-up head
teller at Piedmont
Community Bank
Your passion: Healthy
living
Favorite movie: “Steel
Magnolias”
Your hometown:
Forsyth
Something you are
considering doing:
Getting my Master’s degree
Words you live by:
Everything in moderation!
Something you can’t
live without: Coffee
The thing
you are most
proud of:
Graduating from
college, speaking
my mind, my wit
and most impor
tantly my beau
tiful niece!
If your life
had a theme
song, what
would it be?
“Baby got
back” by Sir Mix-a-lot
If you could start your
life over, what would
you change? Nothing-
Everything that I have
accomplished and experi
enced has made me who I
am today!
What food could you
eat every day? Sweets-I
don’t discriminate
What’s the best thing
about living in Monroe
County? Familiarity and
consistency
If you could change
one thing about Monroe
County, what would it
be? More variety in restau
rants. Please, no more auto
part stores!
HOLLIS JOHNSON
is published every week by The Monroe County Reporter Inc.
Will Davis, president
Robert M. Williams Jr., vice president
Cheryl S. Williams, secret ary-treasurer
OUR STAFF
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Publication No. USPS 997-840)
On the Porch
New Deal was a Raw Deal
M y grandpar
ents survived
the Great
Depression
but they have
never forgotten it. My
grandfather, now
88 and in an assist
ed living home,
enjoyed a success
ful career as a
school administra
tor that started
here at Mary
Persons. But my
grandmother
has still lived
as if the next
Depression
was right
around the comer. She con
verted their enclosed garage
into what was called "Ruth's
Room," a wall-to-wall reposi
tory of everything you could
ever need - and many
things you didn't. We joke
about family members
who've gone into Ruth's
Room and never came back
out, having been submerged
by stacks of mason jars, old
newspapers and knicknacks
piled to the ceiling. It's
understandable though. She
was raised on a Honea Path,
S.C. farm - one of eight kids
— in the throes of the
Depression. Seeing the per
ils of want, she apparently
decided never to throw any
thing away. She might need
it one day.
We can learn a lot from
our grandparents. Because
of the Depression, they were
more thrifty, and much more
careful to avoid debt than
our current credit card gen
eration. While our forebears
can teach us some things
about surviving an economic
downturn, our national
leadership during those
times can teach us what
NOT to do.
Contrary to what many of
us were taught in school,
most economists now agree
that the New Deal ushered
in by President Franklin
Roosevelt did noth
ing to lift us out of
the Depression. In
fact, the New Deal
worsened it.
Unfortunately, our
new president seems
oblivious to the facts,
and seems
hell-bent on
repeating
those mis
takes.
Mistakes? I know, it
sounds like heresy. But con
sider:
Economist Amity Shlaes,
author of "A Forgotten Man:
A New History of the Great
Depression," tells the story
of a 13-year-old boy named
William Troeller who
hanged himself in his
Brooklyn apartment during
the Depression. His father
was laid up in Kings County
Hospital awaiting surgery
for an injury he suffered on
the job. His older brother
had temporary work
through a federal jobs pro
gram, but it wasn't enough
income to live on. The power
and heat in their apartment
had been cut off six months
earlier. The older brother
told the New York Times
that young William was too
proud to beg for food. That
he killed himself isn't that
surprising. It wasn't uncom
mon during the period after
the crash of 1929.
What's surprising, writes
Shlaes, is that it didn't hap
pen during President
Herbert Hoover's adminis
tration in 1930, but in
Roosevelt's second term in
1937. The New Deal was
already five years old and
yet unemployment still hov
ered near 20 percent.
Heralded as the savior from
the Depression, Roosevelt's
policy of doubling the size of
the federal budget in his
first two terms only wors
ened the problem.
And it's not just conserva
tive critics saying this. It's
Roosevelt's own treasury
secretary, Henry
Morengtheau. "We are
spending more than we
have ever spent before and
it does not work,"
Morengtheau told powerful
members of Congress in the
1930s. "After eight years of
this administation we have
just as much unemployment
as when we started...and an
enormous debt to boot."
And today, Congress,
under President Obama's
leadership, is poised to sad
dle our kids and grandkids
with $900 billion in deficit
spending that, like the New
Deal, will do nothing to spur
economic growth. Our
Congressman, Jim
Marshall, says he voted for
the bill because Congress
would be stipud to “do noth
ing.” But doing nothing
would have shortened the
Great Depression.
Government spending never
stimulates real growth
because it can only spend
what it borrows or taxes out
of the economy. Deep down,
Democrats must know this.
Otherwise, they wouldn't
care that no Republicans
and 11 Democrats in the
House voted against their
outrageous plan. If it would
work so well, why would
they care that conservatives
and moderates oppose it?
But instead, they're upset
and tom: They don't want to
be the sole authors of the
disaster they are imposing
on the country. But they do
enjoy the power that spend
ing our money gives them.
Obama and the Democrats
have been virulent in their
condemnation of President
Bush. And on one point, I'd
agree with them. Through
the bloated Farm Bill, the
pork-barrel energy bill, the
Medicare prescription drug
bill and the expensive No
Child Left Behind law, Bush
was a miserable steward of
the federal budget. As
always, the enormous
increases in spending have
crowded out private sector
growth and added to the
burden on taxpayers.
Which leaves us with a
good question raised by
Boston Globe columnist Jeff
Jacoby: "If uninhibited
deficit spending is the key to
economc growth, then how
could the Bush administra
tion's galloping budget
increases and unbroken
string of deficits have left
the economy in a recession?"
Bush’s and Roosevelt’s
spending sprees were both
disasters for the economy.
But Roosevelt’s schemes
were a boon to the
Democratic Party. The new
spending apparatus helped
Democrats retain control of
Congress for most of the
20th century. And perhaps
that’s the real lesson Obama
takes from the Great
Depression. As his chief of
staff, Rahm Emanuel has
said, they don’t won’t to
“waste” an “opportunity” like
this - to empower them
selves for decades to come.
Heaven help the rest of us.
Email Will Davis at pub-
lisher@mymcr. net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Cow tax: Just a bunch of bull?
To the editor:
G ina Herring's
view on global
warming
(“Nature harmful
to environment,”
page 5A, Jan. 27 Reporter) is
a bit scary. I don't really
think she is intelligent
enough to wrap her pretty lit
tle head around the idea of
what is going on. For the
most part going green is only
expensive now because it
isn't in mass production,
because people refuse to look
at the scientific evidence of
it. Emissions have to be regu
lated because people are pol
luting it away. If you have
ever traveled to England you
could tell the difference.
Didyou know that it is mostly
particles in our air that caus
es lung cancer and not just
cigarette smoke. The bottom
line is that the last adminis
tration did a horrible job and
we have to fix all their munk
ups before we can get back on
track.
Please do some homework
like a real reporter instead of
being an idiot, Gina! I and
about 13 other families have
started a green community
and if you are having prob
lems understanding the
green business email me and
I will help you so you don't
look and sound like an idiot!
Troy Hencely
Forsyth
An EPA plan to tax cows for their flatulence is a lot
of hot air, reporter Gina Herring wrote last week.
But this letter writer says he’s starting a green com
munity and that Herring just doesn’t understand.
Shipman: Take time to say you care
To the editor:
ach year I attempt to
come up with a New
Year's resolution. This
year I would like to make
a challenge to our com
munity. Each day take a moment to
call, drop a card or any little some
thing to make someone else feel
good. I guess I am saying, "Give
flowers to those who live" and let
them receive God's blessings on this
side. Don't think for one minute that
a simple phone call, e-mail, card or
letter would not be most rewarding
for the recipient.
In closing, let me thank all of you
for the Citizen of the Year "flowers"
bestowed upon me recently. May
God guide and keep us all in his
precious name.
Thanks again.
Jo Shipman
Forsyth
Appreciate fire department’s response
To the editor:
would like to publicly thank
Mr. Walter Carter and the
Forsyth Fire Department for
the help they recently provided
for us when an outside fire
began to get out of hand. Water had
frozen in our hose and so we were
not able to use it to put out the fire.
Their response was quick and they
were extremely kind to us. We cer
tainly appreciate their help.
Geraldine Griffin
Brenda Kay Corley
Forsyth