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ON THE PORCH by Will Davis
Papa John’s in Forsyth
W Grk has resumed to clean up the rubble from the
old Regency Inn, located on Hwy. 83 across from
El Tejado. That means we may be about a year
away from having a Papa John’s, a Quick Trip
gas station, a Huddle House and a Zaxby’s, all
of which are planned for that property. Development authority
president Bo Gregory tells the Reporter that the developer has
confirmed that the Papa John’s will offer delivery to the area, in
part due to the number of Monroe County residents calling Papa
John’s stores in surrounding areas seeking delivery. Gregory said
work had stalled after the demolition because more wetlands were
discovered on the property but has now re-started. The authority
has already loaned the project $200,000, which will be re-paid in
new sales tax revenues once the cash registers start ringing.
Meanwhile, the development authority says it’s talking to
several other industries that say they’re interested in locating in
Monroe County.
‘We’ve got a lot of tire-kicking going on,” said authority chair
man Tom Baugh, noting that the authority met behind closed
doors on Tuesday, Feb. 13 to discuss some of the potential proj
ects and what incentives they might require. Baugh said he
doesn’t expect any of the prospective industries to make a deci
sion for several months.
I’ve always been proud that Monroe County is named for our
fifth president James Monroe, who ushered in what historians
call the “Era of Good Feelings.” The Virginian was elected in
1816 with 80 percent of the vote and helped expand our coun
try’s borders from coast to coast. His policies led to economic
growth and surging American influence through his Monroe
Doctrine, which announced that the U.S. would not tolerate
European meddling in the Americas. He was re-elected almost
unanimously. But I learned something else our namesake did
last week.
The anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform (APR) hosted
a Tax Reform Gala last week to celebrate the new tax cuts,
and they held it at what was President Monroe’s home. Grover
Norquist, president of ATR, noted that Monroe signed a bill on
Dec. 23, 1817 that abolished all property and excise taxes for the
federal government, as well as tariffs on imports. Under the leg
islation, the sale of federal land alone funded the federal govern
ment for the next. 50+ years. No internal taxes and no IRS. No
wonder they felt good! It all ended, though, with the Civil War in
1861, when the federal government imposed a 3 percent flat tax
on incomes of $800 or more per year (only 3 percent of the popu
lation). Even with the new tax cuts, the government still taxes at
astronomical rates compared to those halcyon days. Anyway, all
hail James Monroe!
Speaking of presidents, our previous one, Barack Obama,
deserves to have his already-poor legacy tainted even further.
That’s because we are every day learning more ways that, he
allowed almost all federal agencies to be weaponized against con
servatives and his political adversaries on his watch.
We already know the IRS has had to apologize to several tea
party groups for ‘‘slow-walking’’ their applications for tax-exempt
status, even while liberal groups received prompt approvals.
Now we are learning how the FBI used opposition research
lies paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to get a warrant to
spy on the campaign of Donald Trump. They did this not only
during the campaign but even dur
ing Trump’s presidency. Moreover
we know from the text messages of
FBI agents that, they were looking
for some kind of “insurance policy”
in the worst-case scenario that the
American people elected Trump.
When we did, they parlayed those
lies, largely by leaking more lies
through our corrupt media, into a
fraudulent investigation into phony
Trump-Russia collusion, to act as a
blockade against inquiry into their
own sins. We will surely learn more
in the coming weeks and the only
question is how deep and high did
the corruption go.
There were lots of chuckles on
Monday when Obama’s presidential portrait was unveiled at
the Smithsonian. The odd portrait showed Obama looking like
he was sitting in the bushes, an odd juxtaposition next to the
dignified portraits of Washington, Lincoln and Reagan. When
historians paint their own portraits of the Obama years through
the written word, they will now have to mention not only eight
years of economic misery, but, perhaps worse, an attempt to
turn our government into a weapon in the sole possession of the
Democratic Party.
The glory of America over 200 plus years is that, we have
somehow avoided becoming the Banana Republic of corruption
and malfeasance that characterizes so many other nations. Our
founders intended that America be governed by the Rule of Law,
a principle far superior to the tyranny of the Rule of Man or
Party, where government protects those closest to those in power.
Isn’t it. ironic that. Obama, who never failed to criticize our found
ing fathers and this country, showed himself to be far more petty
and unprincipled than those American heroes he constantly
berated?
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& EDITORIALS
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
A golden opportunity to cut taxes
“It’s now or never” is a phrase
one should be wary of applying to
legislation. Even more so than with
perennially close-but-no-cigar sports
teams — and, sadly, we have plenty
of those locally — “there’s always
next year” more befits bills that face
long odds at the present time.
But I may have found an excep
tion.
While it’s not quite
“now or never” for tax
reform in Georgia,
let’s put it this way:
There will never be
a better time for the
state to flatten and
lower its individual
income tax, and reap
the economic benefits
of a simpler, more
competitive tax code.
To understand
why, let’s review the
reason Republicans
in Georgia have long
failed to get this job done despite
their constant promises to do so.
There are basically two ways to
lower the income tax rate, which
for decades has topped out at 6 per
cent. One is to cut revenues, which
legislators are loathe to do in a sig
nificant. way because the state’s tax
burden is already fairly low com
pared to other states (local taxes,
which pay for more services here
than in other states, are another
matter).
The other way is to shift, the tax
burden somewhere else to make
room for a lower income-tax rate.
Traditionally, advocates have talked
about doing this by raising the state
sales tax or applying it to more than
just goods (it doesn’t touch services
or groceries, to name two examples).
The problem is that, is an inherently
regressive maneuver, which renders
it politically unpalatable.
Enter the federal government,
which for once has done
something useful for the
states.
The tax reform
Congress passed in
December not only
broadened the income-
tax base, clearing the
way for lower tax rates,
federally. Georgia, like
many states, adopts
much of federal tax law
when it comes to deter
mining taxable income
and whether a taxpayer
itemizes deductions
or takes the standard
deduction.
That means Congress has already
done the hard work of broadening
the base for the state income tax as
well. The only remaining question
is what Georgia should do with the
windfall. The initial estimate put
the figure at $3.6 billion over five
years, but I’m told a later, more
thorough estimate is far higher —
as much as $1 billion per year.
It’s unclear exactly how much of
a rate reduction that, would pay
for, particularly if legislators also
take this opportunity to flatten the
rates from six brackets between $0
and $7,000 (for an individual) to a
single bracket with one rate. But
suffice it to say, it should pay for a
meaningful reduction even without
reducing revenues from their cur
rent level. That should calm fears
about endangering the state’s AAA
bond rating, which lowers the cost
of borrowing.
The usual caveats apply here.
These are estimates; the actual
numbers could be lower, though my
understanding is that, if anything
the estimates are probably on the
low side. In this case, there’s also
the caveat that Congress set the tax
changes to expire after 10 years,
in order to comply with the arcane
rules of budget reconciliation. No
lawmaker wants to lower rates now,
only to raise them in a decade. Then
again, Congress in the past has
extended lower rates before they
expired. Even if it didn’t this time,
the state could de-couple from the
federal code down the road.
To be extra prudent, it may make
sense to institute “triggers” for rate
reductions. The rate would only fall,
or continue to fall, if revenues hold
steady. That would help protect
against a budget shortage in case of
a recession.
However they do it, legislators
ought to recognize just how invalu
able this opportunity is. They need
not throw caution to the wind to
deliver some bold changes.
Kyle Wingfield writes for The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the.
Monroe County Reporter and other
newspapers. Reach him and read.
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
50 Years Later: How we lost Vietnam
T his month marks the
50t,h anniversary of
the Tet, Offensive in
the Vietnam War.
The Tet, Offensive
was a decisive military victory
for the United States and South
Vietnam. However, Tet, was a
devastating political defeat, for
the same. How is
that, possible? To
find out,, let’s do a
quick review of the
Vietnam War (VW).
The VW was a
30-year war fought,
by the Vietnamese
to gain indepen
dence from France,
and then to unify
the entire country
under communist,
rule. The United
States was heavily
involved in the second half of the
war.
BY THE end of the 19th century
France controlled most of Southeast
Asia. French Indochina, as it was
called, was a French colony until
occupied by the Japanese during
WWII. Following Japan’s 1945 sur
render, the communist Viet Minh,
led by Ho Chi Minh, declared
Vietnam independent. However, a
year later, France reclaimed their
lost colony and took control of the
area. War ensued between France
and the Viet, Minh, who were sup
ported by communist China and the
Soviet Union. French involvement,
in Southeast Asia ended in 1954
when they were decisively defeated
at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
The ensuing peace treaty divided
Vietnam in two, along the 17th par
allel - the corrupt,, communist North
still supported by China and the
Soviet Union; and the even more
corrupt, pseudo-democratic South
supported by the United States. The
peace treaty called for nationwide
elections two years hence, to decide
the country’s fate. However, imme
diately after the French withdrew,
fighting ensued between the North
and the South.
TRYING TO unify the country
under communist rule, the North
initiated a guerilla campaign
against South Vietnam. They
infiltrated troops, arms, and equip
ment into the South. As stated,
the United States supported South
Vietnam. At first, our support
was exclusively weapons, equip
ment, and military advisors. When
Eisenhower left office in 1961, we
had 900 advisors in the country.
That number grew to 16,000 by
November 1963, Kennedy’s assas
sination. President Johnson contin
ued to escalate U.S. involvement
in Vietnam. Then, in August 1964,
Johnson claimed that the USS
Maddox and the USS Turner Joy
were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin
by North Vietnamese naval forces.
These “attacks” led Congress to
pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
(GTR). The GTR gave
the president authoriza
tion to conduct military
operations in Southeast
Asia without declaring
war. Almost immediately,
Johnson authorized an
air campaign against
North Vietnam. The air
campaign was followed
by ground, combat, troops
who began arriving in
March 1965. By the end
of 1965, we had over
180,000 ground troops
conducting full scale
combat operations against, the Viet
Cong (the guerilla forces) and the
North Vietnamese Army (NVA).
FROM 1966 to December 1967,
American involvement in the war
continued to increase as the fighting
continued to escalate. The fighting
was extremely intense and, due to
the dense jungles, was conducted
at very close quarters. Primarily
due to greater firepower and air
superiority, the U.S. military and
the Army of South Vietnam (ARVN)
won almost every battle, out killing
the NVA more than 10-1. However,
battlefield defeats and body counts
did not seem to deter the North who
continued to pour military forces
into South Vietnam. By January
1968, the United States had almost
500,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and marines in Vietnam and sur
rounding countries. Then came the
Tet Offensive.
FOR SEVERAL months, the
NVA infiltrated huge quantities of
weapons, ammunition, supplies,
and men into South Vietnam.
This buildup of forces went largely
undetected by U.S. intelligence.
Hoping to spark a national upris
ing against, the corrupt South
Vietnamese government,, on Jan. 30,
the NVA simultaneously attacked
over 100 cities to include Saigon,
Hue, and most provincial capitals
in what came to be known as the
Tet Offensive. Throughout South
Vietnam the fighting was intense.
The war had moved from the jun
gles to the cities. There were large
casualties on both sides. It took sev
eral weeks, but the U.S. and ARVN
forces defeated the NVA in every
city they attacked. It was almost a
“last gasp” by the North who sus
tained tens of thousands of casual
ties. However, the “last gasp” turned
out to be a huge political defeat, for
President Johnson and U.S. forces.
How could a decisive victory be a
defeat?
FOR MONTHS, Gen
Westmoreland and President
Johnson had been telling the coun
try that the North Vietnamese
were defeated. America was led to
believe that it was only “a matter of
time” before the North completely
collapsed. If that was true, and
the North was near defeat, how
did the North manage to conduct
simultaneous, large-scale, combat
operations across the entire coun
try? Turns out, Johnson had been
lying. The North was not close to
defeat. During the Tet Offensive,
Walter Cronkite, America’s anchor
man, visited South Vietnam to wit
ness the fighting first, hand. Upon
returning home, he said it best, ‘To
say that we are closer to victory
today is to believe, in the face of the
evidence, the optimists who have
been wrong in the past. To suggest
we are on the edge of defeat is to
yield to unreasonable pessimism. To
say that we are mired in stalemate
seems the only realistic, yet unsatis
factory, conclusion.”
TET MADE it clear to America,
the Vietnam War, as it, was being
fought, was unwinnable. America’s
support, for the war quickly col
lapsed. People wanted the United
States out of Vietnam, especially
those of draft age. We continued
fighting for another five years, pull
ing out in 1973. However, after
the Tet Offensive, most Americans
turned against the war, and politi
cians began looking for an exit plan.
ANOTHER significant effect of
Tet was that President Johnson
did not seek re-election in 1968.
He turned the Presidency over to
Richard Nixon who ran on ending
the war. However, it took Nixon
another four-and-a-half years to do
so. Like him or not, if Tet had not
occurred, Richard Nixon and Gerald
Ford would not have been presi
dent, and American history over
the last 50 years would be quite
different. Keep this article for next
week when we’ll look at why we got
involved and some lessons learned.
WEEKLY QUOTE: ‘Vietnam
was lost in the living rooms of
America - not on the battlefields
of Vietnam.” - Marshall McLuhan,
Canadian professor.
Sloan Oliver is a retired Army offi
cer. He lives in Bolingbroke with his
wife Sandra. Email at sloanoli,ver@
earthlink.net.
OLIVER