Newspaper Page Text
October 5, 2022
Page 7A
^Reporter
JUST THE WAY IT IS by Sloan Oliver
Who we worship guides how we vote
ere a month
past Labor
Day, so it’s
time to get
serious about the upcoming
elections. Primaries are over
and we know the
candidates for each
office. Over the next
few articles (weeks)
I plan to discuss the
issues and where the
candidates stand.
First, some adminis
trative duties.
THE
GENERAL
election (GE)
is on Nov. 8. In Georgia, to
win the election outright, a
candidate must receive 50%
of the vote +1. If none of the
candidates receives 50% +1,
the two receiving the most
votes will have a runoff on
December 6th. The GE means
that we vote for federal, state
wide, district, and local offices
- Republicans, Democrats,
Libertarians, and Indepen
dents are all on the ballot. The
federal offices are U.S. Senator
and House of Representa
tives. Statewide elections are
for Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, Secretary of State,
Attorney General, State School
Superintendent, and Com
missioners of Agriculture,
Insurance, and Labor. Were
also electing state senators
and house members. Local
elections are for county com
missioners and the district
supervisor tor Towaliga Soil
and Water Conservation. Ad
ditionally, were being asked
to vote on amending the state
constitution for two issues,
to vote on two ad valorem
tax exemptions, and to vote
on a Monroe County 1% E-
SPLOST (Education - Special
Purpose Local Option Sales
Tax). We all vote tor the same
federal and statewide offices.
Ballots will differ for state
senate, state house, and local
candidates depending on your
individual voting district.
TO VIEW your individual
sample ballot, go to “My Voter
Page” at the Secretary of States
website at: www.mvp.sos.
ga.gov. Fill out the required in
formation (name, address, date
of birth) which tells
you if you’re registered
(or not), and then click
on the “sample ballot.”
That sample ballot
shows the candidates
for all offices, amend
ments, ad valorem
questions, and
ESPLOST. Bottom
line, check your
ballot; know your
candidates and
issues before voting.
GREAT, YOU checked your
ballot, and know the candi
dates. Who gets your vote?
That’s easy to answer once you
know who you are, know your
individual beliefs, and know
your personal values. You can
determine that by asking and
answering two simple ques
tions: “Who is your god?” and
“Who do you worship?” Is it
God or is it some other god,
such as money, fame, vanity,
lust, covetousness, materialism,
government, etc.
IF YOU worship God, then
you know that eternal salva
tion is an individual respon
sibility. Your pastor or spouse
can pray for you every day.
That does no good until you
personally accept God as your
Savior. Salvation is ALL ON
YOU - nobody else. Once you
know that and accept it, you
also know that through God,
all things are possible. Those
who know that God is their
salvation, when they encounter
life’s storms, they first turn to
God, not to government.
OPPOSING THE belief in
individual responsibility and
the belief that through God all
things are possible are those
who worship various gods, es
pecially government and turn
to government to solve their
problems. I don’t have a house,
so the government (i.e. taxpay
ers) should give me shelter. I
want a cell phone to watch Tik-
Tok videos, so the government
(taxpayers) should give me one
of those Obamaphones. I don’t
make enough money to buy
all that I want, so the govern
ment (taxpayers) should take
money from hard workers and
give it to me. I don’t want to
work hard but I need food, so
the government (taxpayers)
should give me food stamps.
I’m pregnant but a child is
inconvenient, so I demand the
government (taxpayers) pay
to kill the baby. I don’t want
to pay off my $200K student
loan for my worthless gender
studies degree, so the govern
ment (taxpayers) should force
mechanics, plumbers, and
electricians to pay it off.
WHEN YOU put your faith
and trust in government, you
demand other people solve
your troubles. Problem is,
government is made up of
men and women - who are
100% fallible. Thomas Paine
said government is a “neces
sary evil” - an emphasis on
both words. Yes, government
is necessary but it can be (often
is) evil. If one person can screw
things up, then 10,000 or
100,000 government bureau
crats can be catastrophic. I
could give endless litanies
of government failures both
collectively and individually
- medieval monarchs (the
government) killed countless
nonbelievers; after the Civil
War, the government failed to
protect Blacks; for centuries
the government cheated Na
tive Americans; during World
War II, the government failed
Japanese citizens and put them
in internment camps; the
German government killed
millions of Jews; the Cliinese
government (communists)
killed 50,000,000+ of its own
people; all levels of govern
ment failed us during Covid;
government is failing to protect
the border; and government is
failing to educate our chil
dren. Then, at an individual
level, we hear countless stories
of government bureaucrats
who fail seniors, veterans, the
handicapped, etc. Also, we
hear numerous stories of indi
viduals being incarcerated only
to discover, years later, they
were framed - a failure of the
justice system. And right now,
the government is actively tar
geting one individual because
the Department of Justice
disagrees with his politics - that
individual is President Trump,
being endlessly hounded.
DESPITE GOVERN
MENT’S constant failures, one
political party blindly puts its
faith, trust, and hope in gov
ernment. Government is their
god and they think it (govern
ment) can control the climate
and the oceans, only if you pay
more taxes. Because it’s made
of men, the government will
let us down and fail us. OTOH,
the base of the other political
party puts its faith and trust
in God. As long as we put our
faith and trust in Him, God
will never let us down. While
the Republican Party is not
the answer to our problems,
the ideas and policies of the
Democrats are the causes of
our problems. Why? Because
they put their faith, hope, and
trust in government wliile
most of the Republicans put
their faith and trust in God.
The question is - who do you
worsliip and who do you put
your faith and trust in? Answer
those questions and that will
tell you who and what party to
vote for.
Sloan Oliver of Bolingbroke is
a retired Army officer who writes
each week in the Reporter. Email
him at sloanoliver@earthlink.
(478) 992-0044
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