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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MAY 11.2017
Opinions
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margie@mainstreetnews.com
By Margie Richards
Some things are
just meant to be
I don’t believe much in coincidence; there
are so many times that I can look back and
see events that happened at just the right time.
People that came into my life at just the right
time. Not the way I planned, and often not the
way I wanted, but nevertheless, just the way it
was supposed to be (no thanks to me).
I'd like to tell you about a friendship that
began in a most unusual way, but that has
turned out to be one of the most precious “coin
cidences” of my life.
Back in 2014, our son Zack was very sick.
We had just celebrated our daughter, Miranda,
giving birth to a second healthy girl when four
days later, Zack went into surgery to have
his colon removed due to severe inflammato
ry bowel disease (something he unfortunately
inherited from me). After a week or so in the
hospital, he seemed to be recovering well, so
Charles and I finally felt we could take a deep
breath. We had a healthy daughter and grand
daughter and our son seemed to be recovering
and in pretty good spirits.
I have long loved the vacation site VRBO. or
HomeAway as it is also known, and I had found
a new place near St. Simons and Jekyll Island,
overlooking the Marshes of Glynn, that looked
just perfect for a quick three-day getaway.
I could already smell the ocean and feel the
breeze off the marsh, taking all my stress away.
The morning before we were to leave, we
got one of those dreaded phone calls; Zack's
wife had taken him to the ER and he had been
admitted. They were prepping him for emer
gency surgery related to his colon removal. It
was the first of several times that summer and
fall that we thought we might lose him. It was a
scary and terrible time. I am so thankful to those
in the community and elsewhere (you know
who you are) who repeatedly asked me about
him. pressed cash into my hand for expenses
for them or made donations, or simply gave
me a hug and let me know you were praying. It
meant — it means — a lot.
But back to our planned getaway. It seems
like such a trivial thing, and it was. Of course I
called the owner, Glenise, and told her our son
had had emergency surgery and we would not
be able to come. I also told her I understood that
the deposit was non-refundable and that I didn't
expect it to be, particularly since we canceled
so late with little or no chance of her being able
to re-book.
Well, I hadn’t counted on Glenise. or her hus
band, Gary. Glenise told me to not worry about
a thing and that when we were able to come,
we could re-book with the deposit going toward
that visit. I was overcome by her kindness and
understanding.
Well we did re-book, and we canceled another
time or two because of the twists and turns of
our son’s illness that year. Each time, Glenise
told me not to worry.
I was amazed. These folks didn’t even know
us from Adam!
— See “Richards” on 5A
The Madison
County Journal
(Merged with The Danielsville Monitor
and The Comer News, January 2006)
P.O. Box 658
Hwy. 29 South
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Phone: 800-795-2581
E-mail: zach@mainstreetnews.com
ZACH MITCHAM, Editor
MARGIE RICHARDS, Reporter/Office Manager
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
FRANK GILLISPIE, Founder of The Journal.
Jere Ayers (deceased) former owner
of The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News
Periodical postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$25/year
Are we bigger than our teams?
There was not a “but Mitt”
aspect to the post 2012 elec
tions. Once Romney lost, he
was out of our thoughts. But
Hillary is still in the conversa
tion these days, because these
times are strange.
Most all of us are polit
ically wounded, like some
sort of animal quick to snap.
And because we are all like
this, our nation is a wounded
animal too. We are. You can
surely see this no matter your
side. We are like angry dogs
snarling at each other from the
end of a chain.
On their own. Hillary
Clinton's emails were not
something to dismiss. She had
a security breach that would
have cost less powerful people
their jobs, or worse, real legal
troubles. Her escape from
those consequences reeks of
ugly privilege.
But her emails entered
another realm, where she paid
massively, the binary heavy
weight slugfest of pitting
one bad thing versus anoth
er, which is what the 2016
election represented, a poor
choice, a decision on what
is worse, not what is best.
For many, Hillary’s emails
trumped all that Trump had
done wrong.
And now that Trump is
president, I am absolutely
haunted by Hillary, because
everything Trump does, I
replace his face with Hillary
and contemplate the reac
tion — every single thing.
When Trump fired the FBI
director investigating him, I
consider Hillary doing exact
ly that. When Trump passed
classified information to the
Russians in the Oval Office,
I imagine Hillary doing the
same and picture the fallout.
When Melania stays in New
In the
Meantime
Tt -S- Y
zach@
mainstreet
news.com '
1 ntT/
By Zach Mitcham
York protected on the taxpay
er dime at massive expense,
I contemplate Bill living in
a luxury suite and costing us
millions instead of moving in
to the White House.
I also contemplate my own
reaction to these things. Put
Hillary in office, acting this
way, and who am I? Am I
purely partisan? Am I just a
team kind of guy?
I preferred Hillary to Trump,
but I was not a happy voter. I
simply feared Trump in a big
way. So, if you flip all this, if
you have Hillary brazenly fir
ing the man investigating her,
then admitting on TV that she
did so because of that inves
tigation, obstructing a law
agency, how do I respond?
I’m a big Georgia Bulldog
fan. I have been all of my
life. That loyalty goes back to
childhood. There will never
be another team for me. But
if you put Jerry Sandusky
in red and black, my loyal
ty to the program stops if
they fail to adequately address
the problem. If that happens.
I’m out, unless the institution
acts appropriately in the face
of real wrong. I say this not
as any comparison between
Trump and a child molester.
Not at all! I know some will
try to make that my point.
No, I say this to illustrate that
some things are bigger to me
than my team loyalties. We
are fiercely loyal to teams,
to our tribes, our like-mind
ed folks. But our humanity,
our God, these should require
more of us than loyalty to
teams or parties.
If Hillary went bankrupt
multiple times, then received
financing from Russian
billionaires for major proj
ects, I would want to know
the details. If she refused
to release her tax records,
I would want to see them.
I would want her finances
clearly known. If my chosen
candidate, my “team,” suffers
politically for awhile because
of greater public accountabili
ty. then that’s a personal cost,
sure. But the greater long
term cost, both personally and
for our society, is the accep
tance of graft, chicanery, and
quid pro quo payoffs in the
name of team victories. This
has been our demise.
We are so nasty with each
other because the game itself
has turned so nasty. It’s not a
game of clear rules anymore.
No, it’s a game of money
and complete character assas
sination. It’s a sick, sick sys
tem. It’s straight-up awful. It
needs to be reformed. Neither
Trump nor Clinton were the
ones to do this. And Trump
has not only failed to drain the
swamp, he has ramped up the
loyalty-over-merit system of
bad governance. Your loyalty
to him is your merit, not what
you can do. This is not how
you drain a swamp.
A lot of Democrats will
disagree with this, but we
would be much safer with
Mike Pence as president right
now. He is a pariah to the left,
just as Trump is, just as any
Democrat is a complete “no
go” to the right. But Pence is
not dangerously impulsive like
Trump. Trump does whatever
he wants in the moment with
out thought to consequences.
It makes him a great entertain
er. He’s so unpredictable. And
his “don’t-give-a-$&@@”
attitude has been refreshing
to a large segment of the
country, which rightly grew
so tired of the stilted, overly
prepared political rhetoric we
knew so well. But this kind
of combustible, self-sabotag
ing personality doesn’t need
war powers, whether he’s
a Republican or Democrat.
Trump literally has the power
to end life on earth. And I’m
simply not comfortable with
someone so impulsive, angry,
vindictive, delusional having
that power. Please give that
power to another Republican.
The GOP won in 2016. The
presidency is theirs for four
years. But we can’t take four
years of this constant Trump
insanity. It has to stop.
We need a new president
and we need Republicans
to put another Republican
in charge. This one doesn’t
cut it. All of this chaos has
come without a major crisis.
I fear how Trump is going to
respond to a true incident, a
true 9/11. I don’t think he is
fit to handle such an occasion.
I think Pence needs the seat
now. And I think the longer
the Republicans in Congress
fail to understand that this is
the politically prudent calcu
lation, not just for their party
but for our national security,
then the longer we are at risk
of massive calamity at the
hands of an impulsive, ego
centric, troubled man.
This craziness has to stop.
Put Pence in that seat. Do it
quickly.
Zach Mitcham is editor of
The Madison County Journal.
Political campaign spending
is nothing new.
Money seems to grow on
trees during an election for pub
lic office.
Over the past two decades, I
suppose we have seen political
candidates spend hundreds of
millions of dollars to win seats
in Congress or to sit in the White
House.
Unfortunately, the spending is
growing at a record pace and
election spending seems to be
the big thing now. Numbers
vary across the board but it
makes you stop and think.
Using information from the
Center for Responsive Politics,
The Washington Post reported in
an article that the national elec
tions in 2014 cost $3.7 billion.
Opensecrets.org ran a story
pointing out our two primary
parties spent $1,080,973,843
during the campaigns for 26
presidential candidates in 2015
and 2016. House candidates
spent $58,842,694 and Senate
hopefuls spent $47,182,567.
What we have is several bil
lion dollars spent and little to
show for the expense of the
most recent campaigns.
Now we read that two candi
dates fighting for a U.S. House
seat representing Georgia have
spent about $30 million in just
five months.
According to the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution (May 14),
the two candidates have spent
an enormous amount of money
in Georgia’s biggest political
race in recent years. And, the
race isn’t over until June 20.
What’s in it for us?
From
the right
ejterrell@
gmail.com
By Jimmy Terrell
Republican candidate Karen
Handel and Democrat Jon
Ossoff are setting records for
spending in their bid to win
the Sixth Congressional District
race in Georgia to fill Tom
Price’s seat in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Greg Bluestein’s AJC report
reported the race for the ”...
suburban Atlanta seat (is) now
the most expensive House seat
election in U.S. history.”
The previous most expen
sive house race was in
Florida between Allen West
(Republican) and Democrat
Patrick Murphy at $29.6 mil
lion.
We have Handel, a lady from
Georgia who wants to represent
her home state, campaigning
and attacking Ossoff by tying
him to California’s U.S. House
of Representative Nancy Pelosi
and big time, rich Democrats.
Ossoff in turn, a Georgia
native who does not actually live
in the district, attacks Handel
daily on her excessive spending
in her previous elected posi
tions.
Handel has some baggage and
Ossoff has so much air in his
resume, it might take flight like
a balloon at any moment.
It would be nice if they got
down to the nitty-gritty in the
campaign issues and really stat
ed why we should elect one or
the other.
An interesting side to the
Georgia race is the fact that
Ossoff is even running. This
is a slap to the face of Georgia
Democrats with the national
party basically saying Georgia
doesn’t have a capable or
deserving Democrat to put into
the race.
Meanwhile, the two candi
dates are paying big money to
local media and staffs as they
try to out -do each other and set
up a win at the polls in the June
runoff.
The amount of money being
spent by the two candidates
is nothing short of just being
“obscene.” It looks like the seat
is up for grabs to the highest
bidder and not, necessarily, the
best candidate.
The sham, and the shame, is
where we could and should real
ly be spending all of this money.
The millions of dollars spent
on the upcoming election could
take care of a large number of
foster children and foster par
ents in Georgia. It could be well
spent on military veteran health
issues.
Thirty million-plus dollars
could enroll a number of chil
dren in state universities or in
our technical colleges across the
state.
We could use some of it to
fund hospitals and trauma cen
ters in the state to enhance the
quality of life for those that live
long distances from our met
ropolitan areas and who are in
need of good medical care.
Much of it could be tunneled
toward the state’s infrastructure
and highway repairs. A portion
could be used to fund better
facilities to care for our men
tally ill.
So what’s really in it for us?
It’s hard to tell at this point.
The seat may be more import
ant to the Republican party as
a whole rather than a great
benefit to Georgia.
One of the up-front benefits
for Georgia is the amount of
money being spent here with
in the state, especially since
a large portion of it is com
ing from out of state party
supporters on both sides.
Another benefit, of course,
is having someone who
resides in Georgia looking
after Georgia, as well as the
national party if Handel wins.
However, when you weigh
those gains against the numer
ous possibilities of what the
funds could be used for, it’s a
losing situation.
More than $30 million
already spent with more than
a month to go. We will proba
bly see $40 million spent on a
House of Representative seat
from Georgia. Unbelievable!
We could spend a lot less
and see a better fight at a pig
mud wrestling event!
Jimmy Terrell of Winder
provides a column for
MainStreet Newspapers Inc.
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THE MADISON COUNTY JOURNAL
P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, Ga. 30633
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