Opinion - Makes no difference to me

Makes no difference to me

That’s My Opinion

By Bob Robinson

“A lot of people have been wondering about you. They believed in you. They thought you were on their side. They want to know why you were saying no new taxes that our grandchildren could not pay and now you are for new taxes and a new school. And the kids that understand that they'll have to pay these taxes on property that is their inheritance now believe you deserted them. They believed you were the one adult on their side against all odds. Just thought you'd like to know.”

I remember many conversations I had with Advocate readers after I left the paper and, a short time later, announced my candidacy for Darke County Commissioner as a Republican.

“I read your columns for years. I couldn’t figure out if you were a Republican or a Democrat… I guess now I know.”

Actually, he doesn’t.

In a recent interview, John Graham, founder of Good Samaritan Homes, told me I was more liberal than he was. He was referring to a young woman I tried to help a few years ago.

Liberal? No, I don’t think so.

There have been many such comments over the past year. Then I got the above note from a reader.

While I’ve addressed many of these issues, maybe it’s time for people to get a gentle reminder on where I’m coming from.

State and federal governments are out of control. They no longer represent the people… they are only interested in their own agendas and those of the “power players.”

Big business – the companies with access to our politicians – and Big Brother are virtually married in their agendas. The only losers are you and me.

The “Right to Choose” is simply another phrase for government-sanctioned murder.

While I believe in the concept of Capital Punishment, I don’t believe in the legal process that could possibly put an innocent person to death.

Freedom of Religion does not mean freedom from religion. I believe we started down the path we have inherited today when unelected “men in black” started removing Christian ethics, prayer and The 10 Commandments from our public institutions… just about every social evil I can think of – including government dependency – blossomed when this mindset was taken from our institutions.

That includes the regulation of our educational system. We can no longer teach the God-fearing values that made us one of the greatest nations on the face of the earth. Big Brother says so.

Government has a role in our lives. Having no government is anarchy. Limited government is what was defined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights more than two centuries ago… and worked quite well until we stopped using them.

The challenges that future generations now face are so overwhelming that it’s hard to figure out where to begin to fix them. But fix them we must. And that has to start right here in our local communities.

The alternative is unacceptable.

I firmly believe that what took generations to bring us to this point will take generations to change. No revolution – social or otherwise – has ever occurred overnight. It has always started “somewhere” and grown from there… becoming a groundswell that over the years could not be denied.

It is how our country was founded. It is how we lost the values on which it was founded. It is how we must get them back.

I am a strong fiscal conservative. I’m also a realist. While I believe a return to traditional values and small, limited government must start locally, they must be accomplished within the confines of what we have allowed to happen at state and federal levels… until we reach the point where we can change them.

High taxes and regulations disrupt the free market process. While most fall at the feet of state and federal officials, some may be attributed to our local officials.

I was – and am – against using taxpayer dollars for an unnecessary county courthouse addition when there are other options. I want the “temporary” county sales tax increase dropped as soon as economically feasible. And rather than see a raise for employees in any sector of public service, I want to see that money go back to strapped taxpayers.

The safety of our citizens – young and old – is a constitutional mandate. After spending months trying to get the Greenville School District to seek alternatives, I had to accept the fact that it wasn’t going to happen.

In my opinion, South School is not safe. That means saying “yes” to the only option they gave to us.

And there’s one other thing. These kids are our future. It is through them our country will live or die. They have inherited a ton of problems that we, and those before us, have left them… the least we can do is give them the tools to address them!

So what does that make me? Conservative or liberal? Republican or Democrat?

You decide. Makes no difference to me.

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to receive a daily notification of his comments, opinions and reports, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views.