Love your articles and your concern for our government. Keep writing and educating the public. It’s a noble fight.
The only way to improving America is new blood and term limits in all legislative offices, as well as local offices. No more fat retirements for completing one term. Take a lot of the fat out of these offices. We must reform the “checks and balances” within these offices. Our representatives are supposed to be representative of “we the people”. Instead they are accountable to their own agendas first. They have powerful speech and can pretend to lend a sympathetic ear, but unless their vote benefits them they are predominately ineffective to the average voter.
People started to get irate when their local teachers, principals and city employees “double dipped”. The governmental mindedness opportunity has finally made it down to the lowest level… Darke County, OH! Sadly the noise was short lived and died down quickly. People showed their complacency. Which means the envelope can be pushed a little farther, because we didn’t object.
Currently there are entirely too many city workers and law enforcement officers in relationship to population. We’ve allowed too many school levies using state money, which the state has to get from us the taxpayers. It’s fabulous to get grant money for our parks, but that grant money is taxpayer money and we are the taxpayers. We send it to the state and they look for ways to spend it. Our towns then submit grant petitions looking for ways to get money to spend in their town. Why, because it’s there. Why not use it? In fact, the towns are elated that they have new park equipment, or Well how about not taxing us anymore. The new schools, that Ohio grant money built will have us committed for the rest of our working lives. That is assuming you’re 35. We need to start asking the hard questions and getting involved with politics. We must become knowledgeable.
How do we wake people up? The right to vote is not given the respect it requires to work effectively. As a result, politicians prey on the uninformed. The Democrats were caught going for unregistered voters, a few years ago. Unregistered voters care even less than the uninformed. Those votes were counterproductive to the aware citizen. The Republicans have not been above the same or similar tactics.
Perhaps we need well-to-do business men to enter the political arena. They’re already wealthy and perhaps they can put the checks and balances in place, much like Mr. Rockefeller did after the stock market crash. My guess is the public would be suspicious and cynical if a successful business person ran for office. They would think it was for his political gain. So why can’t the voting public draw the same conclusion when the professional politician runs for re-election?
So how do we get people to become responsible voters? Do we put rules and requirements in place? Should voters be required to have a high school diploma or GED? Should welfare recipients be allowed to register to vote? Should anyone that has been reliant on the government for 25 months or more be entitled to vote? Again, their vote would be obviously slanted. Should the senior citizens on Medicaid or receiving more than 50% of their income from Social Security be allowed to vote? They are obviously a draw on the government and as guilt of voting for their own personal gain as any politician. The tax paying base should be voting not the tax beneficiaries. Our government is in need of major reformation. Sadly the politicians cannot correct this problem, they created it. They are ill-equipped to see this corrupt system rationally.
The problem is vast but it wasn’t created overnight and it cannot be fixed overnight either. It appears we need to take an interest in our own community. There needs to be public awareness, education and tighter budgets. We can no longer afford to be afraid to ask questions and raise opposition if necessary. It’s time to worry about our future. We can continue down a path of mediocrity.
Respectfully,
Paul Douglas
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