Government will not bring happiness (10/29/2008)

To the editor:

I have always had a deep love and respect for this country, and I am thankful to the people who helped instill that in me. I am also thankful to those who have sacrificed to defend this great country.

I am thankful for the men who believed we were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, those being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To this end they were willing to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

The past several elections have made me wonder what we, as a nation, have become. We do not talk of life or liberty and we somehow believe the government will bring us happiness; not just allow each one to pursue it. We hope government will tax us less or someone else more or maybe a new government program will make everything better.

I ask you, have any other people in the world been so free? Free to express their opinions and beliefs, to protect their lives and property, to own property and move about freely. It does not matter what country has tried it, a large centralized government that ignores the rights of its citizens has never offered the freedom or prosperity our country has to its citizens.

The founders of our country feared a large central government because centralized power no matter who runs it will soon become corrupt. Why should we send money to Washington and hope to get part of it back? It was ours to start with. Why do we believe a grant or other state or federal money wasn't someone else's to start with? The recent sub-prime mortgage scandal shows what Washington thinks of your tax dollars.

I find it troubling that everything is a crisis these days; housing, health care, global warming, energy, you name it, some believe the only solution is immediate government action. We hear it is the worst economy since the Depression; does anyone remember the late 1970s? We do have serious challenges, but I'm not sure the government always has the right answer.

Some politicians seem to want to drive a wedge between business and the general population. While I am sure not all businesses are pure, where would we be without free enterprise?

All the goods and services we use are supplied by them. Large or small businesses take the risk to provide a service or product you need and hopefully make a profit. Think of the ways local businesses have helped improve our community. These are the real wealth producers in this country.

We need an energy policy to allow this to continue. Government must get out of the way and let the private sector develop the many forms of domestic energy we have. This is so vital to our economy, national security and personal liberty.

Freedom of the press is a powerful thing in a country. I would challenge the press, both national and local, to research until you find the truth, not just what suits you. The people who give you freedom of the press deserve truth.

I have noticed the national editorials in our paper are written by people who think religion is a myth and find fault with the founding fathers. They have a right to say it, but there are others who could give the other side of the argument and deserved to be published.

I hope the citizens of this country will have the courage to quit selling our liberties for a new program or the taxation of someone else and become a people worthy of our heritage, the most free and generous people the world has ever known. In the words of Ronald Reagan, "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to; this is the last stand on earth."

Doug Horn

Bryant

Real hope

To the editor:

First, I want to thank Glen Priest for his well-worded response to Mr. Erwin. Barack Obama promises the only real hope for resolution of the major problems and mistakes of the past eight years under George Bush and company.

Second, I want to point out that "redistribution of wealth" is not a new concept. Our government, via the unbalanced tax system, has been "redistributing" wealth from the middle class to the wealthy for a long time.

Some wealthy people never pay a dime of income tax and pay, sadly, less than their "fair share" due to being able to shelter and hide money and assets.

Third, I want to respond to the writer who is going to vote Republican because of the abortion issue.

This issue has been raised successfully by the engineers of the Bush rise to power and, I fear, is far less important to those folks than the big money in oil, fomenting war, and more wealth to the wealthy.

Furthermore, I am hard put to find much, if any, interest in programs that will feed, clothe, educate, nurture and protect the infants, who will become children, and then adolescents and adults who will, in turn, make more babies! I have yet to hear Wanda Franz (National Right to Life) talk about programs to accomplish these ends.

Thankfully, locally there is such a group, Pregnancy Care Center, which we should all support. I'm sending my check today.

Nancy Warner

Dunkirk

Have mercy on us

To the editor:

Maybe the people of the United States of America deserve Obama! My soul, knowledge and desire for a free America cannot stand by and not try to say one last thing.

The media of CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC have all done everything in their power to elevate the one they call "The One" and the "Messiah" into the presidency. I would urge everyone to go to Fox News where you hear both sides of the story.

The reporter Barbara West from WFPB in Florida asked Sen.Biden about Obama's redistributing the wealth "from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs" from Marx. Biden laughed at the question. The Obama campaign then told the station they couldn't have any more interviews. Also didn't want to answer the same questions by two Philadelphia reporters.

By the way, Obama supports illegal immigrants being able to obtain driver's licenses on which Hillary Clinton hedged during the primary.

In reply to Mr. Glen Priest's letter to the editor, you are right, Obama did not vote no in the Illinois Senate on the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. It never came to the senate for a vote. Obama voted no in committee so that it was not allowed to come to the Illinois Senate for a vote. He does support all the heinous abortion acts - partial birth abortion, abortion, stem cell research. We also know he supports gay marriage.

And now today Obama is connected to the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) according to the Los Angeles Times. Log on to Fox News on the internet and get the whole story. Obama's response? I just know him, but he was on the Woods Fund and approed around 75,000 to Khalid's network and in 2000 Khalid and his wife hosted a fund-raiser for Obama. Call John Gibson's radio show and find it all at XM 168 or Sirius 145 or go to www.gibsonradio.com

Are people going to sell out their souls for a tax stimulus check in the mail and allow the Democrats to spread the wealth and elevate us to being a socialist country not to mention abandoning our moral values?

I must admit Obama is a very great speaker, a man who debates well and hedges answers to questions he has been asked. Probably as great a speaker as Stephen Douglas was, as history tells us. If Douglas had been elected, we would still be a country with slavery. If Obama is elected, the country will be in slavery again but to the wildly left agenda of the Democratic Party.

Do the searching, people. Don't just listen to the leftist media. Look at Obama's company down through the years. Don't tell me he didn't know and agree with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers. He is also involved with ACORN's voter registration and voter fraud.

But I am praying with the rest of the conservatives in America that we will wake up, get up off our duffs, and vote to keep our country free as our ancestors fought for us in the Revolutionary War.

May God have mercy on our souls.

Sue McBride

Portland

Rest of the story

To the editor:

Election day is fast approaching, and the campaign rhetoric is at its highest level. Gov. Daniels has spent the entire year telling us how great he has been for Indiana over the last three years. Longtime radio voice Paul Harvey is famous for his saying, "And now you know the rest of the story."

Well, I am going to give you the rest of the story on Gov. Daniels.

As soon as Gov. Daniels took office, he canceled the collective bargaining agreement for all state employees. Then, he strong-armed every single Republican in the legislature he could to get the Daylight Savings initiative through, the lease of the toll road, and the privatization of certain state agencies. None of these initiatives were ever brought before the people of Indiana as a referendum, but all of a sudden in this election year we see the softer side of Gov. Daniels advocating all major projects that affect the people of Indiana to be voted upon via referendum.

This is the same governor who told a group of teachers from Gary, who rode a bus all the way to Indy protesting funding cuts in our public schools, to quit whining and go back home. This is the same governor who told all those workers of Delphi in Kokomo that they should take the huge pay cut from $25-$30 an hour to $9 an hour. This is the same governor that believes Sallie Mae and IBM low-paying jobs for East Central Indiana are good substitutes for the jobs people had at Borg-Warner and New Venture Gear in Muncie.

This is the same governor that came to Union City along with State Rep. Bill Davis and made the big announcement of 300 jobs at Workhorse Chassis. However, some two years later there are maybe 150 workers who average working two days a week. Should we call this a success story?

Gov. Daniels and State Rep. Bill Davis have patted themselves on the back for putting Indiana in the black and lowering property taxes. But again, let me give you the rest of the story.

They can show us numbers that indicate Indiana is in the black, but at the same time they crippled school corporations, city and county government, and non-profits such as Arts Place, Jay-Randolph Developmental Services, and Community and Family Services. All of these entities relied heavily on funding from the state.

As far as lowering property taxes, let us not forget what happened in 2005, 2006, 2007, when everybody was upset with their property tax bill. It wasn't until the public outcry, especially by the rich homeowners in Indianapolis and the business community that the governor and our state representative were forced to do something, which coincidentally took effect in an election year.

On Nov. 4, there is a great alternative for us in East Central Indiana. Those two people are Jill Long Thompson for governor and Andy Schemenaur for state representative. There will be no more dictating from Indy what is in our best interests, no more privatization, and the state of Indiana being governed by two people of very high honesty and integrity.

In closing, just remember the next time you see a commercial or get a flyer in the mail from our current governor and state representative on how great they have been for us in East Central Indiana, now you know the rest of the story.

Randy Geesaman

Portland

Not so complicated

To the editor:

Reading the recent pro-Obama letters to the editor, I can't help but think that you all have made this too complicated. You can spend hours looking up voting records and not learn anything about a persons moral fiber and isn't that what we really need? Someone who can make the tough decisions based on his or her foundational beliefs.

For me it's the P.O.W. story that I keep coming back to. Sen. McCain, because of his father and grandfather's ranking in the Navy, could have been set free, but he chose not to because it was not his turn to be released. Now if you want to talk about making the tough decisions, I doubt that any of us will ever face a moment that even remotely resembles that one. 

Same for Gov. Palin, she has fought against big government spending when it could have been very beneficial for her to just go along and play nice with the other crooked politicians, but she chose not to.

Isn't that what we should be looking for in a leader. There has to be something deep inside that drives them, something that is a strong foundational root, something with which all decisions contemplated are checked. While I may not agree with everything Sen. McCain has planned, I do believe that he and Gov. Palin  have those foundational roots, the basic characteristics that make good leadership. I'm sorry to inform you that the obvious roots of Obama are among the thorns. 

The change planned by Barack and his backers (follow the money), would be detrimental to the foundational core of our United States. I find it hard to understand why those editorial writers who knew the era of Roosevelt's "New Deal" are so anxious to return there. It would make more sense if you were sounding the alarm. If you really need to look at history in order to make a voting decision that will impact the lives of your descendants then start there, with a study of the "New Deal." Compare what Roosevelt did with the revealed Obama plans, but hurry!  

Dave Milligan

Portland[[In-content Ad]]