Blog
I’m thinking about continuing the blog. The majority of it will be things I’ve heard on the police scanner (though I might make it into an article rather than what I’ve been doing) and from crimereports.com and links to news articles. I just don’t have time to do much else. So, if you want the blog back, check yes or no on the poll. And if you would like to volunteer (I can’t pay you, I can’t afford to) to write news stories for the blog, just let me know by posting a comment below. I would love to eventually have someone covering local government, someone else covering business news, another covering BOE news, etc, someone who had time to go to the meetings. I’ve deleted the email I had for this blog–but if I get enough of a response I’ll set another one up.
I would like to try and help. I try to keep up with what’s going on in this county, but it’s hard. The local paper has nothing in it, and the AJC acts like Douglas County doesn’t exist. So instead of complaining, I’ll like to do something about it. Contact me when you can and maybe i can help.
You cannot vote on your survey. I would like you to keep it up. Many times you have informed me of things I would not have known otherwise.
I offer this open letter to all candidates and all parties, but it is especially an offering for all voters.
Long ago I lost faith that a few people could represent a city, a county, a state, a nation or the world. Experience has proven to me what history teaches: When power is concentrated in the hands of a few, power will be abused.
You can decide for yourself if our so-called representatives actually represent us or abuse us.
The upcoming primaries will decide which candidates will run for local, state and national office in November of this year. The primaries will begin in June and extend through early July 2010. Contact the Douglas County Election Board for the exact dates, locations and slate of candidates. It would then be a good idea to personally contact each candidate. For good or ill and whether we like it or not, these are the men and women who will for years make decisions that affect our lives.
I believe that for legitimate public affairs, like the regulation of off-shore oil drilling, truly democratic decisions made by knowledgeable and well-informed citizens are the best bet for society more often than not. But this requires the personal involvement of an active and concerned citizenry. Tragically, citizen involvement has virtually ceased in this country.
Anyone attending a city council meeting, a county commission meeting or a school board meeting has discovered for himself the pathetic truth of what our government has sadly become. He finds himself alone with a few politicians catering to special interest lobbyists. Together, they conspire to control and rule our lives. They believe they are entitled to this power. They believe it is their right.
If we continue to shirk our responsibility and allow politicians of whatever party and persuasion to dictate to us and rule over us, then America will continue her headlong downward slide and become worse and worse. The consent of the governed is required for a just society, but truly democratic participation of the people is a necessity for wise governance.
After a very few legitimate and limited public issues, I whole-heartedly believe that everyone has the absolute right to be left alone. I believe we have the right to live our lives as we choose. Politicians do not subscribe to this fundamental premise nor can they tolerate dissent.
Bit by bit our rights and liberties have been chipped away. One day you may find you have no rights, except those allowed you by some self-styled leader, the master who tells you he has all the answers… and demands your total obedience. It has happened all too often in other countries; it can happen here.
America, it is long past time to wake-up. Across this nation, an average, hard-working citizen can be financially ruined for committing some small, insignificant infraction of the law. Prison sentences are routinely handed out for minor offenses. In an American school, a child was arrested and imprisoned for the crime of carrying an aspirin in his pocket.
Laws are suppose to be made for our protection. Now, too often laws are made to harass and persecute political opponents. This is meant to show us who is the “boss” and that dissent will by no means be tolerated. Or, laws have simply become a tool to cull monetary fines from the general populace to keep afloat a bankrupt general fund and prop up defunct government employee pension funds. Throw in the selective and unequal enforcement of laws and there is real trouble.
You can be sure that the “tough on crime, law and order” politicians have devised for themselves ethics laws that are ineffective and weak. You will also find that those who desire to control others usually have little control of themselves.
Politicians plague not only the present, they are sabotaging tomorrow. The endless addiction politicians have of incessantly borrowing huge sums of money for multi-million projects and sinking us deeper and deeper in debt has hogtied our future and the futures of our children and grandchildren. Too often these public projects, paid for with our money, are worthless ego displays for politicians which serve no actual community need. Often these pie-in-the-sky projects are for nothing more than the private enrichment of a few insiders. A vigorous and democratic process would eliminate this.
Henry Miller said there are limits to everything. He especially believed there is a limit to human cruelty and stupidity. We now seem to be fast approaching that limit. Until we experience a re-birth of independence and find the courage to “alter and abolish” what has become an out of control government, let us for now make our government the best it can be.
Please become involved in the upcoming elections. It is for the good of our country, our families and ourselves.
Tony Cain
tony30168@gmail.com