By Guthrie “Guff” Worth
Several days ago the Record-Bee published a letter from one of Lake County” s major political figures. Sadly, his diatribe against “change” was a frightening mix of embitterment, frustration and misinformation. Obviously, he is unhappy that the voters felt the way things were going in Washington needed correction ? oops, make that the “change” that he was so afraid of. It used to be that people were willing to admit making a mistake. Remember “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!”
He apparently is not pleased with the democratic process. Rule by majority seems to offend him. And yet, he was very pleased when eight years of the ideas (not a voter majority) he holds dear dragged down the country to the condition it is trying to work itself out of! Funny, he seems not to recall the record deficits, the massive debts from a war (we later found was based on misinformation) and the lack of oversight that was thought to be proper. Oh, yes, don”t forget the tax reductions that proved to be less effective at stimulation than government expenditures. The last I heard, every American owes China something like $6,000 and it was practices and policies based on what he believes in that got us there!
Actually, though I don”t agree with everything put forth, I find it refreshing to have an up-front leader who is not afraid to be seen or heard. No longer do we have a president who is happy to play “Charley McCarthy” to the vice-president”s Edgar Bergen.
There are a lot of people who, I suspect, need to face a reality they really don”t want and make some hard decisions they really don”t want to make. Is education as important for the country as most people think? Or how about a healthy country/state? A lot of voters apparently don”t think so because they are adamant against paying for them; thinking of taxes as burdens rather than simply the price for services. Once a level of services is set, then the needed income is a derivative, not a figment. Why is it that we tend to think of government services differently than gasoline, bread, etc. We don”t like paying $3 per gallon for gasoline, but we don”t think it is immoral, either. But if the product is a service, and the price goes up (a needed tax increase), we think that is immoral! Go figure.
Patriotism is working for the betterment of the country. A lot of the voter”s major problem is that the nation”s/state”s idea of betterment is set by the democratic process, not by self-appointed elitists.
Guthrie “Guff” Worth
Lakeport
