Liberty County taxpayers that are thirty five years are older are not likely to have forgotten what I always refer to as “the Carter years”. Until Barack Hussein Obama those four years of James Earl Carter as President were the most dreadful years we had had as a country since Franklin D, Roosevelt’s policies were rescued from the Great Depression by World War II . The last few years of the 1970’s were full of wrong-headed pitiful leadership. Similar to the voters’ response to the bursting of the housing bubble at the end of George W. Bush’s eight years as President, “Jimmy” Carter was elected as a result of a desperate electorate trying to distance itself from Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Regardless of the fact Liberty County rejected the idea of electing the most inexperienced, most liberal President in American history , we were in the minority in November 2008and we are paying the price for our politicians in Washington exacerbating problems caused by the liberal policies governing the housing market for years. Liberty County refused to vote for someone so liberal despite all of the hype and good feelings some parts of the country got caught up in as they focused on the candidates’ skin color rather than the content of their character, but we still have to deal with the economic fallout.
The answer to the fallout can be discovered in one word, “Reagan”. The no nonsense, common sense approach of Ronald Reagan is what curbed the natural tendency of politicians to spend more and more taxpayer money on “do good” policies and projects. Reagan believed in a robust military in order to fulfill the Constitutional responsibility of government to “provide for a common defense”, but otherwise he minimized Congress’ shopping spree mentality and tried to slow down government growth and spending. (Note: the word “tired” is here in preparation for the liberal argument that tries to blame Democrats’ budgets on a very focused President Reagan).
Just like the entire state of Texas (perhaps the most conservative, anti-Obama state in the Union), Liberty County can’t guarantee we won’t have four more years of Obama. But we cam search and find our own Reagans. In the coming weeks and months we can try to encourage our own politicians to stand tall and be counted on every vote that involves unnecessary spending. We can also let the local politicians know we are looking for Reagan-like leadership that is pro-active in shrinking the size and scope of government spending.
Citizens have already voiced their opinion on this website about their desire to dial taxpayer spending back to the 2006 levels. Going into the fifth month of a new terms for Norman Brown and his first term as a Republican, and going into the first term for Republican County Judge Craig McNair and Republican Commissioner Charlotte Warner, voters have to hope they will act more like Reagan and less like Fitzgerald, Groce, and Democrat Todd Fontenot. Voters have to hope these people are willing to do the best thing for our economy and to get ready for what could be even tougher times if Obama’s billion dollar re-election campaign funds sentence us to another four years.
“Where can we cut?” That seems to be the Democrats effort to set voters desire for government services against Republicans. But it should not be a rhetorical question for real Republicans.
Every Republican in that courthouse should be, not only willing, but excited to cut their budget back to 2006 numbers. It is their duty as a public servant to do what is good for the public. There are places in the 2006 budget Liberty Dispatch would be more reluctant to encourage going back to than others – such as the raises for lower level employees. But there are areas that scream “please cut me”- like positions added since, such as the assistant to help with FEMA/grants added by former County Judge Phil Fitzgerald. Before Phil (or BP) we had a grant writer like many counties that was not paid by the county. Dennis Odell is the first grant/FEMA person we have ever paid. If Odell is better than the previous grant writer, and if he is a true Republican, he would gladly be paid like all previous people with his responsibilities – their fees are written into the grants they write and their success is tied to their ability to successfully obtain grant money.
As our readers have suggested, the largest area of concern in the last few years has been the growing amount of money District Attorney Mike Little has been allotted in the budget. With so much scandalous behavior in the courthouse, it doesn’t look good when the District Attorney has avoided participating in confronting so much of courthouse crime and at the same time received so much more money by what could be people that he should have prosecuted. With Groce and Fitzgerald voted out of the offices that have funded Mike Little’s hefty budget increases, voters can hope a 2012 defeat of liberal Democrat Commissioner Todd Fontenot will help end such practices.
But voters should hope we have Reagan-like people in office now. Waiting for the next election is not necessary. In fact, in this economy it could be dangerous. Real Republicans in office should be willing to turn over their slush funds or at least to have them considered in the budget process. Typical of a Democrat, Mike Little points to Austin and avoids talking about all of the money he gets from confiscating the property of convicted drug dealers. He is on the ballot in 2012 and voters can decide if we can afford the kind of politician that will use any means necessary to bloat their budget and jack taxpayers as much as they can by using local, state, and federal government regulations.
Liberty County is not a rich county. We had plenty of people who wanted to be commissioners and county judge before they raised their salaries on a regular basis. We have things we would like to be better, but at election time we have always been promised better planning and not higher taxes.
