In my lifetime, and it’s not a short one as my friends remind me, I have seen a steady and accelerating decline of our liberty and freedom. Each legislative and election cycle presents new restrictions heaped on old ones that go way beyond our Constitution and our national values.
It seems our lawmakers get rewarded not to lead, but to create more far-reaching ways to modify societal behavior in ways that make our lives less free. Gun control on those of us who obey the law to make us more safe? From who? Those who don’t follow the law. The latest drive is to remove the “Stand Your Ground” philosophy. Those of us in rural America are hopefully smarter than that.
Our leaders hinder any effort at making proof of citizenship (eligibility) to vote nearly impossible — all in a concerted effort to prevent “disenfranchisement” — a buzz word for voter acquisition. It’s high time we stop with these social experiments and throw these folks out of office. A 90 percent re-election rate is the reason this keeps happening.
Killing the coal industry, the timber industry or whatever other politically incorrect (at the time) industry is not the way to bring our country out of the economic pit it’s in. Countries that are curtailing obtrusive government social spending are gleaming examples of small, low-impact government effectiveness. Countries like Italy, Greece and now South Korea that are ever-expanding their social spending are declining at an alarming rate.
Domestically, states and municipalities are being crushed by their addiction to spend more and more of taxpayer dollars on “nice to have” programs — outside of their own constitutional boundaries. It’s time to act and curtail this beast before it’s too late. Then there’s Obamacare — the coming train wreck.
Don Thompson
Lake Stevens
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