Off the Editor’s Desk – 4-17-2013

“If you want something said, ask a man.

If you want something done, ask a woman.”

Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, said the above quote in a speech, referring to politics. She passed away last week. She governed at the same time as Ronald Reagan was our president. They brought down the Iron Curtain and she saved Britain from socialization. Under Thatcher’s conservative agenda the British Empire thrived.

 My mother said, “It takes a town to raise a kid.” Listening to the news recently, some people think that kids are not our kids, but they belong to the state.

Be aware, we are headed toward a stronger government where your every move is regulated. I have talked about how the schools are almost all controlled by big government and we locals just go along with it. If every school board would just tell the state and feds to go fly a kite, that may send a message. But they want those dollars from Madison and Washington, but those dollars have not covered all the costs and that has left the local property taxpayers with under and unfunded mandates.

I am old enough to remember talking to people in our communities that grew up in the 1920’s 30’s and 40’s, before school consolation took over. For a number of them, their formal education stopped when they graduated from the eighth grade at a one-room country school.

They did not look to the government for support; they were productive members of society. Made a living for themselves and raised a family, paid their bills and taxes and the only thing they asked of the government was to have their mail delivered. We had a great education system, tops in the world. The government got involved and now we are rated at number 27.

We have the government involved, college loans now total almost a trillion, ninety million people not working, fifty million on food stamps and the country deep in debt. If that is a picture you like, something is wrong with you.

We have a leader, who knows nothing about leadership, burns up millions of dollars of fuel flying around the country blaming our former president and the Republicans, because he does not know what to do about all the problems we have, other than tax and spend.

He should take a lesson from Harry Truman, “The Buck Stops Here.”

Then there is VP Joe Biden, who spent a million dollars for hotel rooms for a two-night stay in Europe. Our million bucks.

It’s tax time; look over your return and figure how deep the government reached into your pocket for taxes. It’s at least a third of your income and maybe half by the time you figure in Federal and State income tax, sales tax, and property tax.

I was at Bernard’s in New Richmond last week. As I was walking into the show room a sporty car caught my eye. Looking it over and noticing the price tag, it had a gas guzzle tax of $1,000. Buy that and you pay that thousand-buck tax plus sales tax on that tax.

— Carlton