Words

 

Fever pitched rhetoric has consequences.

Enough already! Just because I disagree with your politics or you disagree with mine makes neither of us evil. We are all merely pawns that the proletariat uses to accomplish their ends. As we point fingers at one another, leftist activists, politicians, and journalists that continually provoke both sides are laughing all the way to the bank. When we engage in hateful rhetoric with our neighbors, evil secures and maintains its’ power. As we fight amongst ourselves, evil actions are kept hidden in darkness, allowing the purveyors of evil to prosper. Hate is a tool that the father of lies uses to sow division and strife, poisoning our very souls.

A house divided cannot stand. If this nation continues on its current trajectory, another civil war is not out of the question. The hatred sown, almost exclusively from the left, is tearing the fabric of society apart. Friends and family discussing politics often evoke a knock-down, drag-out argument that can end in relationships forever fractured. Some on the left even refuse to interact with family members that are conservative. How ridiculous is that?

For all you on the left that have never even bothered to watch any of his interactions or events, Charlie Kirk was not evil or a nazi. Charlie Kirk preached the love of Jesus Christ and that you should use your intellect to think logically for yourself. There was no hatred. There was no homophobia or transphobia. He spoke the truth and offered an invitation to all viewpoints to engage in productive and respectful dialogue. And for that he was murdered. Those who celebrate his death are overcome by the evil one.

For all of you on the left, guns do not kill anyone, only those who use them to commit violent acts. Black on black gun crime has skyrocketed, yet in the increasingly rare occurrence when police shoot a black man, newscasters report it as if it is an epidemic. Police kill whites at 3 times the numbers of blacks, so the argument that blacks are unfairly targeted lacks merit based upon the facts.

For all of you on the left, the criminal justice system in the United States has so many checks and balances that protect criminal’s constitutional right from unjust convictions, that an only an estimated 1-5% of all incarcerated criminals have been unjustly convicted. That means that 95-99% of individuals, no matter their skin color, have been justly convicted and sentenced appropriately. So, those persons of color in prison have earned their just rewards, rendering the argument that persons of color are unjustly and disproportionally incarcerated, moot.

For all of you on the left, government is not the answer, it is the problem. Welfare has imprisoned generations of minorities, trapping them on the plantation of entitlements, eliminating God and fathers from the family unit. Healthcare costs have been inflated by penny on the dollar reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid, causing providers to increase costs to private insurance companies to make up the difference. Obamacare provides subsidies directly to the insurance companies and not to the insured. That disastrous strategy will do nothing but drive up premiums! Public education continues to fail our children as legislators throw ever more taxpayer dollars at it to “fix” it. Over 80% of school budgets go to teacher’s salaries and benefits, so it is obviously not just about the children. This wasteful spending drives up property taxes, pricing potential home buyers out of the market and forcing homeowners, especially retirees, to forsake home ownership. In plain terms, when government intervenes, government fails miserably. Winners and losers should succeed or fail based upon merit.

For all of you on the left, perhaps it is finally time to follow the science. Biology determines that there are but two genders, male and female. Men cannot ever become fully functioning women and women can never become men, no matter how much they want it to be so. Gender dysphoria morphed practically overnight from a mental disease into a condition in need of “gender affirming care.” Any doctor performing any gender altering care to minors should be charged with malpractice and banned from the medical profession. “Transgender” adults, if you can reconcile your “life” choice with God, more power to you. Loving your neighbor does not require others to affirm poor decision makers within their fantasies.

The left is a clear and present danger to this nation. Democrats have hitched their wagons with the insanity that is the left. The left is doing the devil’s work, dividing and conquering this one nation, under God. The invective arising from leftist democrats is constant and deafening. The rhetoric masks their true intentions; They have nothing to better the lives of the American people other than casting aspersions at their “opposition” party and its leader, Donald Trump. Allowing democrats, in their current form, to have any power in the decision making in Congress, State, or local government, will be to the detriment of our Constitutional Republic.

We, the people, have far more in common than the difference in our politics. We are all unconditionally loved by our Father in heaven, despite our shortcomings. For all the differences that seem to take precedence in our worldly lives, it is our spiritual lives that matter most. While it may seem difficult at times to love our neighbors as ourselves, without it our world will continue spiraling out of control. Hatred is easy, love takes a conscious and concerted effort. If we loved one another as much as Christ loved us, wars would end, families would unite, and communities would thrive. Placing God first in our lives is the greatest commandment, loving our neighbors as ourselves is the second. Embracing those two commands along with recognizing, confronting, and rejecting evil, is the recipe to heal our broken nation.

“Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

“You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.” 1 John 4:4-6

Problematic

 President Ronald Reagan summed it all up in one statement, “Government is not the answer, government is the problem.’ In my former life as a police office, one technique I used to break tension was smiling and saying, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help!” This often elicited a chuckle and helped diffuse the situation, allowing everyone to relax and begin to resolve the conflict. After almost thirty years as a police officer and now finishing off my fifth term as County Supervisor, I have a pretty good handle on how government actually works, or better said, fails its’ citizens every day. Unlike a private business that sells a product to create revenue, governments create revenue by taxation and fees. Far too many of the services that governments provide are riddled with redundancies. Far too many governments use the excuse that their citizens expect local control in order to provide essential services. Far too many governments simply continue to conduct their business as they always have; They just need to raise taxes because the costs to provide those services continue to rise. These excuses make no sense whatsoever.

The “Kingdom Syndrome” permeates our government, particularly at the local level. Sharing services is a dirty word to many administrative bureaucrats that seem to think any reduction in their organization somehow lessens their authority. Those types of bureaucrats are the single greatest impediment to operating an efficient government and lowering property taxes. Governor Evers and far too many Wisconsin Counties are advocating for an end to levy caps. Ending the levy caps will enable all local and County governments to raise property taxes again. Remember what happened before levy caps and Jim Doyle was Governor? If one government has purchased costly equipment that is not used on a daily basis, why would a neighboring government need to purchase the same costly equipment if they also did not need it daily? Why couldn’t both municipalities come to an agreement to share that equipment, in some cases saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. This technique could be used to eliminate other redundancies in our government as well, saving taxpayer dollars or allowing tax revenue to be diverted to road repair and reconstruction.

Another argument against sharing of services, cooperating with other municipalities and consolidating essential services is that those governments would lose local control. This argument is actually illogical. Governments actually succeed when they provide essential services efficiently and timely. Governments actually succeed when those services are also provided cost effectively. Governments also succeed when they are streamlined and effective, using their resources wisely to meet the moral obligations to provide for those in need. As an example, larger organizations have more resources necessary to fulfill those obligations such as public safety, roads and infrastructure and human services. Organizations that operate with efficiency and have employees that understand and respect those that they serve is paramount to managing a successful government organization.

When “Economy of Scale” principals are applied, cost advantages are obtained by purchasing at a lower per-unit cost because those purchases are in larger quantities. Additionally, when crises occur, more resources are available to assign to more effectively resolve the problem. It is actually far more efficient for municipalities to cooperate, consolidate and collaborate in order to create those efficiencies that better serve their citizens. The only product that government provides is to serve their citizens to the best of their ability.

“We’ve always done it this way”, “Why fix it if it ain’t broke.” This type of governing is the primary reason that property taxes seldom are reduced, unlike Washington County that has continued to reduce the property tax rate. Washington County will continue to be a leader in innovation and finding new ways to better serve our citizens and continue to reduce their tax burden. The County Board will be considering, and likely passing, resolutions to oppose the lifting of property tax levy caps and opposing the additional .5% sales tax initiative at their April meeting. Wisconsin residents remain among the highest taxed in the nation and any additional taxation is unnecessary and unfair. The intent of the property tax levy caps was to force local governments to innovate and find ways to be more efficient. Lifting those caps only serves to validate those governments who refused to enact changes necessary to better serve their citizens.