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Page 2 | Lyon County Reporter The “blame game” con- tinues, as does the “who gets the credit game?” Those who love Obama will continue to salute him as they always have and probably always will. That is their privilege. They can pledge allegiance to whomever they choose. To a degree, their rever- ence for him is understand- able. Even his opponents must admit that he has much to admire. Anyone who could propel himself into the national spotlight the way he has done must accept that fact even if they don’t like it. Obama knows who he is, where he wants us to be as a nation, and exactly what steps must be taken to get us there. Un- like most politicians, even the half-truths he tells are at least partially believable. Even I like him in many ways. I like the way he car- ries himself, the way he speaks and especially the way he treats his family. I also like the way he be- lieves strongly in what he is doing in the process of doing it. What I detest is the process he is taking to get things done exactly the way he wants them done. Socialism is not my cup of tea. At the present time, it appears to be his. Robbing from the rich and redistrib- uting those assets to the poor is not fair in my mind. I say that as a person who falls short of being what one would call rich. Gee whiz, I don’t even own a family farm. I’m not even a millionaire on paper. Furthermore, I rmly believe in the free enter- prise system — a system at least in America that pos- sesses a Judea-Christian moral base. If that system was good enough for our Founding Fathers, it is good enough for me. How about you? The scal cli has been temporarily averted — but not for long. Eventu- ally we will all pay a price. We must pay that price and the sooner the bet- ter. Either we pay it or we are doomed to place it on the backs of future gen- erations. It’s tantamount to buying expensive gifts for our prodigy, but then mak- ing them pay double if not more for them years down the road. Unpopular as it is to most of us, I would rath- er pay for gifts myself and allow those who follow to pay their own way. The time for spending less than we collect is now. I say that no matter who is in the leadership role. The time for robbing from Pe- ter to pay Paul is long gone. Now is the hour for all of us to kick in our fair share if true progress is ever at- tained. Perhaps the at tax is the best way out of this horrible situation. Elimi- nate most deductions, and then allow straight per- centages to take care of the rest. Perhaps those who rep- resent us could pave the way to scal responsibil- ity with their own sweat and sacrices. Allow us to learn from their example. It makes sense to me. If it was good enough for Jesus, it should at least be good enough for those who go by His name. (Oh, excuse me — we can’t do that. Separation of church and state now forbids.) January 9, 2013 Commentary Jim Hensley ...................Chief Operating Officer Lisa Miller ...................................General Manager Kristin Snell ..........................................News Editor Jodie Hoogendoorn .................Associate Editor Jeff Benson ........................................Sports Editor Lois Kuehl .............................Adv. Representative Kari Jurrens ........................Advertising Assistant Daniel Wendland ...............Business Office Mgr. Marilyn Ahrendt .....................Business Assistant Shaun Kats ........................................Graphic Artist Melissa deBoer ................................Graphic Artist Megan Punt ......................................Graphic Artist Mary Clausen .......................Circ./Office Services Published weekly at 310 First Avenue, Rock Rapids, Iowa 51246. 712-472-2525 (USPS 323-300) Copyright 2011 Lyon County Reporter, a New Century Press Newspaper Periodicals postage paid at Rock Rapids. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Lyon County Reporter, P.O. Box 28, Rock Rapids, IA 51246 Member: Iowa Newspaper Association and National Newspaper Association We The People... In the Public Interest Grins And Glares Grins to the people get- ting out there early to keep the roads clear for morning commuters. Grins to the great reghter(s) who stand out- side on cold nights to get the old school park skating rink lled. Glares to the kid(s) who chose to ride through the skating rink shortly after the reghter(s) got done ll- ing it and made a noticable mark on the ice aecting the ability for others to skate easily and safely. Glares to the peo- ple and businesses who fail to keep up with shoveling snow from their sidewalks for pedestrians to use. Now what... The Challenge to Liberty LYON COUNTY Ken Barker C OLUMNIST In the closing days of the 1932 presidential elec- tion, President Herbert Hoover stated that “this campaign is more than a contest between two men. It is more than a contest between two parties. It is a contest between two phi- losophies of government.” President Hoover was re- ferring to the policies and philosophy of his Demo- crat opponent, New York Governor Franklin D. Roos- evelt, who proposed a New Deal for the nation. Hoover understood, and indeed predicted, that Roosevelt’s New Deal would not only move the nation away from traditional constitutional government, but also cre- ate a “profound change in American life” and a “radical departure from the foun- dations of 150 years, which have made this the great- est nation in the world.” Hoover lost the election of 1932 in a landslide, but his warnings about the New Deal proved accurate, and Roosevelt’s program changed the nature of gov- ernment. The New Deal strength- ened the administrative state as well as ushered in the welfare state, both of which have had drastic ef- fects on constitutional gov- ernment. President Barack Obama, who won reelec- tion on a progressive plat- form, continues the Roos- evelt-style policies of the 1930s. President Obama is utilizing Keynesian stimu- lus spending, massive lev- els of new regulations, and pushed for the creation of new entitlements with the Patient Protection and Af- fordable Care Act. The economy contin- ues to grow at a slow pace and unemployment still re- mains high even with four years of President Obama’s economic interventions. The scal outlook of the nation is also causing a massive threat of nan- cial collapse as symbol- ized by the $16 trillion na- tional debt and four years of trillion-dollar decits. President Obama has set an unfortunate record of adding at least $5.4 trillion to the national debt. The scal problem must also take into consideration the rising cost of entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. President Obama, just as President Roosevelt, has called for bold and persis- tent experimentation in public policy. It is clear that the current polices have failed and only resulted in a worsening economy. What is needed in policy is not bold experimentation, but stability. President Warren G. Harding, who also faced a severe economic crisis, stated that “any wild exper- iment will only add to the confusion.” Harding, just as with other Presidents such as Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan, brought stability to their policies by following a philoso- phy based upon constitu- tional limited government. Thomas Sowell, the noted Stanford economist, wrote that “both history and con- temporary data show that countries prosper more when there are stable and dependable rules, under which people can make in- vestments without having to fear unpredictable gov- ernment interventions” The challenge to liberty today rests on abandoning the current policies and returning to the values of the American Founding, because the future of the republic is at stake. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Public Interest Institute. They are brought to you in the interest of a better informed citizenry. John Hendrickson, Research Analyst, Public Interest Institute Letter to the Editor Road trip—destination Rock Rapids — a little bit of Heaven on Earth, part 2 By Melanie Van Wyhe Mom greets me with a smile and a hug, and we spend the next few hours catching up. By eleven, I am spent, and I crawl up- stairs to nd a bed. Just as I get cozy in the connes of what seems to be one of the softest beds in the world, I fall into that bliss- ful place between waking thoughts and where danc- ing hotdogs don’t seem so strange. Suddenly, I jerked awake to what sounds like the medical helicopter at the hospital across the street. No—within a few groggy seconds I realized it’s only a very loud moth apping his wings in my ear. I screamed and jumped out of bed. I gave him a dirty look as if he would no- tice or care. Everything was so perfect, and now an ugly little moth has come to ruin my sleep. It wouldn’t be so bad if I were one of those bug lovers…you know the kind who can pick up a spider by one leg and pet it like it’s some kind of rare cat. I picked up camp and begrudgingly trotted to the other bedroom—thankful I had another option. That is until Mr. Moth decides he hasn’t had enough of me yet. So it was either the moth and I or mom and I. I made my way down to mom’s bed. A little snor- ing is better than a moth any old night, even if I kept thinking every ten minutes a garbage truck is backing up and down the street. It turned out to be the best weather we had had in a long time—a comfort- able seventy degrees and a delicate, crisp blue sky. But nothing could beat the fuzzy little wonders that were just beginning to explore life on this Earth, specically on my brother’s acreage. Six new baby kit- tens with chubby bellies and microscopic voices as angelic as the coos of a newborn trying to compre- hend where his/her own voice was coming from— or what it even was. I had arrived at that little piece of Heaven on Earth for sure now, and I had long forgot- ten about the sludge until my brother took a look at my tires and reminded me of the bad news that my gut had warned me about the day before. I walked into Lyon County Coop the next morning, told them who I was, Katie Couric of course, no just Paul Van Wyhe’s sis- ter, and explained what I needed. “Oh, and ll up my tank and charge it to Mar- garet Van Wyhe.” I said. He never asked me for my ID or even questioned if I real- ly was who I said I was. Sup- pose a resemblance to the Van Wyhe’s was enough. He said I didn’t need an align- ment and only charged me ten bucks to switch the good tires to the front! It wasn’t until a little lat- er while I was sitting down in the Rock Island Park mesmerized by the water falling over the rocks that I began to understand what the dierence between the city sludge is and what it means to be part of small town. Besides the negative ions that started to put me in a tranquil state—there was something there in that small town that is part of the big city, but is so much harder to nd. I think some of the small town folk take for granted what they have, what is easy for them to nd: honesty, account- ability, the sincere care for one another. Now I’m not saying the Mini-Apple (Minneapolis) doesn’t have that—not at all. Nor am I saying Rock Rapids doesn’t have any, well sludgys. They might have one or two, but even though I do consider the Twin Cities my home now, Rock Rapids will always be a little bit of Heaven on earth to me— God’s country. A place I know I can come home to anytime.
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