This is Viewpoints for Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017

Good work, but

Kudos to the Macon-Bibb County department responsible for clearing all the brush and trees from the right of way on Moseley Dixon Road. After consolidation, our district was completely ignored. Upon calling the county, I was told they did not have enough manpower after consolidation. Of course, we knew this would be the problem once consolidation passed. That is one of the reasons I did not vote for it. Hopefully now that it looks so good for a change, they can keep it that way. It was rather embarrassing after the new water park opened with the road looking so bad. With the new striping that was recently added, we have a road that we can be proud of and it is so much safer now that we have a clear view of traffic coming down the road..

I also feel the Macon-Bibb County government should reconsider adding our garbage collection fees on an annual basis to our tax bill. Do they not realize what a hardship this will be for senior citizens that will have to come up with this extra amount at one time? Plus they want to raise the fee according to the rate of inflation which we know will be every year. It is my opinion they need to go back to the drawing board on this one.

Censure of Sen. Warren

I am ashamed of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent censure of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Sen. McConnell’s actions provide clear cut support for President Trump’s declaration that America is as morally corrupt as Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Sen. McConnell effectively silenced Sen. Warren’s reading of Coretta Scott King’s letter that denounced Sen. Jeff Session’s nomination to the federal court. King’s husband was assassinated for his courageous advocating for American civil rights. King’s letter protesting Sen. Session’s federal judge nomination was deleted from the U.S. Senate Record by Sen. Strom Thurman, a proud segregationist and racist, known posthumously for fathering biracial children.

It wasn’t enough that King’s husband was assassinated; now the U.S. Senate censures Sen. Warren to silence Senate discussion of King’s personal experience of then-Alabama Attorney General Session’s concerted efforts to deny civil rights, and her condemnation of his ability to impartially interpret the law. Putin would be proud — all Sen. McConnell had to do to gag both Sen. Warren and Coretta Scott King was simply allege that King’s words impugned Sen. Session. Does this make America great again?

A hero out there

No surprise that the retired USAF Col. Peter Christensen whose letter was published on Friday reeks with Republican bias. Having worked for 30 years for the Army and Air Force I met many like him. None became my role models in life.

That he didn’t like eight years of Obama because most of his ilk are very conservative and mostly Republicans is no surprise. Their knowledge of politics is limited and he fails to tell us anything that Obama accomplished. But he liked George W. Bush who brought on the 2008 recession and got us into two wars.

When Obama was sworn in, Bush had bailed out AIG for $85 billion and created the TARP Program to bail out Wall Street and we were losing 85,000 jobs monthly. Obama saved the auto industry and appointed two women to the U.S. Supreme Court, and created Obamacare.

I would love for Christensen to tell us what he accomplished in his military life. His list would be full of worthless, pale blue, training certificates. Not a likely hero so no Purple Hearts, on his license tags. Barack Obama’s presidency will go down in history as one of America’s best.

Positives and negatives

Is immigration good or bad? Obviously, depends on who you ask. A recent Telegraph editorial pointed out that immigrant students benefit Georgia universities by paying tuition, etc., and some Georgia businesses benefit by bringing foreign workers here, including their wages averaging $73,000 a year. Foreign businesses locating here can also hire American citizens here and abroad. American agriculture, building trades, and some services employ immigrants to pick produce, build things, and keep up our landscapes at lower cost, doing jobs most Americans don’t want to do. Seems like a good thing for America.

However, like a lot of things these days, there are bad consequences of immigration, 9/11 being the most serious of them. The Boston Marathon bombing is another. Terrorists love free access to their targets, and ISIS has freely acknowledged their intent to infiltrate the stream of immigrants and refugees with their jihadist warriors. Home grown terrorists are bad enough without adding foreign ones. Then there is the economic impact of illegal immigrants who get paid cash under the table, do not pay taxes, use our services for free, and send a lot of their money back to their families in Mexico. People who hire them are subsidizing the Mexican economy, not helping ours, but they claim our citizens will not work for them at those wages. Some truth to that, except I have always easily found American citizens willing to groom my lawn, fix my plumbing, wiring, etc. I’m not a produce farmer, so I have little knowledge of that. I know some, however, and they confirm that premise.

So, what to do? Nothing? Keep open borders and let in anybody who wants to come? That seems foolish, given what has happened so far and what might happen in the future. The ideal would be to let in people who benefit our society and keep out those who those who intend us no harm. Simple idea but not so simple in execution. How do you determine which is which?

Here’s an analogy: Do average Americans these days keep the doors to their homes locked? Let people into their homes only when they know them or can reasonably determine they mean no harm? Probably. So why would American society not take the same approach for our country? That’s all President Trump is trying to do. Sure, there will be fits and starts as this effort to increase national security proceeds, but we must keep our eyes on the prize. A safer society from the known threats in the world that intend us harm. To do nothing is inviting the terrorists to increase their body count of dead American citizens that already stands at over 3,500. Do you want to become another victim? Is dead Americans the price we must pay for our cherished principle inscribed on the Statue of Liberty?

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017."