This is Viewpoints for Monday, May 1, 2017

Follow the money

To understand NewTown’s involvement in asking the Macon-Bibb County commissioners to bail out a downtown business from pending failure all we need to do is follow the money.

Apparently the Crazy Bull Nightclub here is in dire financial straights and in jeopardy of having foreclosure proceedings started against it within the next week. The owners are asking NewTown for an $800,000 loan to stop the proceedings, but NewTown does not have any money.

As I understand the developments, NewTown rushed over to the commissioners and asked them to guarantee this loan if it is not repaid by the owners. That will allow NewTown to borrow the money and loan it to the nightclub. Such guarantee will be made against our county tax digest making every property owner in the county responsible for the repayment of this boondoggle.

If the business succeeds and everyone pays each other off we taxpayers will have escaped this debt and can live for the next project that will make Macon-Bibb great again. Meanwhile most of our streets continue to crumble.

A moderate perspective

In order to solve a problem, it must be recognized. In recent years, I have seen a large divide betwixt the political parties in the United States. I have heard said that in three periods of U.S. history political tensions have been dangerously bad, the beginning, before the Civil War, and currently. How did America go from leaders who compromised in the late 20th century, to the gridlock from 2004 on?

Simple, a lack of understanding among people and their representatives. Somehow, U.S. voters who tend to be moderate have elected leaders who represent the extremes of what they believe. We saw this during the 2016 election with nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and the following of Sen. Bernie Sanders. America must return to electing leaders who are able to compromise, people like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

The American dream is strongest when we compromise. When we work together, we produce systems that work, if anything shows this it is the U.S. Constitution. Birthed out of compromise it has guided America for over 200 years with only 27 changes. If, when we compromise, we produce such a document, why would we not continue to follow in those footsteps?

Oh boy

Evil forces are working to deprive Donald Trump, televangelist Franklin Graham and the Republican Taliban’s savior, of the opportunity to crush the homosexual, climate change, and liberal tax and spend abominators and to transform America into the Christian theocratic paradise envisioned by Graham and the Taliban.

If Trump is to overcome these Satanic forces and bring the Republican Taliban’s vision to fruition, he must act quickly. First, he must acknowledge that God intervened in the election and is responsible for his miraculous and unexpected victory. Second, Trump should honor God and thank him for his great political victory by making a human burnt offering sacrifice of his eldest daughter just like the human sacrifice Jephthah made of his only daughter in Judges 11:30-39. Once these steps are taken, it’ll be smooth sailing for the Trumpmeister. Just one caveat: remember God likes all human burnt offering sacrifices extra crispy.

The facts beg to differ

It is funny to me how conservatives like Walter Williams love to fuss about stuff they know fundamentally is a lie such as his assessment of the environment on Earth Day. Sure mistakes are, and will be made on the state of the earth’s climate, but if you decide to believe Williams’ line of reasoning that we should continue on our merry way and use all of the fossil fuels and other resources because, as he insinuates, technology will come to the rescue, then consider my next point.

If you were to ask Williams if “trickle-down economics” has worked since the Reagan era, he would probably defend it “tooth and nail” because that’s what columnists like Williams do for a living. But the facts beg to differ.

The problem in his climate story is that 97 percent of the scientists who know anything about climate can tell you without a doubt, the climate on earth has changed more in the last 40 years than in the life span of humanity, and we are the cause.

The almost ice free arctic, unprecedented wildlife loss and carbon emissions have us on a clear path to famine, water shortages and human suffering. Williams can sit in his arm chair and say that we are buying into deception and lies as long as he can find enough people who had rather sit along side him with their newspaper instead of getting off the couch and looking for the real facts.

Win again

Have just one revelation for all those who bad mouth Trump. Your disagreements and criticism of what he is, and what he does, are precisely the reason he occupies the Oval Office. You lost. Do you desire to keep on losing? Have at it. I love it, for that means we will win again in 2018 and 2020.

A private matter

Taxes are a private matter between the IRS and the person filing their return. As far as I know the only time taxes become a matter of public record is when the IRS files charges against a person or business for alleged fraudulent activity. I know this because if the person is prominent and has allegedly defrauded the government of a large sum of money, it usually makes the newspaper.

I don’t care if any public official, including the president, releases their tax returns to the public. Likewise, if the IRS finds alleged criminal activity then they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This includes the president, regardless of party. I remember when then Vice President Al Gore made his tax returns public and he was roundly criticized because some pundits wrote that he did not donate a lot of money to charity based on his wealth. It is nobody’s concern how much he gave to charity. It was his money and he could do with it as he pleased. I have always felt this way regardless of political party. We have lost enough freedoms in our country and we lose more everyday. Let’s not lose our privacy with our IRS.

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Monday, May 1, 2017."