By J. Larry Miller
On December 1st, I began my 11th year as Franklin County Farm Bureau Manager. As I look back over what seems a very short 10 years, I have become involved with a lot of different organizations in the county as part of my effort to represent our farmers. I have attended a lot of meetings! One of the primary efforts of the local, state and federal Farm Bureau’s, is to be involved in the political process.
One meeting that I remember attending about 5 years ago was a civic function where a local financial planner was talking about the way that government was working. He said that, yes, there are a lot of problems with government in the area of budgets that were of concern but these problems always have a way of working themselves out. This individual has a lot of respect with many in the community of which I am one of those people.
I really do listen to what people have to say and someone of his influence has an impact on my thought process. I did not particularly agree with him at that point but have reason today to disagree with the statement even more.
As I see it, our democracy has slowly gone the way of others in history that have done very well until the common man realized that he could elect those who would help him receive money or to get help from the government. In my lifetime, I have watched the role of government go from having a limited affect on personal lives to invading almost every area of our daily lives. Government is going bankrupt trying to deliver our mail, provide unlimited health care for seniors, welfare for members of society who are unable or unwilling to work for any reason, police the world, maintain a bloated bureaucracy and regulate what size soft drink portions should be.
This past week many of you indicated that you had seen me being interviewed on a local television station and that I seemed to be frustrated with the latest inability of government to solve problems. I always wanted to be transparent.
Does anyone out there believe that we have leadership that will solve our current problems? Can we overcome being $17 Trillion in debt? Can the Illinois General Assembly balance it’s budget and solve the Billions in pension problem? The only noise I hear is the sound of a tin can being kicked further toward the cliff.
Gun control is not our biggest problem nor is making same sex marriage legal but maybe that is our problem. Poor values!
I am thankful to live in this country and believe that we can change things. Someone said that the only way for evil to prevail is for good men and women to do nothing.
I believe that Farm Bureau has good principles and that if we work together we can change the direction of our country.
Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.
