Watching the Presidential Primaries in South Carolina these past two weeks, quite honestly has left me sad.
I’ve worked a large portion of my adult life in the Washington DC area. My career has been spent working for medium to large sized private companies in operational management in the service industry. In these settings, every dime was scrutinized. Payroll and expenses were managed in a way that owners or investors received the largest return on investment possible. Our compensation was set up in a fashion that if we performed well, we would also financially benefit. During turbulent times, we learned to “do more with less.” When we performed poorly, there were always consequences.
I was in branch banking when President George W. Bush famously stated “I have decided to abandon free market principles, in order to save the free market system.” That is when I became so angry I got involved in the civic arena at the local and state level.
As Edgefieldonians, we now live in a small, rural county, where the first piece of advice I received when I moved here was, “Scott, this is a small town. Never forget, people know more about you than you know about yourself!” I thought that was a hilarious piece of advice – and I have reflected back on it numerous times as I have gotten to know my new neighbors and combined that advice with my own view, that perception is not always reality.
This being only my second week doing this weekly column I hope folks who have pre-conceived ideas about me will re-read the paragraph two paragraphs above. A Republican President abandoning principles is what made me angry enough to get involved in the civic arena, not a Democrat.
Since then I’ve had the privilege of driving across the 14th street bridge into Washington DC multiple times to attend meetings. Each time, I simply marvel at the number of construction cranes you can count in the skyline. Rome is under massive construction, while at the same time burning.
Stated another way, since the bailouts, initiated by a Republican President 8 years ago, our nation continues to borrow 40 cents of every dollar it spends, mostly from enemies who want nothing more than to kill us. Today, Washington is bigger and more corrupt than ever and our two leading Presidential contenders prior to Super Tuesday are: a man who knows how to pay off elected leaders from both sides of the aisle, and a political insider who runs a foundation receiving contributions from foreign enemies, as well as involvement in numerous other corruption allegations.
Perhaps when this is published, the results of Super Tuesday will change the outlook, and an outsider will be leading.
Either way, my hope is not in Washington, where leadership seeks to divide us for control and personal gain. My hope lies first in faith in God and through His intervention we will see a revival of virtue in the American people. When the majority finds that type of revival, I believe we will find there is more that unites us than divides us.
I hope you have a blessed week.
__________
This was the second week I was published in The Edgefield Advertiser, the longest running continues paper in South Carolina, published March 2, 2016.
Recent Comments