HORACE MCQUEEN: The New Year Beckons

Lord, thanks for the rain.  That three inches or more of rain over much of our country was welcomed and put to good use. Now if winter pasture seedlings will grow and prosper, cattle folks could have some grazing shortly — not a lot, but at least a few mouthfuls for a change of pace.

The big tax bill has passed congressional muster and now taxpayers are wondering how the new laws will affect them next year. One thing is certain. Government is never idle — with more and more agencies demanding more and more of our hard earned dollars to fund their whims and wants. Then there are the politicians always trolling the water for more votes at election time. Just promise the voters at least two chickens in every pot — and throw in a turkey or ham to seal the deal!

We have lost our direction in this great nation. Lack of responsibility and reliance on “government” to provide food, housing, insurance, phones, and lots of other “freebies” continues to grow and fester.

There seems to be no shame among many of our citizens who exist by “gaming the system” rather than seeking gainful employment. Seems to me that any able bodied welfare recipient should be doing something of benefit to society in return for taxpayers providing many of their wants and needs. Give them a hoe, a shovel, or hedge clippers, a rake, a paintbrush, a broom and turn them loose to beautify the courthouse lawn or clean up the trash on our highways and byways. Probably this is a pipedream — the do gooders would cry that this is cruel and unusual punishment just because they are poor!

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the U.S. offered this defense of personal self-reliance. “A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. It condemns the citizen to servitude.” Well said, Mr. President!

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