Letters
Where are the statesmen willing to protect us?
The Founding Fathers of our country and the Constitution guaranteed us the right to bear arms. When they did this, they envisioned the right of each family to have a musket and sword to fight tyranny and protect and feed their families.
Even in all their wisdom, Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin could not have foreseen the weapons we have today. Reasonable men like them would never have unleashed the horrors visited upon innocent men, women and children of today.
These American heroes would never sit by, sell their souls and enrich themselves while their innocent countrymen died around them.
Where are the statesmen who will stand up and protect us today?
David Jacobelli | Tavares
It's time for a nonpartisan redistricting commission
Due to partisan politics, the major parties have gerrymandered the congressional districts so badly that it is estimated that only 35 of 435 districts nationwide are competitive. That is why so many incumbent members of Congress, irrespective of his or her job performance, were returned to that dysfunctional body.
That will continue to be the case until this nation adopts nonpartisan commissions to draw equitable congressional districts. That will not be the case as long as the two major private political parties have unwarranted control over the redistricting every 10 years.
These are public offices not private political offices for the privileged few. Let's take our districts and the political process back.
Do we want a Congress that works for all the people and not just to appease the majority of partisan voters in the rigged districts? Yes! Do we want office holders that must appeal to all voters and not just the party? Yes.
Now is the time to set in motion the effort for nonpartisan redistricting commissions and nonpartisan public offices, and finally turn the corner on the partisan divide that has crippled our country.
Choice Edwards | Clermont
We're working hard to keep needy children warm
When I moved to Florida eight years ago, I was surprised to find there were organizations doing clothing and food drives for the homeless in the Ocala National Forest. I was unaware of the vast and growing number of families who were forced for whatever reason to live in and around the Ocala Forest area. I supported the drives and looked for an opportunity to do more.
Two years ago the Knights of Columbus, of which I am a member, was asked to support a coat drive being run by our Supreme Council in New Haven, Conn. We would purchase the coats from them at wholesale and we would distribute them as needed. We distributed more than 300 new coats to the director of the Help Agency to the forest, and the pastors of two Baptist churches that help the homeless.
Early in 2012, we were advised of the great need in our local area for coats at our local schools. This past season when told of children getting off school buses wrapped in blankets because they had no coats, we included Lady Lake Elementary and the Belleview Elementary Schools with the groups we supported last year.
The need is greater then ever because of our economy and high unemployment.
We distributed more than 300 new coats again this season, and with the weather getting colder I'd like to do more. I can't picture any of my nine grandchildren waiting for a bus with no coat.
Since it costs as much to clean and store used coats, we have been supplying new coats to the children with the tags still on them. For some of them, it's the first new thing they have ever received. One child recently told me the coat was toasty warm and she was going to wear it to bed that night.
It brings a tear to my eye.
Tom Rueck | The Villages
Community Director, Knights of
Columbus Council No. 14222
World is laughing at our downsizing
The smaller the more successful. The final destiny of all true governments is downsizing.
Really, if you think about it, our Founding Fathers presented a regulation of how we should interact with each other, a Bill of Rights. They regulated a fair trade act between states -- regulated value received between states as an equal exchange rate, and gave birth to federal currency, equality by regulation between states and between citizens in these states.
Historic evidence proves once you regulate something you no longer need to regulate that something again. Eureka, we have a downsizing of government. So why does not government become smaller?
Now let me ask a question. If you had a nice cushy job that paid well and you didn't have to be there all the time, wouldn't you want to keep it? Wouldn't you like the power of that position? So, you create things that really don't need regulation but you regulate them anyway.
There is a California minnow that is dying because of fertilizer contamination in the water. The idea of regulation in this case is to stop the farmer from farming. Harvesters lose their jobs; there is a food shortage in five states; prices go up; and the farmer cannot feed his family.
However, the minnow is doing well and so is the "fat cat" politician.
That is regulation today, not to be confused with conservation.
Now, we are told that the employment figure for November 2012 is up. Things are in an uptrend. What they neglected to tell us is 73 percent of that uptrend is the hiring of government employees. The government employees will now be paying their federal income tax on our federal income tax. Doesn't that sound crazy?
Is America the land of the free? Freedom's only enemy is a freedom without faith in the government, and where virtue is a standard and a right. The first book of St. Peter, 2:15 has taught us the words of fools are the religion of the lost.
If you hear laughter, that is the rest of the world laughing at our downsizing.
William R. Miller | Tavares
Friday, February 08, 2013 - www.dailycommercial.com/8feb2013letter