Friday, April 25, 2014

Luckily the Osage is somewhat isolated

What Happened?  Politics were so far removed from growing up in the Osage and for the most part much better when I was a kid.   About the biggest thing ever happened was re-electing the county commissioners which looking back were caught up in scandal but most of us never even knew that until thirty years later.  If you don't know what I am talking about go look up "county commissioner scandal in Oklahoma".  Then of course there was the county sheriff scandal in the early 1920's when they were being bribed.  Look up the "Osage Indian Murders" and you will find out what I mean.  But most of all politics were kind of cool when a new governor showed up for some event like visiting Codding Cattle Research to highlight a new Simmental Bull coming to America.  It did not matter to folks whether they were Republicans or Democrats as they were held in honor and celebrated for being leaders.  Sure there were discussions but not emotionally charged like they are today.  In fact that brings me to "The rest of the story".

There is a lot of clamoring about school regulation at the state and national level and health care and of course the military and about everything else you can think of.  Next they are going to try and legislate how to protect the cows from the heat (they already do that for dairy cattle).  They might even try to legislate where you can build a pond or plant your crops or cut down trees.  Oops, they already have.  I may be wrong but I just think local folks have more common sense about what to do locally.  I could be wrong but I thought I had the best teachers and administrators in Mr. Bias and Mr. Treadway and Mr. Morris not counting the teachers of Shumate, Himbury, Snyder, Head, Alverado, Morris, Gilbreth, Cothom, and the list goes on and on.  We might disagree on some of these but I bet you the majority of us turned out all-right.  I guess I believe all of us make bad decisions sometimes but if we just make good decisions most of the time and have a little faith in our Lord things are going to turn out OK.  I learned early in life that those who work hard deserve more. Some folks who work hard chose a profession that pays less in spite of the pay but it was their choice.  Some folks like teachers chose a profession that pays less money but get wonderful benefits during and in the end vs. others who chose to make a lot more money and have no guarantees on income, vacation, retirement or even retiring before age 67.  It is all about choices and we all have to make them.  If enough folks choose not to work for less pay (it is called free enterprise) then the employer has to pay more to attract them even if it is the schools or farmers, etc.. Farmers are the amazing ones as they have no guarantee of income or retirement but again it is a choice.  Such a wonderful thing about America, free choice.  I know that stinks somewhat but we do make our own bed and we have to sleep in it.  

Dad said many times that "if the government would get out of the farming business good farmers could make money".  He was also a believer in if a bad farmer makes bad decisions he will go out of business making it easier for the good farmer to make money.  I think we call that free enterprise.

Dad also made the point, "every time the government passes a law someone wins and someone looses".  It seems to me there is a lot of common sense in that.  I did learn in the Osage that if you cheat, steal and lie even if there is not a law against it directly  that you should be punished.  Bernie Madoff was a crook and should go to jail but did the government over-react to that?  ABSOLUTELY.  Read the new Dodd Frank laws and see how it hurts all of us more than the extremely wealthy.  You will be shocked.
National Health Care and Obomacare?  We already had national health care so that was nothing new.  Did we need some fixes?  ABSOLUTELY.  Was this a good fix?  You tell me.  Can we afford another national social program?  Social Security is in deep trouble but not because it was not funded well but because the government spent all the money on other things and cannot say no to more social welfare.  Medicare works but it is broken and getting worse.  Did you see the new law that is going to make it more difficult to get medicare to pay for hospital visits of one day?  Basically they shifted more expense to the consumer which means that those who can pay will have to and those who cannot pay will be subsidized by the government.  Lets make no mistake about this point.  The government is not paying this but the 50% who pay the taxes are paying it.

Well, where did all of this get us?  What did we learn in the Osage?
  • We are a whole lot better off governing on a local level
  • Schools and education on a local level make more sense and the dollars can be spent better when locally controlled by local values and local decisions
  • People who work hard and do right should make decisions for those who cannot and it should be done on a local level, not a state or national level
  • Local values are better and stronger than those put together by outsiders meaning those who are not farmers should not dictate to farmers and teachers know their students and need the power to teach and discipline on a local level dictated by a majority of folks on the local level
  • We don't need more laws, we need more honest and local choices.  Perhaps we need to teach morals, ethics and values again and teach folks how to work hard and stay focused.
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepoineerman.com



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