Dealing with Florence one step at a time

It is often said that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. This rings true when the objective is to bring relevant change to a system of governance. This past year has been an incredible lesson in politics as government has become more inter-woven in our daily lives than ever before.

Those who consider themselves non-political have become aware that they can’t simply choose to not be engaged and expect the repercussions and consequences of an ever expanding federal government not affect the way they live. We are now sailing in uncharted waters with politicians and bureaucrats now having managerial oversight in private sector businesses that include auto manufacturing and insurance companies as well as the banking system. Never before have Americans been so dependent on the federal government to come to the rescue and solve the ills of our economy and other societal issues. Certain politicians have seized this opportunity to centralize more and more of “the power of the people” in Washington. This is deeply troubling because more government intervention means less personal liberty. If Washington continues to dictate at every turn, people are not forced to think and make decisions for themselves, and eventually become less capable of doing so. People begin to have the assumption that government is the chaperone on our journey of life. It’s this keeper-provider role that people are expecting and our political establishment is more than willing to oblige. This exponential growth and its immense financial consequences concern me deeply. I have three kids and as consumptive as my two teenagers are, we manage. I don’t have ten kids because I understand the burden it would be on our family finances. I could not afford what it would cost to feed, shelter, educate, and support ten kids. That level of growth in my family would be unsustainable. I could sell a car, cash in a CD, or take out a loan and put off the inevitable for a while but sooner or later we would crash and burn.

Words like socialist, Marxist, and communist are popular for television and radio pundits as Washington expands at this profound rate and will demand and consume more and more of our money to support itself. This path becomes politically irreversible when you get more people expecting and receiving benefits of some sort than those that are not. More voters are riding in the wagon than pushing and pulling it. Our founding fathers understood and accepted that government at its very core is inefficient. That’s why they constructed a constitution that clearly limited what our government would and should do. You wonder how they would judge Washington and its adherence to their wisdom and beliefs. The recent philosophy of bigger is better is certainly bi-partisan. Republicans and democrats have both taken advantage of being in the majority over the last twenty five years and being fiscally conservative has not been a priority. A more centralized power structure requires more money to exist, and we continue to feed the monster. While most state and county governments are mandated by law to balance their budgets every year forcing elected officials to make tough and unpopular cuts and concessions, Washington continues to deficit spend at record speed.

Despite this negative assertion of our federal government it is essential to our very existence as a free people. It is still the best experiment of freedom and liberty in the history of mankind and has allowed for more human advancement and prosperity than at any other time in history. I do believe, however, that we are at a defining moment in the history of this great nation. There are good and decent people who sincerely believe that a bigger and more intrusive federal government is a good thing. I’m not one of them. I believe in free people operating in free markets with individual responsibility and accountability. A country that treats all people the same but allows grand successes and heartbreaking failures. A system that rewards diligence, competence, persistence, and hard work with a moral obligation to assist our most needy. This brings me to my original point about eating the elephant.

Florence County is my part of the elephant. I can’t pass an ordinance or referendum to make America more like I truly believe our founders intended it to be. However, I can become more engaged with my little piece of this great big elephant and I’m doing just that. I’m offering myself as a candidate for chairman of the Florence County Republican Party. I’m not doing it to be divisive or partisan toward people of other political persuasions but rather to stand on principles that have defined this great nation for over 200 years. Benjamin Franklin once said “what you have is a republic if you can keep it“. I ask you to join me by becoming more involved in the political process and together we will keep this republic for generations to come.

Ken Ard is a member of Florence County Council and candidate for the Florence County Republican Party Chairman. He can be reached at kardllc@yahoo.com.