OHIO
Written by Gene Williams
Monroe Historical Society
November 2010
VOTE ! ! ! ! ! !THINK! ! ! ! ! CARE ! ! ! ! ! LIVE FREE - RESPONSIBLY
TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, A LARGE GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN CHOSE TO DEFY GEORGE, THE KING OF ENGLAND, BECAUSE HE HAD CHOSEN TO FOLLOW HIS DESIRE AND HIS PAST IN RULING HIS SUBJECTS………..not a whole lot different than his German forebearers had done prior to the family coming to Merry Olde England. Come to think of it, there wasn’t that much different from the other “chosen” reigning monarchy that happened to rule anywhere, at anytime, during any given situation in all of history. My Dad taught me early on that “Power Corrupts” and “Total Power Corrupts Totally” when I was still too young to understand what the heck he was talking about…..but, as time has gone on, that man has continually been correct in his political assumptions and thoughts, much to my distress and to the chagrin of many would-be “saviours” of this world around us. It wasn’t that my Dad was the smartest man in the world…….it was only that he never looked at this world through rose-colored glasses. He tried to teach my sisters and I the importance of standing up for what we deemed was honest, right, positive, and, many times, distressing in the knowledge that it isn’t always what the crowd thinks that is the way to move forward. His firm belief that there is a Supreme Being that guides us in the way we ought to go, happens to be mocked by many, but, much to their detriment, he has been proven right too many times, even long after his death, that this statement is still the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I only wish that the people who think that they are in power today in our own country understood the ramifications of that statement……….on both sides of the aisle in every state and in our capital. Dad would have been deemed as socially misguided in his daily walk and the way that he dealt with his fellow man. Whether it be our towns, cities, states, schools, counties, churches, social organizations, or whatever group that happens to be going on, there is always somebody who has all of the answers………and every time they get up to speak, others listen, and sometimes, things happen, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Sadly, it seems that we are out-of-kilter in our desire to move forward with our society……..even though we, as a group, truly do want to do what is right….OR ……..are there those of us who feel that we have all of the answers, and that we know better than everyone, or anyone else, in whatever matter that we are dealing with? How do we get through all of the bull and rhetoric? Read! Think! Pray! Ask questions! Listen and watch more than you speak.
Four score years after we started this Grand Dream, Mr Lincoln sadly told us that we had a long way to go. We still have a long way to go. We now have more freedom for a longer time than most all the nations in history have ever enjoyed……….BUT…..we have to keep looking over our shoulder because the boogeyman is right behind us, unless we maintain logical forethought and vigilance in our daily lives. All of our politicians spout and sputter about what they are going to do for us, once they get up there, but, it sure seems that it hasn’t really mattered which one is voted in, once they get up there in that position of power, something causes them to change and back off the path of honor, integrity, truth, and the American Way, as Superman used to say. Once we transgress too far off the beaten path, we seem to get lost in what is really important. Looking good to the crowd seems to be so darn super-important. Fitting into the mold of the group that we espouse to lead and follow seems to be more important than not allowing the passions of the moment to cause our thoughts and deeds to do things that will help bring our downfall in a few decades. Many people around the world still look to us for leadership, but many times we falter in what we know to be correct and give in to our more base instincts. We shout from the mountaintops that we have the answer and that we are the best, then some darn political idiot gets caught doing something illegal or immoral. How did we let that obnoxious boor get into a position of power in the first place, we ask ourselves. Very simply, we didn’t pay attention. We heard what they said, but we didn’t see their daily actions and how they treated their own personal lives over the long haul. Seems to me that we get lazy and let the other guy do our thinking for us (me included). This year, I have noticed that these elections are possibly the second dirtiest elections in my entire 67 years of being on this earth……..or maybe I just didn’t pay attention on a few other elections. I truly want to take almost every one of the people running their advertising on T.V. and put on the ballot…………”NONE OF THE ABOVE”. I realize that I can’t do this, but I am still up-in-the-air about who I can possibly believe. The answer is still very simple, but very hard. VOTE VOTE ! ! ! ! THINK ! ! ! ! CARE ! ! ! ! LIVE FREE - RESPONSIBLY
