Letters policy: Send by e-mail to letters@gainesvilletimes.com (no attached files, please, which can contain viruses); fax to 770-532-0457; mail to The Times, P.O. Box 838, Gainesville, GA 30503; or click HERE for a form. Include full name, hometown and phone number for confirmation. They should be limited to one topic on issues of public interest and may be edited for content and length (limit of 500 words). Letters originating from other sources, those involving personal, business or legal disputes, poetry, expressions of faith or memorial tributes may be rejected. You may be limited to one letter per month, two on a single topic. Submitted items may be published in print, electronic or other forms. Letters, columns and cartoons express the opinions of the authors and not of The Times editorial board.
Tonight, I'll "toss and turn" as visions of sugarplums dance through my head! Yes, tomorrow will be one of the most favorite day of this year for me, and we're far from Christmas.
Tomorrow, I venture to the Hall County Voting Office and vote myself a tax cut. Tomorrow I will vote to decrease the amount the state and county takes from me, for the children, for the seniors, for water parks for the less fortunate, for golf courses, for ag centers, etc. Tomorrow, I will vote against the continuation of our special purpose local option sales tax. I will vote to return my sales tax from 7 percent to 6 percent.
Statists, big-government types, many leftists and most government workers will decry my vote as community suicide. I'll be called everything from a Nazi to anti-American. But I'll don my flak vest and venture into the voting booth and do my duty. I'll continue the fight against big government.
There's a reason "the ruling class" doesn't like giving the serfdom an opportunity to reduce their taxes. Because they almost always succeed in doing so. This is why SPLOST votes occur in off-election years and off-election months.
In the meantime, our Republican-dominated Board of Commissioners has been busy adding to the Hall County real estate portfolio and planning baseball fields in the middle of nowhere (does the movie "Field of Dreams" come to mind?). Once the "party of limited government," Georgia Republicans are simply the Democrats of the 21st century and are taking big government to an entirely new level.
During discussions with many of my fellow Hall Countians, I am told my opposition to the SPLOST will almost certainly result in higher property taxes. Well, I say bring it on! Raising my taxes is a political decision that the commissioners are accountable for. We can deal with that in the summer of 2012.
In the meantime, I would suggest that the Republicans on the Hall County commission stop buying and spending. Many of us are getting rather tired of big government and the increased taxes required to maintain it.
So here's my advice to all those who are feeling a bit depressed, who may be struggling in this "improving" economy, or perhaps are tired of watching the government thrive while the private sector suffers, and to those who can't rely on the government to "hold a gun to their neighbor's head" to pay for their pensions and benefits.
Follow me to the voting office and vote "no" on the SPLOST. It's a small step, but trust me, you'll feel like a million bucks!
Charlie Waddell
Gainesville