Local control, really?

It is often said that all politics are local. When there is an election the candidates do everything they can to speak before as many groups of people in order to let their message be heard about how they intend to represent the wishes of the citizens once they are in office. Some of the candidates have organizations in their campaign that reach out to the churches and to the people who attend all the various churches in their districts. In the last several election cycles, campaign organizers have targeted certain churches where their candidate should be seen in worship. I have always had an open door to anyone and everyone who would like to attend worship where I have served. It is not my responsibility to determine the motive involved in any person’s heart when they attend church. I am pleased to have the folks who attend worship at whatever time they are present. There has never been a time when I changed a sermon based on who might or might not be present in worship on any given Sunday. In years past, there were people who served in elective office as members of the church where I served as pastor. There was never a time when any of the elected officials asked me to change a sermon or preach on a certain topic to fit with their campaign. I am thankful for men and women who serve in elective office with integrity and openness, and are regular in worship attendance at the church where they have their membership.  I am thankful there are Christian men and women serving in all levels of government service.

That being said, we often hear elected officials say they want to hear from their constituents what is on their mind and how they feel about various bills and resolutions that are to be voted on in the chamber of government where they are elected to serve. Last year, we saw in town hall meetings at the federal level, some of the elected people really did not mean that.

There are currently issues in our state that invoke a passionate response from citizens on both sides of the issues. The issues of horse racing; pari-mutuel gambling including casinos; and furtherance of encroachment on Sunday, the sales of alcohol in our state bring out aggressive passionate feelings. In every state including Georgia, both of these industries are regulated at the state level. Our state has committees charged with regulation of both industries. Elected officials are given the responsibility by vote of the people to regulate alcohol and gambling (lottery) in Georgia. I find it interesting that when these hot items surface, all of a sudden certain lawmakers want to claim they believe fully in local control, and that these issues must be voted on by the citizens. With all due respect, the citizens have already voted when they elected people to represent them at the state level. We hear words such as “fairness,” “local control,” and “let the people vote.”  Some at our capitol have said they did not hear from those who oppose these two pieces of legislation, so they assumed that everybody agreed with them. Once people began to let their voices be heard in opposition to these matters some cried “foul.”  We need our legislators to protect all the citizens from any matter such as alcohol and gambling that preys upon the people.

Ray Newman, February, All Rights Reserved