Super Ginormous

Tag: democracy

  • Referendum Passes

    Here’s what we voted on:

    FINAL RESULTS LOCAL REFERENDUM

    “Shall a one percent sales and use tax for educational purposes of the Columbia County School District (the “School District”) be reimposed within Columbia County for a maximum period of time of 20 calendar quarters, for the purposes of providing funds to pay (1) the cost of acquiring, constructing, and equipping one new elementary school and one new middle school, adding and equipping new classrooms at existing high schools, acquiring land for future schools, adding to, renovating, repairing, improving, and equipping existing school buildings and other buildings and facilities useful or desirable in connection therewith, and acquiring any necessary property therefor, both real and personal, (2) the cost of acquiring instructional and administrative technology improvements for existing schools and acquiring school buses, the maximum cost of the projects described in clauses (1) and (2) above to be $42,067,795, and (3) the cost of retiring a portion of the School District’s General Obligation Bonds, dated September 1, 1976, General Obligation Refunding Bonds, dated December 1,1992, General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 1993, General Obligation Refunding Bonds Series 1994, General Obligation Bonds, Series 1994-A, and General Obligation School Refunding Bonds, Series 1998, by paying or making provision for the payment of the principal of and interest on such bonds coming due on April 1, 2003 through October 1, 2007, in the maximum amount of $27,932,205?”

    “If reimposition of the tax is approved by the voters, such vote shall also constitute approval of the issuance of general obligation debt of the Columbia County School District in the principle amount of $16,000,000 for the purpose set forth in clause (1) of the above question, to pay capitalized interest incident thereto, and to pay expenses incident to accomplishing the foregoing.”

    Final Tally: YES 4841, NO 626

    Taken from the Columbia County Website

    “So?” you’re probably asking. “What’s the big deal?” Well, for one, it is a good thing that the referendum passed. Columbia County has long been touted as having one of the best school systems in Georgia, and the money the one-cent sales tax generates will definitely be of great benefit to the county and to its schools. It is also a good thing that it passed so overwhelmingly with 4841 voters for the measure and only 626 against. But, when you consider that the number of voters only accounted for roughly 9% of the county’s registered voters, the figure is pitiful. Reports have indicated that the only people who really voted for the measure were primarily teachers and parents with school-aged children.

    The county advertised the measure pitifully. Sparse sign placement, random radio announcements and an editorial in the Augusta Chronicle were all that made mention of the measure. It’s no wonder hardly anyone voted. No one knew about it! If they wanted people to participate, they should have advertised the measure better!

    I, for one, did vote. I was among the 5,467 voters who did make it out to the polls. Voting is important, regardless of the issue. Why? Because these kinds of things affect the whole county. A one-cent sales tax raises prices, albeit rather insignificantly, but it can possibly make a difference for some people. It’s important to get out there and vote. That’s the whole point of democracy. People that don’t vote shouldn’t bitch, because they didn’t join the few that DID decide.

  • The Right to Protest?

    Amendment I – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

    A lot of things tend to bother me. None moreso, though, then people’s blatant abuse of our First Amendment rights afforded to us in the Bill of Rights. On my way home from work today, I was listening to NPR (FYI, it was All Things Considered). They were discussing the Democratic National Convention and the riots that went on during last nights proceedings. First off, enough is enough. People get pissed off about the simplest things. It’s one thing to protest and picket peacefully, but when people start vandalizing and throwing rocks and getting into fights – a line has to be drawn.

    According to CNN.com six people were arrested after a group of nearly 100 demonstrators started launching rocks and bottles towards police monitoring a concert/protest (courtesy of everyone’s fave Rage Against the Machine). Well, apparently, people want to complain now about how the police handled themselves – as if the demonstrators shouldn’t have to take responsibility for breaking the law, causing general mayhem, etc. When are people going to take responsibility for their actions? If you’re going to be destructive, you deserve to be pepper sprayed and shot at with rubber bullets. A bit much? Sure. But the police need to take whatever precautions necessary to protect the general populace from these mobs of protesters. If this includes throwing tear gas or firing rubber bullets into a crowd, I’ve got to say that I agree with it. We have police for this very reason – to protect us from those that would break the law.

    According to CNN, “protesters argued they were not given enough time to comply with police demands. ‘There was no way for people who wanted to leave to get out of that event last night,’ said Jim Lafferty, head of the left-wing National Lawyers Guild. Lafferty said he saw police club people who were scrambling to get out of their way and shoot them in the back with rubber bullets as they fled.”

    My reply? They shouldn’t have been doing what they were doing in the first place. Meanwhile, you’ve got all of these ACLU lawyers monitoring the situation just waiting to sue LA Police for doing their jobs. How can they condone wanton destructive violence? How can they not expect the police to react with force? The ACLU threatens litigation if people aren’t provided an area to exercise their First Amendment Rights… If you’ll read carefully the First Amendment above, you’ll see that people are afforded the right to peaceful assembly.

    Know why we have problems like this? Because people are disinterested in the political system until it affects them. Wrong answer. People need to get out there and vote. You want change, get involved. Protesting does nothing but disrupt the normal processes of life. Sure, it might deliver a message for a moment or two, but your decisions as an involved citizen can change things for much, much longer. Don’t like George W. Bush or Al Gore as a viable president? Then vote for someone else! Vote for Ralph Nader or Pat Buchanan or someone else! Just be sure to VOTE. It’s sad to think that less then 50 percent of the population in the United States is voting for our leaders… The more that people get involved, the better things will eventually be. This is supposed to be a democracy, isn’t it?

    The First Amendment only goes so far. If you want to protest, protest. But don’t let it get out of hand. If you want to see change, get involved. Work towards changing the system.

    That’s my two cents, and I’m stickin’ to it.