Challenges assertions of column
From Slim Smith’s article about the debate among state senatorial candidates conducted at The “W” Tuesday night, one might wonder if he was really there.
He describes the candidates as “four old white guys.” I challenge Mr. Smith to get a piece of white paper and place the paper next to the skin of each of the candidates. I think he’ll be surprised to find that their skin color is reddish brown, and the ones who have been more in the sun being slightly more brown than the others. This begs the question: What in the world does the skin color (as opposed to cognitive ability and worldview) of the candidates have to do with anything?
Only in the mind of a dyed-in-the-wool socialist like Mr. Smith would that thought come in. Mr. Smith was probably trying to bring race subtly into the picture, but the race was open to black, white, purple, yellow, red, polka dotted-to anyone with any color skin, and not just to old folks, either.
Second, Mr. Smith must have quite a bit of wax in his ears. His headline said zero ideas were presented at the debate.
I was there and I heard quite a few ideas. One was fiscal restraint-funding and keeping such funding within a budget. This is a novel idea to socialists so no wonder it blew right by Mr. Smith. There also was an idea of how to fund schools within a budget. Cut out waste. An example was given about a school district buying a $40,000 3D copier, which has sat useless for years now.
School districts being somewhat “top-heavy” was another idea brought up. There is a lot of waste in all levels of government which can be cut. Not to Mr. Smith and his socialists! Tax the life out of people and business and throw the money at problems, real or perceived. If that doesn’t work, throw more money.
Another idea at the debate was to make all government agencies come back to the Legislature every year for funding and not automatically spend their budget frivolously at the end of the fiscal year.
Another idea presented was upholding Second Amendment rights (a wonderful older idea). Another the fire station needed in west Lowndes County.
Yes, there were many ideas presented by the four reddish-brown skinned fellows at the debate, but apparently none to suit the socialist worldview of “old white guy” Smith.
Kelsey Van Every
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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