Surprise us, Governor

As a former office holder and county GOP chair, I have been generally critical of where my party is headed on social issues. So, it was a pleasant surprise when Gov. Deal vetoed the campus carry bill.

I am a gun owner and I love to go to shooting ranges. And I do not believe that taking away guns will ever be politically feasible in the USA, no matter how many mass shootings occur.

But when I was Jasper County Commission chair, I would not have wanted someone to carry an Uzi or Glock into our courthouse. Evidently, I am not alone, in that the Georgia legislature prohibits firearms in their chamber. It is inconceivable that our hypocritical state legislature decided that campus carry is a wonderful idea.

On the surface, it would appear that the governor sincerely believes, as do I, that guns have no place on a campus. As a lame duck, he can act on his convictions, which leads me to my other point.

Governor, it is about time to accept federal government money to expand Medicaid to the working poor. I understand why you punted on this issue (endorsing legislation that moved the decision into the legislature) when you were up for election. It plays well with the base to say that you will not endorse Obamacare.

However, the law is here to stay. All of the blue states, and an increasing number of red states, are using our federal tax dollars to expand Medicaid. We should as well.

Governor, you have to show leadership and push the legislature to act. You surprised me on guns. Please surprise me on health care.

Outrageous

It seems incredible that the Elections Board has awarded John Darr another term as sheriff by disqualifying all of Darr's opponents in the upcoming political race. Given the common occurrence of deals and "good ol' boy" arrangements, one cannot help surmise that perhaps such preferential treatment was a gift from the Elections Board.

The candidates may have violated qualifying rules, even though such rules were obfuscated in a shroud of garble and confusion. To disqualify all of Darr's opponents is something that should not happen. The Ledger-Enquirer reminded all of us that Darr won re-election four years ago by only 60 votes, and he was almost defeated by a political newcomer. That indicates to me that a goodly number of voters in Muscogee County were not satisfied with his performance.

John Darr runs the sheriff's office as a fiefdom and he is lord of the manor. The public needs to know the size of the deficit Darr has accumulated during his time as sheriff. That amount was over $11 million dollars some time ago. No one on the council has the courage to stand up and say an emphatic "No" to his out-of-control spending.

Regardless of who the next sheriff might be, the council needs to hold the sheriff to a responsible budget that will curtail outrageous spending and one that will begin to repay some of the money that has arbitrarily been spent by Darr.

All I can do is shake my head and mutter, “Only in Columbus!”

Biblical relevance

Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. It helped to move the Jewish consciousness out of its tribal mentality and opened the doors that allowed the Jewish religion to grow to levels of universal understanding. The book was written to give hope to the discharged Jewish returnees from the Babylonian exile and the Persian hegemony

We must think of God as a heavenly father, with all people being God’s children. In today’s world we should articulate this as the “brotherhood” of the human family under the “fatherhood” of God. That is the step that we have to take in today’s world. Without Malachi’s searing insight it would not have been possible for Jesus to take the next step, as he did when he enjoined us to love even our enemies

Before Malachi, the Jews used to discriminate against the Amalekites, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and even the Samaritans. This is in spite the fact that a common DNA permeated them all. Even King David's great grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite. This insight is what finally caused Malachi to say “Have we not all one father, has not God created us all?”

We live in unsettling times. And when the future is uncertain, we tend to withdraw to the perceived comfort and security of our own race, people who look and sound like us. However, in today’s world, that’s a false comfort

As a result of the sayings in the Book of Malachi, a new realization of the oneness of all human races has dawned. Racial thinking is beginning to die. This what makes the Book of Malachi so noteworthy and powerful for the 21st century.

This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Surprise us, Governor."