What do you think? Pass it along to anyone you'd like. I'd
appreciate suggestions for improvement.
Steve
-------------------
Steve’s NHO
March 2012
A couple years back, I wrote a ‘Never Humble Opinion’ column, in which
you may recall (hopefully) my never-humble guidance for choosing the
correct candidate for whom to vote. To briefly recap:
Step #1) Register to
vote! NOW. You must do that first.
Step #2) Disregard party
labels. The best candidate for you may be
registered in another
party.
Step #3) Make a concerted effort to read campaign literature from
all
candidates. Listen to their speeches. Listen to them
when they’re
interviewed on the radio and TV. Go to their
websites. For
incumbents, review their accomplishments.
Step #4) When you hear trash-talking from one candidate (or his/her
surrogates) against another candidate, move that person TO THE BOTTOM
OF YOUR LIST.
Step #5) Make sure you actually VOTE!
That was written in March, 2010. Now, in 2012; My advice is exactly
the same:
Which candidates/positions are important for the future of
Coos County? Look around. Around where you live, where you
work, where you used to work, where your family and friends live and
work (or used to work). What’s missing? What needs
changing? What needs to go away?
Here’s what your humble columnist
thinks is important: jobs; small,
efficient and economical
government; jobs; utilization of our God-
given natural resources (remember:
everything –EVERYTHING- we consume
is either GROWN, or it’s MINED);
jobs; lower taxes; jobs; and less
governmental interference in our
lives.
Boil all these down into a couple simple points. Government
should:
• Get out of the way of businesses trying to get started
here.
• Get out of the way of businesses already ongoing here.
• Stop
increasing taxes, fees, and regulations on businesses and
individuals.
• Lower or remove taxes, fees, and regulations on
businesses and
individuals.
Good government does NOT penalize
individual effort and
accomplishment. Good government leaders do
NOT discourage and
maliciously hinder business development and
individual effort. I’m an
unapologetic Ronald Reagan
Conservative who likewise believes
“Government ISN’T THE SOLUTION TO
THE PROBLEM, Government IS THE
PROBLEM”!
Ask anyone who’s
tried to build a new commercial business operation
lately. In
Coos Bay. In North Bend. Anywhere in Coos County. Has
it been an easy road for them, or an endless quagmire of red tape and
roadblocks?
The Oregon and Federal government do-gooders and
mindless bureaucratic
minions are a HUGE part of the problem.
(How do you like that new
hands-free-cell-phone law? The Bandon Marsh
land grab? Measure 66 &
67? Mandatory Health-Care reform?) Such
politicos are usually self-
serving and interested in little more than
protecting their careers,
expanding their fiefdoms, and getting
re-elected, they hinder more
than they help. ALWAYS.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to weed out the SOB’s who hide behind
‘office staff’ and the anonymity of being one of 90 in Salem or 535 in
Washington DC, and a conveniently long distance from here where we
live on the southern Oregon coast. Like ‘picking fly poop out of
the
pepper’, if you know what I mean…
When it’s Coos County
and local city officials doing the same, it
becomes much easier to
pick out the SOB’s from the crowd.
• Local knuckleheads who want to
restrict our rights because of their
own narcissism and self-righteous
demands (like PROHIBITING your right
to smoke on city property) ARE
THE PROBLEM.
• Local knuckleheads who would prohibit business startups
for fear
that a slug, snail mouse, gnat, or imported bird would
be
inconvenienced ARE THE PROBLEM.
• Local knuckleheads who
demand that willing business partners be
PROHIBITED from creating new
jobs because of ceaseless fears of being
inconvenienced (like imagined
traffic congestion from Chromite trucks,
for example) ARE THE
PROBLEM.
• Remember how many log trucks and chip trucks USED TO travel
our
roads and highways a mere 10 years ago? ORC’s use of a small
fraction
of those trucks that immediately produced anywhere from 75 to
150 GOOD
LOCAL JOBS is one of the GOOD ANSWERS.
• The planned
Jordan Point LNG plant /pipeline is one of the GOOD
ANSWERS.
• The concurrent construction of a container shipping facility is one
of the GOOD ANSWERS.
• Construction of a coal shipping facility is
one of the GOOD ANSWERS.
• These four will all use the rail line being
reconditioned and re-
established by our forward-looking Port
Commissioners. They will use
the modernized airport facilities
recently developed by our forward-
looking Airport Commissioners.
• Shop locally, and (if at all possible) shop SMALL BUSINESSES.
I
have no problem patronizing WalMart, but I always first try
BiMart.
Staples does a fine job, but for the same price, South
Coast Office
Supply and Butler’s offer the same products and services
just as good
or BETTER. Safeway is great, but McKay’s is LOCAL
and has as good or
better meats and specials. (There is no Mr.
Safeway, but THERE IS a
Mr. McKay. And he’s from HERE!).
Save your trip to Lowe’s or Home
Depot. Hennick’s and Bandon
Supply are LOCAL. You get the idea…
Bottom line:
Want to
make something happen? Remove restrictions and taxes on it.
Want
to stop something from happening? Tax it and encumber it with
minutiae and endless red tape. Same goes for confusing,
conflicting
local/state/federal regulations. Change the rules
mid-stream and
allow endless challenges by parties with ‘no skin in
the game’.
Be a good LOCAL citizen. Shop LOCAL and watch your
dollars turn over
6x or 7x in the LOCAL ECONOMY.
Want another
humble suggestion? Ask the Commissioners, Oregon
Senators and
Representatives and the Governor to make the ENTIRE STATE
OF OREGON a
Business Enterprise Zone. If they say “NO”, ask them to
publicly
explain “WHY NOT”! Get them on the record. Maybe it isn’t a
good
idea; but maybe it’s the missing link, the key to the door of
opportunity for decades of Oregon economic growth.
Just an
idea. A GOOD ONE, in my never-humble opinion…
Steve
appreciate suggestions for improvement.
Steve
-------------------
Steve’s NHO
March 2012
A couple years back, I wrote a ‘Never Humble Opinion’ column, in which
you may recall (hopefully) my never-humble guidance for choosing the
correct candidate for whom to vote. To briefly recap:
Step #1) Register to
vote! NOW. You must do that first.
Step #2) Disregard party
labels. The best candidate for you may be
registered in another
party.
Step #3) Make a concerted effort to read campaign literature from
all
candidates. Listen to their speeches. Listen to them
when they’re
interviewed on the radio and TV. Go to their
websites. For
incumbents, review their accomplishments.
Step #4) When you hear trash-talking from one candidate (or his/her
surrogates) against another candidate, move that person TO THE BOTTOM
OF YOUR LIST.
Step #5) Make sure you actually VOTE!
That was written in March, 2010. Now, in 2012; My advice is exactly
the same:
Which candidates/positions are important for the future of
Coos County? Look around. Around where you live, where you
work, where you used to work, where your family and friends live and
work (or used to work). What’s missing? What needs
changing? What needs to go away?
Here’s what your humble columnist
thinks is important: jobs; small,
efficient and economical
government; jobs; utilization of our God-
given natural resources (remember:
everything –EVERYTHING- we consume
is either GROWN, or it’s MINED);
jobs; lower taxes; jobs; and less
governmental interference in our
lives.
Boil all these down into a couple simple points. Government
should:
• Get out of the way of businesses trying to get started
here.
• Get out of the way of businesses already ongoing here.
• Stop
increasing taxes, fees, and regulations on businesses and
individuals.
• Lower or remove taxes, fees, and regulations on
businesses and
individuals.
Good government does NOT penalize
individual effort and
accomplishment. Good government leaders do
NOT discourage and
maliciously hinder business development and
individual effort. I’m an
unapologetic Ronald Reagan
Conservative who likewise believes
“Government ISN’T THE SOLUTION TO
THE PROBLEM, Government IS THE
PROBLEM”!
Ask anyone who’s
tried to build a new commercial business operation
lately. In
Coos Bay. In North Bend. Anywhere in Coos County. Has
it been an easy road for them, or an endless quagmire of red tape and
roadblocks?
The Oregon and Federal government do-gooders and
mindless bureaucratic
minions are a HUGE part of the problem.
(How do you like that new
hands-free-cell-phone law? The Bandon Marsh
land grab? Measure 66 &
67? Mandatory Health-Care reform?) Such
politicos are usually self-
serving and interested in little more than
protecting their careers,
expanding their fiefdoms, and getting
re-elected, they hinder more
than they help. ALWAYS.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to weed out the SOB’s who hide behind
‘office staff’ and the anonymity of being one of 90 in Salem or 535 in
Washington DC, and a conveniently long distance from here where we
live on the southern Oregon coast. Like ‘picking fly poop out of
the
pepper’, if you know what I mean…
When it’s Coos County
and local city officials doing the same, it
becomes much easier to
pick out the SOB’s from the crowd.
• Local knuckleheads who want to
restrict our rights because of their
own narcissism and self-righteous
demands (like PROHIBITING your right
to smoke on city property) ARE
THE PROBLEM.
• Local knuckleheads who would prohibit business startups
for fear
that a slug, snail mouse, gnat, or imported bird would
be
inconvenienced ARE THE PROBLEM.
• Local knuckleheads who
demand that willing business partners be
PROHIBITED from creating new
jobs because of ceaseless fears of being
inconvenienced (like imagined
traffic congestion from Chromite trucks,
for example) ARE THE
PROBLEM.
• Remember how many log trucks and chip trucks USED TO travel
our
roads and highways a mere 10 years ago? ORC’s use of a small
fraction
of those trucks that immediately produced anywhere from 75 to
150 GOOD
LOCAL JOBS is one of the GOOD ANSWERS.
• The planned
Jordan Point LNG plant /pipeline is one of the GOOD
ANSWERS.
• The concurrent construction of a container shipping facility is one
of the GOOD ANSWERS.
• Construction of a coal shipping facility is
one of the GOOD ANSWERS.
• These four will all use the rail line being
reconditioned and re-
established by our forward-looking Port
Commissioners. They will use
the modernized airport facilities
recently developed by our forward-
looking Airport Commissioners.
• Shop locally, and (if at all possible) shop SMALL BUSINESSES.
I
have no problem patronizing WalMart, but I always first try
BiMart.
Staples does a fine job, but for the same price, South
Coast Office
Supply and Butler’s offer the same products and services
just as good
or BETTER. Safeway is great, but McKay’s is LOCAL
and has as good or
better meats and specials. (There is no Mr.
Safeway, but THERE IS a
Mr. McKay. And he’s from HERE!).
Save your trip to Lowe’s or Home
Depot. Hennick’s and Bandon
Supply are LOCAL. You get the idea…
Bottom line:
Want to
make something happen? Remove restrictions and taxes on it.
Want
to stop something from happening? Tax it and encumber it with
minutiae and endless red tape. Same goes for confusing,
conflicting
local/state/federal regulations. Change the rules
mid-stream and
allow endless challenges by parties with ‘no skin in
the game’.
Be a good LOCAL citizen. Shop LOCAL and watch your
dollars turn over
6x or 7x in the LOCAL ECONOMY.
Want another
humble suggestion? Ask the Commissioners, Oregon
Senators and
Representatives and the Governor to make the ENTIRE STATE
OF OREGON a
Business Enterprise Zone. If they say “NO”, ask them to
publicly
explain “WHY NOT”! Get them on the record. Maybe it isn’t a
good
idea; but maybe it’s the missing link, the key to the door of
opportunity for decades of Oregon economic growth.
Just an
idea. A GOOD ONE, in my never-humble opinion…
Steve
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