The presidential election was disappointing for me to say the least. Mitt Romney is a genuinely good, spiritual man, but he was one nice guy who finished last. I don’t have any solutions for the Republican Party. A majority of the electorate now looks to the government, not the free market, to solve their problems. I think Obama will do a better job of reaching across the aisle this time around than he did in his first term, but the Republicans in the House must also find a way to compromise. The electorate pretty much hates Congress.
The liberal media got their guy; so did Putin and the Muslim world. People will soon feel the hidden taxes in Obamacare and understand how they are actually paying for all the freebies in national health care. (Wait until Uncle Sam takes that 3 percent tax out of the profit on the sale of your house.) Gas prices will probably go up some more. The economy is going to improve slowly, but the deficit will continue to balloon driving us toward a European-type debt crisis. It’s not going to be pretty when the next president after Obama has to enact austerity measures. It’s hard to take back “entitlements.”
The biggest losers Tuesday were not the Republicans. The biggest losers were our children. We all are going to survive just fine, but for the first time in the history of this country, my generation will not be able to hand our kids a fiscally more secure country. Not sure we could’ve even if Romney had been elected. The irony is that it was the votes of the younger generation for Obama that secured that outcome.
As for me, I am going to enjoy my life right in here in good old Rome, Georgia, one of the best kept secrets in the whole world.
The attorney-client privilege precludes me from addressing the specifics of my work for many of the clients mentioned here, but some things are a matter of public record and give me more leeway. Let me say that the amount of pro bono services I have provided is accurately stated.
I have been blessed, but I am not a rich man and health problems have limited my ability to do much of what I wanted to accomplish. Before I die, I would like to perform some public service. With critics like Voter, I doubt I could get elected to anything, so I'll just have to find some other way. My ultimate goal, if I am ever able to afford it, is to establish regular hours each week at my office where I open up to the public for pure legal aid services. I would find great comfort in giving back that way.
By the way Voter, if you think I have somehow used pro bono work to get some advantage with the IRS, you are sadly mistaken. It doesn't work that way, and I haven't.
Also, I was not the attorney of record for Entice during its battles with the County. I was never asked to do that, and quite frankly, I wasn't qualified to handle the complex First Amendment issues presented in that matter.
You don't even know me and yet, in your comments, you have implied or outright accused me of lying, cheating the IRS, having an inappropriate relationship with a former client, wearing smelly socks, being stupid, being insincere, having STD's, and soliciting child molesters for clients. Instead of criticizing you, I have reached out a hand in the spirit of friendship. The offer remains open and I hope some day you can get past your negativism to find out for yourself just who I am and who all these other people are that you find it so easy to defame, hurt and criticize. God bless you!
That leads us to the real reason for class warfare. The big prize for government is the vast middle class tax base. People making between 50k and 125k per year is where the real money is. That vast group of people will be taxed to death in coming years. That is the only way to arrive at sufficient enough money to pay for all the free things our citizens want.
We now have a ruling governing elite, Republican and Democrat. We moved to another land a couple centuries ago to escape this. We are now there again. Our elected officials are supposed to be our servants. We are soon to be the ones in servitude.
Actually, I would have really expected to see more support for David’s position from the conservative pundits in Rome. I would have expected hosannas coming from them for his very eloquent and insightful commentary. If nothing else, they should applaud him for his bravery in stating what he believes (and I’m sure what most of them believe but are too scared to say). Most people would never have stepped out there and said what he has said, even in this town (and state) where conservatives so outnumber liberals. I applaud him for that. I find it reprehensible that folks would take pot shots at him from the sidelines, anonymously, in most cases.
I must admit, I was somewhat shocked by these comments. What is wrong with people? Is there no civil discourse anymore? What does his defense of Chaz and Entice or of “Girls Gone Wild” have to do with his OPINION? How dare folks impugn his ability to be a lawyer based upon his political opinions?! It just makes me furious and makes my heart hurt for him.
These are the same people that want convicted child killers to face no consequences because they're too fat to find a vein.
Eloquent, reasoned speech, time, and results are the bane of liberalism. You can expect all of them to be attacked and attempts made to discredit it. Unfortunately, as shown in Europe, government handouts trump eloquent speech and non-sustainability every time. Now we just sit back and wait for it all to fall apart.
To Ihatepolitics:
I don't remember the situation you mention where I supposedly brought a woman close to tears at a social services meeting. If that happened as you describe, I am so sorry I did that. I volunteered my time and money to serve on the NW Ga. Regional Board for Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse for almost 10 years. I fought hard to bring the most needed services to the most needy families. I visited the programs and the hospital. I met with the providers and the clients and their families. I think that both Jim and Bonnie Moore of NAMI and many others involved would vouch for the genuine compassion I have always had for the developmentally disabled. That was a long time ago when that happened. I had my own disabled child who battled cancer twice successfully, but I spent a lot of time in Atlanta with her going through chemo and radiation at Egleston. I had lots of other family and financial obligations as well. So I hope you and your friend can forgive me for my inartful, insensitive statements I must have made on a bad day. It pains me to see a disabled child, and believe me, I feel the pain of a parent doing everything they can to give their child a meaningful life. I do it everyday of my life.
For whatever it's worth, I take my moral obligation to give back to my community pretty seriously as well. Since going out on my own in 2004, I have donated more than a million dollars worth of legal aid services to those in need. I'm not looking for kudos: God expects much of those to whom He has given much.
To Voter:
Yes, I've represented some pretty controversial folks in this community, but I did so because unfortunately, no one else around here was willing to subject themselves to the criticism you delivered to me for having such a controversial client. I'm like most Romans, generally conservative, but I've got a lot of libertarian in me as well. I believe in the constitution. It protects us all, both the parts we like and the parts that make us uncomfortable sometimes. And I don't believe politicians have the right to pick and choose which portions of the constitution they enforce and which parts they don't. They swear to enforce the whole thing when they put their hand on the Bible and take their oath. So I've jumped into a few controversial fights and represented clients whose constitutional rights were being challenged, but I did so for a very honorable reason.
To Rhuidean07:
I hope all those things you expect from the President's re-election come true. As my letter states better than the headline, I think the next generation lost last Tuesday because this election did not change the divided politics of Washington, and as a result, I do not believe we will make meaningful progress on the deficit. I just want you to know that I feel guilty that my generation is passing to yours the huge credit card bill that we are.
As for the Shorter regime, you might be surprised to learn that I represented the "Old Shorter" in its battle to avoid the GBC takeover. We lost by one vote, 4-3, in the Georgia Supreme Court. I'll be happy to give you the names of the justices who voted against us if you really want to know who I consider responsible for that tragedy.
In the final analysis, I've got critics on the right and critics on the left, so I must be doing something correctly. But the bottom line is: Even with all its warts, I love this great city of Rome in which we live, and I'm staying, no matter who is President.
If, on the other hand, those supporting the original letter have contributed a fraction of the time you have, I would be surprised--and I will apologize to them as well. There's nothing I like more than recanting my cynicism.
I have been blessed, but I am not a rich man and health problems have limited my ability to do much of what I wanted to accomplish. Before I die, I would like to perform some public service. With critics like Voter, I doubt I could get elected to anything, so I'll just have to find some other way. My ultimate goal, if I am ever able to afford it, is to establish regular hours each week at my office where I open up to the public for pure legal aid services. I would find great comfort in giving back that way.
By the way Voter, if you think I have somehow used pro bono work to get some advantage with the IRS, you are sadly mistaken. It doesn't work that way, and I haven't.
Also, I was not the attorney of record for Entice during its battles with the County. I was never asked to do that, and quite frankly, I wasn't qualified to handle the complex First Amendment issues presented in that matter.
"Ask not what your country can do for you" was not intended as a castigation of the less fortunate, but a challenge to the rest of us to act unselfishly in serving others.
Mr. Guldenschuh, if you don't want government to perform acts of compassion, the answer is to perform them yourself, not hype a philosophy of selfishness veiled as self-reliance.
It does not make you compassionate to take another's earnings to fulfill your philanthropic fantasies.
Mr. Guldenshuh has corrected me, in that he has done this, and I retract my implication that he is personally selfish.
I still believe that others, if not he, will take his editorial as an excuse for selfishness. I would have liked to see an endorsement of private philanthropy along with the criticism of government philanthropy.
I know where Mr. G is coming from. Once you accept that you're in the minority, it makes life much easier. Less stressful as it were.
The system of pulling from "the rich" to buy votes is not sustainable. Next election one of the candidates will promise to give us something else. Then the next, and the next, and so on.
Austerity. Look it up.
I do disagree with Mr. G's implication that the youth have some blame too. We expect them to vote for the coolest cat on the ticket, we should know better.
I disagree completely with your assertion that America's next generation was the biggest loser in last weeks election.
I actually believe the opposite and think future generations of Americans were the biggest winners last Tuesday.
My reasons are simple:
Economic opportunity for the middle class will increase by several orders of magnitude.
Health care costs will continue to decline. ( Conservatives constantly decry hidden taxes in Obamacare but thats just myth)
The deficit will be corrected by a mixed strategy of expiring tax cuts for millionaires and tax increases.
Education will improve in America
You mention southern manners....What are those?
Firing gays at Shorter University?
Electing vile creatures like Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun?
By the year 2020 Georgia is expected to be a swing state and I cannot wait.
I think you are going to see what the next generation thinks about your beliefs.
Rhuidean
I wonder which one is smarter?