September 2013

Hiring the help!

I recently found an old bottle in our backwoods. It is a whiskey bottle manufactured between 1932 and 1964. Around the shoulder of the bottle is embossed “Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle”. This message was required by Federal regulations to assure the government collected the proper taxes from the sale of whiskey.

Think about this, “our” government tells us it is a Federal crime to reuse a bottle. How in the world did we get so many people running our government who think like that and why have we continued electing more of them for another eight decades? I think I figured out those answers by considering a few more questions.

What precautions do people take before hiring someone to watch their children or work on their home, car, or person? I suspect they consult others to determine if the person is likely to perform the work competently and honestly.

So why are so many willing to leave hiring decisions that have such a profound impact on their lives up to others? Why are so many others willing to be swayed by the most cursory input when making hiring decisions that may adversely affect the lives of generations to come?

I’m referring to the hiring of politicians to manage our local, state, and federal governments.

At our local level we have our representative on the Board of Supervisors and School Board, our State's Delegate, Senator, Attorney General, Lt. Governor and Governor. At the Federal level with have our Congressional Representative, Senator, Vice-President and President. How many people actually check out each of these job seekers before hiring them?

And hire them they do, whether by casting a vote or by not casting their vote, the result is the same – every one of us plays a role in hiring every one of them!

An election is coming in November. We can be uninvolved and end up hiring more career politicians who only care about themselves or we can take some responsibility and hire people who care about doing the job we hire them to do. It’s our choice and we deserve whatever result we get.

Rex A. Hoover
Sumerduck