Harnett Dispatch

Editors Thoughts

Daniel Glover

With the new legislation in session, the bills are stacking up for a long run through the House and Senate. Many bills, deal with education reform, unemployment, and the reshaping of our state. Some of these bills are needed and it’s about time that we take time to fix these issues that we face here in the state. Some of the laws that have been proposed deal with minors using tanning beds, and people on state assistance buying lottery tickets. It seems that many of these bills deal with social issue and the morality of the people who live in our great state.

I find this very intriguing because my formal education is in Christian education and I have studied over the year’s morality in America and within the western civilization. The main question that must be asked, “Is if we can legislate morality”? Morality is natural law or the norm for any given society that we live in. With that being said, out of the millions of people that live in North Carolina can one norm be set as the standard for all? With the influx of people moving in to North Carolina we are seeing different cultures and norms being set on a daily basis. I believe that we must all live within the norm of our own morality but the extent of that is within each individuals understanding of what is moral or not.  I don’t think it’s the responsibility of elected men and women to decide the norm for the general public because everyone walks different paths in life. The place for morality lessons should be left up to freewill just like many people’s salvation or chosen religion journey. Mankind was given freewill and to set the parameters or norms of morality would only leave to a great disappointment in many people’s lives.

What the elected officials should be talking about is JOBS and the recovery of an economy that is taking many families and people out on a day to day basis. Instead they want to cut unemployment insurance back and reduce the amount the people will get on a weekly basis. The theory behind this is that the people will get a job and not just set around and receive benefits.  The only thing I can’t understand is where are the jobs at. There has not been much emphasis on creating jobs but instead talk about cutting spending and changing education. Yes we need to cut back our spending but throwing people under the bus is not the way to get there. The one thing that bothers me is that around 95% of the people introducing these bills are living well beyond the normal income range and are not in the shoes of the common person you meet in the grocery stores. How can the wealthy speak for the poor or how can the poor speak for the rich “it does not make sense” Just my thought”