They won, now they must learn to lead

While it might be a bit premature since I had to write this after this week’s newspaper went to press Monday evening before the votes were counted Tuesday evening, I’d like to extend my personal congratulations to many of the candidates who earned a vote of confidence from local voters.

In addition to selecting who they wanted to serve as their next president, voters in Mountain Home and surrounding communities were offered plenty of choices this year with regards to the contenders running for seats in the U.S. and state legislatures, each of them promising to make things better for those who live here.

Now, it’s time for each of them to make good on those promises by getting to work and start leading.

This election comes as the citizens of this nation face a myriad of problems that continue to tear communities apart. Much of this comes down to one political party that seemed to do absolutely nothing to fix these problems over the past four years.

Instead, those in power continued to promote an image in which they could do no wrong while their opponents could do nothing right. That’s something that needs to change if we ever want to make society stronger and to set an example for other nations to follow, especially those who continue to use various forms of violence to threaten their neighbors due to their certain beliefs.

Clearly, there are problems those in office need to fix to help all citizens; not just the ones who support their political ideology.

Among the myriad of issues affecting this country over the past four years, here’s one thing I hope our elected officials can address — do something to curb inflation. This alone represents a significant problem in communities like Mountain Home where people struggle to make ends meet.

Consider this. Back in the 1990s, my wife and I could buy four loaves of bread for $1 when they were on special. Today, a single loaf goes for $3 or more, and I’ve seen fancier brands sell for $5 or more on average, which is absolutely absurd.

Don’t get me started on the price of a gallon of milk, which now costs about the same as a gallon of gasoline.

Turning to other issues, one of the biggest problems harming communities across the United States involves rampant crime that continues to tear these cities apart and forces people to involuntarily flee to avoid these dangers. I call to mind the destruction protestors left behind following the death of George Floyd, who died while in police custody.

But instead of following the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, who used peaceful, non-violent “civil disobedience” to enact changes in American society, all we saw back in 2020 were weeks of non-stop violence. The nightly news spent weeks documenting all of the protestors who violently and deliberately broke into various businesses and pillaged what they wanted before setting fire to these places.

From everything I’ve read, not one of those protestors ever got arrested nor did they face punishment for their crimes. Instead, it seemed that those in power simply ignored what happened and brushed it aside.

I’m sure Doctor King would be absolutely furious if he knew how many of the people in this nation forgot or simply ignore the message he worked so hard to promote.

If I had my way, I would’ve made it mandatory for these politicians to hold these thieves, vandals and criminals accountable for their actions. After all, those who fell victim to the crimes these protestors left behind never received any type of compensation nor did the government step in and demand these people stop what they were doing and pursue more peaceful ways to make their message heard.

Maybe we should force those in power to provide financial compensation for those who fell victim to these crimes. After all, they have the money to pay for their incompetence, right?

Another problem tearing this nation into pieces involves the growing problem of addiction among those who fell prey to the dangers of narcotics that get illegally smuggled into this nation. That’s in addition to those out there who’ve spent most of their lives addicted to tobacco and alcohol.

In this community alone, it’s not that hard to tell which people battle alcohol and drug addition. You can clearly see it in their faces, let alone see it in how they dress and interact among others.

The problem with addiction is the fact these illegal substances destroy people from the inside while also destroying their physical appearance. Case in point: The average life expectancy of a person addicted to heroin is nearly 26 years less than the average life expectancy of other U.S. citizens, many of whom live to the age of 80, if not longer.

Let’s not forget the dangers that drug addiction has for those awaiting birth. In addition to the possible birth defects caused by women who drink alcohol before giving birth, those who also abuse narcotics can cause their unborn children to suffer from birth defects of the brain, spine and spinal cord.

In short, these parents are destroying the lives of their children before they join us once they’re born. It’s something that needs to stop immediately.

However, the one thing that really irritates me involves the lack of action by those we elected to office -- the people who agreed to speak on the behalf of those they serve. These elected officials are the ones who need to stand up against these illegal substances and put a stop to it once and for all.

If they don’t, then I say they need to be removed from office or at least financially reprimanded by taking away of their money and all of their luxuries for dereliction of duty.

I suppose the easiest way we could fix the nation’s drug problem is similar to how one city dealt with notorious gangster Al Capone. Earning a reputation as the king of Chicago gangsters, it seemed the federal government couldn’t slap him with any criminal charges that would stick to him and subject him to serious punishment for his crimes against society.

However, the federal government finally found a way to nail Capone once and for all -- he got convicted of failing to pay taxes.

Maybe that’s what the federal government needs to do with regards to all the drug cartels out there that smuggle their illegal drugs into this nation. We just need to have every last one of them arrested and forced to pay reparations to every single citizen of this nation, especially those who deal firsthand with the crimes these drug dealers unleashed on American society.

If anything, it would bankrupt these drug dealers, push them out of business and force every last one of them to sell their homes and live on the streets like so many people in our nation battling drug addiction currently deal with.

As the days following the election continue to move ahead, I really hope society could actually begin a new philosophy to help strengthen America and humanity in general. It’s something I refer to as the “Bill and Ted” philosophy, which is based on the movies regarding their excellent adventure.

Simply put, we need to learn how we, as a society, need to be “excellent to each other.” We need to put away our petty, personal differences and learn to look at one another from the vantage point where we simply look at one another as humans versus focusing on what makes each of us different or better than one another.

No longer should we judge people based on their race, gender, religious beliefs and political ideology. Instead, we should simply listen to one another and stop forcing our beliefs on others.

This represents one of the greatest problems this nation currently faces. We have too many people out there with opposing political beliefs who want to force others to accept those beliefs without question.

Those who refuse to follow those “orders” typically end up being labeled as a “racist” or some other derogatory term. The funny thing is the ones who accuse others of being racist are actually the ones that fit that title.

Had all of those people simply listened to each other and worked to understand the reasons behind their beliefs, maybe we can one day learn to “be excellent to each other.”

Yes, I do remember that Bill and Ted also include the phrase, “and party on, dudes.” However, I believe that simply means that we need to sit back and enjoy our time together -- to celebrate what we’ve done to help one another and to turn our society into something other nations on this planet want to emulate.

-- Brian S. Orban