B.J. FLETCHER: Future generations will suffer due to our failures

It’s getting close to that time again. November … local elections … mayor … commissioners and others. Trolling for your vote.

You know who they are. The ones that you haven’t heard from in three years. Not all of them, of course, but many come out only when they need your vote. Not when you need them.

Local municipalities generally take responsibility for parks and recreation, housing services, emergency medical services and public works. So I ask you, how’s that working for you?

All 50 states have legislatures made up of elected representatives. Elected by you/us. These legislators approve a state budget and initiate tax legislation. Members represent their districts.

We live in a community where seniors still pay a school tax. That’s s decision that our school board makes. The state and city officials make and control most taxes and spending.

Our federal government is made up of three distinct parts: Executive Branch — That’s the resident and about 5 million workers. The Legislative Branch is our Senate and House of Representatives. The Judicial Branch is our Supreme Court.

No need in telling you their duties. After all, many of you vote regularly for the ones that best represent your values and what’s good for your community or country. Right? Sadly, many vote for the candidates you are told to vote for. By your family, friends or, even worse, your pastor. You know. The pastor that heads up your beloved church and is a nonprofit and protected because they are a 501(c)(3). Which means they shouldn’t cross that line and talk politics in the pulpit.

Yes, it’s OK for them to tell you to vote your biblical values. Vote the way you should vote for family values, etc. But not to publicly support any one candidate.

Janet Yellen just announced that, come June 1, the U.S. will not be able to pay our bills unless a stalled Congress takes action. Now the only way that can possibly happen is that you spend more than you make. Is our country doing that? Do you care?

Well, I am telling you why you should care. Most of us have enjoyed a strong America. Many of us have worked hard, and we have lived in a country that respects that. If you work hard, in time, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.

But we are possibly looking at a government that is going to let people who have always paid their bills be punished by getting a higher interest rate so the ones that don’t pay their bills on time will get a break. I think they tried that in 2008. How did that work out for us?

Back to why you should care. You know those kids you have, the grandchildren you have pictures of and show off daily? Well, they don’t stand a chance of enjoying the America we know. Because many don’t have the backbone to stand up for what’s right.

So go ahead, vote party, not policy. Vote race, not what’s right. Vote gender, not knowledge. No big deal to you. You most likely will be dead by the time most of this hits the fan. But your loved ones will be the ones dealing with the mess you are turning your back on because you are too ignorant or too lazy to get the facts.

Good luck to the next generation. They won’t stand a chance if we don’t wake up.