The powers-that-be in the fair city of Ocala, located in the rolling hills of central Florida, are thinking about instituting a half-cent sales tax in order to raise enough money to build a baseball stadium to house a New York Yankees minor league team.
Isn't that wonderful?
Other powers-that-be have spent almost $200,000 of taxpayer funds to put "In God We Trust" on the county seal! And that, some think, is another really wonderful thing. But not all. Some of us think it is a monumental waste of money and totally unnecessary! Oh, yes, it's also unconstitutional in that it clearly suggests that the government favors Christianity over all other religions.
Back to the baseball stadium. Why in the name of all that's holy or profane, should a city have to finance a place to play baseball for a for-profit enterprise? And don't spout that old refrain about all the jobs such a deal would bring to the city. That's bull. It's going to cost a fortune and most times the teams get a cut of everything until they pull out leaving the hapless citizens holding the proverbial bag (empty, of course!).
If the New York Yankees, a team that is wallowing in money, needs a baseball stadium, tell them yes, provided they can find suitable property that is approved by the powers-that-be and they can put up the cash to build it and sustain it.
But don't give them a dime of taxpayer money!
Especially in light of the fact that the schools are letting several hundred teachers and aides go because there is no money to pay them and that our roads are being neglected because there's no money to fix them, and because the County Sheriff's department is bleeding from lack of funds...there are lots of things we need and perhaps a half-cent sales tax would help. A baseball stadium sure as hell isn't one of them!
3 comments:
For one thing, this country was founded on Christian principles. Furthermore, putting "In God We Trust" on the Ocala seal IS constitutional. It is called FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
Dear Mr. Rodgers: This country was founded on principles that arose out of the Enlightenment. If you will notice, any reference to Christ or Christianity or the Bible were deliberately left out of our founding documents because our founding fathers were quite familiar with the dangers posed by an established church and they believed in religious freedom for all. They ensured that this was not to be considered a "Christian" country as John Adams so succinctly put it a few years after the nation came into existence.
You need to re-read your history and please avoid any trash written by David Barton, Glenn Beck, or their ilk.
Secondly, a reference to any deity on the coin of the realm is patently unconstitutional for the Constitution states clearly the principle of separation of church and state. This is, by design, a secular country in which a person can choose to follow any religion or no religion and the government is not to "establish" or favor any particular religion.
Freedom of speech is not abrogated by denying a political entity the right to proclaim allegiance to a religious deity.
If you were forbidden by law to write the comment you did, that would be an abrogation of freedom of speech.
Thanks for writing.
Dear Lowell, you are wasting your time asking people to read history. They know all the answers, but have no facts to back up their knowledge. They simply declare it, so it must be true.
If God wants the USA to do anything all he has to do is to do it! He does not need a note from anyone. He can even send us a new tablet, in English this time. He can cause rain to cure a drought. He can hurl a tornado to cure sexual deviants. He can do anything, we are told. Pat Robertson tells us what God wants, so we cannot claim we do not know.
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