What is really important

Lately in Lucas County, we have had quite a discussion about the Democratic Party's annual golf outing to raise funds for the local organization.

Any of us would agree that some of the events which reportedly transpired are unfortunate, and not indicative of our Democratic Party values and core beliefs.

That being said, there are certainly much larger issues of importance affecting millions of Ohioans and Americans which should consume more of our thought, energy and time. We have a state legislature which refuses to even attempt to tackle the dilemma of school funding, and we have seen time and time again that school systems across the state are scrambling to deal with the archaic non-working scheme we now operate under, after the tax weary electorate votes down levies on a regular basis. The present system puts too large of a burden on the property owning tax-paying public and our legislature continues to irresponsibly push the issue off into the future, with no plan to fix this decade plus long problem.

We have a federal government with spending that is out of control, a President who continues to take our country down the wrong path in foreign policy, wasting our resources and the lives of our brave servicemen and servicewomen, in an ill-conceived, poorly planned and ineffective proactive war, which has only served to remove the previous power structure in Iraq and replace it with mass chaos, civil war, and an increasingly dangerous region, which has become a breeding ground for the very terror groups that we set forth to eliminate.

We have other issues to tackle including our health care system which fails to protect the poor, young, and aged adequately. Yet, what we get out of Columbus, is political posturing by the majority, with our GOP leaders appeasing their right wing constituent groups with laws such as the new regulations on adult entertainment in Ohio.

Getting back to the original subject of this post, the so-called "Strippergate" at the county golf outing. Certainly better judgement could have been utilized when staffing the volunteers for the event. However, in the grand scheme of our region and our state, facing the major issues of jobs, taxes, health care, and the list goes on, this event should be seen as a mere blip on the radar screen.

Let's ask our local, state, and federal governments to tackle the important issues which are critical to our citizens. Thank you for reading and have a great evening.

Mark