“We the people tell the government what to do,

it doesn’t tell us.”

President Ronald Reagan,

Farewell Address.


As many already know, I am a fiscal conservative who believes government should be as or even more careful than my wife and I on how our money is being spent. There comes a time when we will be taxed out of existence because we will no longer be able to afford living in our own country. Just look at the proposed Windham municipal and school budgets for the next fiscal year, which if approved will raise our property taxes nearly 10 percent. It has certainly caught the attention of both my wife and I and will be a huge factor in our decision to leave if only for the reason of seeking a more affordable place to live.

There are other reasons why we want to reside in another state and weather is only a small part of that decision. Our government has gone from us telling it what we want, to a government at many levels telling us what to do. A lot of those rules and regulations are being forced upon us by bureaucrats who have been given so much power that rules and regulations are spinning out of control. I am concerned because we now have government that tells us what to do, that spies on us without our consent and mocks us when we complain. Although that happens more at the federal level, it is slowly creeping down to the state and local levels as well.

I believe that our federal government has become far worse than Big Brother in the famous novel 1984 by George Orwell. Our modern electronic world has given government the opportunity to spy upon us in ways and means that many of us can’t even comprehend. It’s not only our telephone calls and emails that can be traced and read, video cameras can now scan license plates and even recognize faces of individuals, and use of that technology is spreading rapidly under the pretense of protecting us. Unfortunately, government now knows more about us than we do and that’s real scary.

Another example of a government out of control is the Internal Revenue Service’s recent quest to shake down anyone or group it can in order to squeeze even more money into the bottomless government coffers. The IRS has come under fire for putting conservative nonprofits under the microscope while avoiding testifying to members of Congress. Now the IRS is under fire for seizing tax refunds from people that did nothing wrong. I have to ask how a 4-year-old child is responsible for receiving too high of a Social Security payment 40 years ago when that child wouldn’t even comprehend what that payment was for. It appears to me an IRS employee was responsible for that overpayment and if that employee has since departed our world, go after a family member of that employee. But we all know that our government doesn’t work like that and it is our fault that is now the norm.

I would hate to face the pressures of running a small business with so many elected officials proposing legislation that would guarantee that all small businesses become nonprofits. I have to mention the recent push in Portland to ban plastic bags and Styrofoam containers because so many idiots throw their trash out their car window instead of in the trash. First let me state that they will do that no matter what the container is made of because I pick up all sorts of that garbage from my property on a daily basis. It’s not the container’s fault that they end up as trash in public places so why aren’t the morons creating that trash being punished? Place a government-mandated increase in the minimum wage and we will see even more businesses disappear.

It seems even in Windham there is a possible problem with government. I am hearing many complaints about Windham’s Code Enforcement Office and I feel it bears some serious scrutiny. Time will tell.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham will be glad when the heavy cart pulled by taxpayers breaks down.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.