Don't talk about it. Be about it!!!

Don't talk about it. Be about it!!!
(Previously Unpublished -- Submitted to the Hickory Daily record on 9/25/2007)

Don't talk about it. Be about it. That is what a fellow co-worker used to say when I worked at Bald Head Island. It's about substance over symbolism. Politicians and bureaucrats are always speaking the standard clichés, but seldom do they deliver on anything. Frankly, I am tired of the rhetoric and I am ready to see some results.

The standard lines are. "I want to create jobs. I want to make sure everyone is included in government. I'm for clean water, clean air, and the environment… yada, yada, yada. The question is, who opposes this?

The incumbents always tell you we are on the right track. They always spin the numbers, saying the future is bright. As citizens, we know whether we are doing well or not. We don't need politicians to tell us everything is wonderful, when common sense tells us that it's not.

Maybe I am different, but all I want are a few things out of a candidate I am going to support. First, give me a couple of specifics about your agenda and how you plan to implement them. Second, show me that you are real and not just your regular old political opportunist. Last, show me that I can trust you and that you are going to follow through on what you say you are going to do.

I have read recent articles, in our local papers, which go strictly against my better judgment. These articles have told us that the unemployment picture is improving, while statistics show it is well above the national average, here in the Hickory area. The politicos never talk about this area's huge underemployment problem. It is a travesty when we have college graduates vastly overqualified for the positions they hold and working 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet

Are we truly on the right track, when our industrial base has been obliterated and replaced by low paying service industry jobs? Are we really better off when every factory in this area seems to be turning into a distribution warehouse? Are we really better off when so many are working through temp agencies? What does this really say about the future of Hickory?

I'm sure the people at the top, many of whom are involved in our city's government, commissions, and agencies can live with the status quo. But, a city is only as healthy as its middle class and the middle class in the Hickory area has been squeezed for several years. We grow more anxious by the day when we see the trivial pursuits of our city's leaders.

How many years are we supposed to be patient? Are we looking for social butterflies in our city's most prominent positions or are we looking for people to get some tasks accomplished. We need some substance. We need some cold hard factual successes. We don't need to hear about this leading to that. We need some "that." Talk is cheap. Results pay the bills. Don't talk about it. Be about it!!!