NPR NOTES

Commentary by Mayor Rob Marlowe

  • Home
  • About the Mayor
  • Get NPR Notes By Email

Archives for July 2017

Independence Day

July 4, 2017 By Rob Marlowe

Mayor Rob Marlowe

Mayor Rob Marlowe

I firmly believe that the United States is only one generation away from destruction.  That has been true ever since a motley group of men gathered in Philadelphia some 241 years ago.  Those patriots stood up for the principles of self governance and many of them paid a heavy price for doing so.

Every generation has had to take a stand to protect our way of life and the current generation is no different.  If we allow foreign governments to interfere with our democracy, we risk losing it.  If we allow the extremists on the political fringes to divide us, we risk the freedoms that previous generations fought and died for.

The atmosphere in Washington DC has become increasingly toxic over the last 25 or 30 years.  Back in the days of LBJ and Ronald Reagan, leaders of both parties would sit down with the President and each other and chat over drinks.  They were able to make things happen.  We’ve lost that.  The mood since the early 90’s has become increasingly one of make no compromise and take no prisoners.  Compromise has become a dirty word.

Short of tossing the whole bunch out and starting over, I’m not sure that there is any hope for Washington.  Even that might not do the trick.  Millions of dollars are spent each election cycle to elect representatives that will represent the special interests instead of us.  Replacing one set of legislators owned by the special interests with another set, also owned by the special interests, doesn’t do us any good.  The founding fathers envisioned a legislature where average citizens would go to Washington, serve for a few years, and then return to private life.  I’d love to see us go back to that concept.

It is only slightly better in Tallahassee.  Near absolute power is held by a handful of people who are more responsive to big money special interests than to the citizens of Florida.

One of the things I like best about serving on city council is that I am at the level of government that is most responsive to individual concerns.  It is an almost daily occurrence for someone to drop by my “day job” office and bend my ear about one thing or another.  I literally can’t go anywhere without being “on call” for citizen concerns.  Walking back to the car Saturday evening, a fellow sitting in his driveway called out to remind me that we need to install a new street light on Central Avenue.   I could see first hand the issue he was talking about just by continuing to walk back to my wife’s car.

I have had the honor to serve with other council members representing a wide variety of political views.  We have been able to come together to do the right thing for the citizens of New Port Richey.  All of us report directly back to those citizens.  We have started the long process of making New Port Richey a vibrant place to live, work, and play.

If we want to take back our country, each of us needs to stand up and pitch in.  If we do not, our entire country faces the future Billy Joel sang about in 1982.  I reject the premise that our country is destined to become like the Allentown of the early 80’s.

We have challenges ahead of us:  Our roads, highways, and bridges are literally falling apart.  Our public schools are in trouble.  Not only haven’t we been back to the moon in over 40 years, we can’t even get a single astronaut into low earth orbit unless we buy them a ride from the Russians!  A good part of the problem appears that we bought into a rather seductive lie in the 80’s.  The lie was that we could cut tax rates and tax revenues would magically rise.  Sadly, all too many of our leaders still worship at the altar of Grover Norquist.  If we want to fix things, we need to be willing to pay the price.

We can do better and we will do better.

We’ve proven that it can be done at the city level.  It is time we elect leaders to every level of government that will reject the stagnant status quo and move America boldly forward into the 21st Century.

The old jobs we’ve lost in coal mining and other 19th century industries simply aren’t coming back.  We can’t make America great again by turning inward and trying to recapture an imaginary golden age.

We need retake the technological leadership we exhibited to the world back in the 60’s space race and retrain Americans for the new jobs that are growing rapidly in fields like solar energy.  America has a bright future ahead of it, but only if we are willing to work to make it happen.

I’ll leave you with one last revolutionary thought to ponder on this 4th of July.  How about we replace our almost unsingable national anthem with something us mere mortals can sing? Enjoy.

Rob Marlowe, Mayor

Filed Under: Local Commentary

My Day Job

When I'm not doing mayor stuff, I spend my time at Gulfcoast Networking. I solve Internet issues, clean up infected computers, and build websites. I'm always happy to take a break from computers to talk about New Port Richey's future, so feel free to come by my office at 6335 Grand Blvd to chat.

Recent Posts

  • What is Truth? January 10, 2021
  • Merry Christmas December 25, 2020
  • EV Update November 5, 2020
  • Beta Testing On A Global Scale September 22, 2020
  • Doing Business in a COVID-19 World July 10, 2020
  • Defund The Police? June 23, 2020
  • What To Say June 19, 2020
  • Setting The Stage For The Future May 10, 2020
  • Beltane May 1, 2020
  • Earth Day at 50: Not Just For Tree Huggers Anymore. April 22, 2020

Recent Comments

  • David Prace on What is Truth?
  • Marilynn deChant on What is Truth?
  • Ray Calvert on What is Truth?
  • Katherine G Logue on What is Truth?
  • Kenneth L Houghtaling on What is Truth?
  • Jim Julian on What is Truth?
  • Rob Marlowe on Merry Christmas
  • Rick Bailey on Merry Christmas
  • Alexander on Merry Christmas
  • Marjorie Boyd on Merry Christmas

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014

Copyright © 2021 · Rob Marlowe · Log in