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1. Share this blog post with others. You are now helping your friends and neighbors become more informed.

2. Attend your next city or village council meeting, or township trustee meeting. Call your local administrator and find out when the next meeting occurs, and plan to attend.

3. Introduce yourself to your elected officials. Take some time to get to know them, and let them know of your interest in learning more about your local government.

These are a few ways that you can quickly become more involved in your local government. Remember, in the state of Ohio, the political power is inherent in YOU.

Take, for example, this brilliant assessment by Paine. “Tis a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident, for trade being the consequence of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit both of patriotism and military defence.”

I was reminded of this recently as I read an article that described the debilitated state of America’s education system. According to the recent report, America is “not adequately preparing its citizens to protect America or its national interests. The Department of Defense estimates that 75 percent of young Americans are not eligible to serve in the military because they didn’t graduate from high school, are obese, or have criminal records. Among recent high school graduates who are eligible to apply, 30 percent score too low on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to be recruited.”

So let’s see if what Thomas Paine said in 1776 holds true today. In 1990, America’s total number of active duty military personnel was 2,043,705, and the total U.S. population in 1990 was 249,000,000. In 2005, America’s total number of active duty military personnel was 1,378,014, and the total U.S. population was 296,000,000. So, it appears that Paine’s observation of the inverse relationship between total population and military population is accurate.

But what of his more serious accusation, where commerce is the culprit behind a diminished spirit of both patriotism and defense? The federal government is in the business of public education, even though Congress is not empowered to do so. In fact, a quote from the website StateUniversity.com says “Not only does the federal constitution confer no right to education, it does not even explicitly empower the U.S. Congress to legislate on the subject.”

What, then, is our US Department of Education doing? Let’s look at its mission statement: “ED’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” No mention of civics; no mention of military, but explicit use of the term “global competitiveness.” What is global competitiveness? Here is a definition from the Asian Productivity Organization’s web site: “What is the meaning of ‘global competitiveness’? The International Institute for Management Development defines competitiveness as ‘a field of economic knowledge which analyzes the facts and policies that shaped the ability of a nation to create and maintain an environment that sustains more value creation for its enterprises and more prosperity for its people.’ The World Economic Forum definition is: ‘the ability of a country to achieve sustained high rates of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.’”

In short, we want to make sure that we are competing with global economic competition. But at what cost? A deficient military is the equivalent of having a compromised immune system that is unable to combat attack from without or within. If only one out of every four high school graduates meets the standards for our nation’s military, how will we be prepared to do the one thing our Constitution requires us to do, which is provide for the common defense of this nation? We are supposed to maintain a well regulated militia. Have we abandoned the spirit of patriotism, the sense of civic responsibility for the lure of financial success? If we have, then we need look no further than ourselves to assign culpability to this epidemic. While we are focusing on areas of study that will make them globally competitive, there is little interest in the military or politics; less sense of civic responsibility, and a low regard for statesmanship. I am reminded of a profound principle that was shared by the apostle Paul to his son in the faith Timothy: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

I am posting a few of my favorite shots to share with you as well.

Take, for example, the issue of public education.  As I have talked with people throughout the district, there is a consensus that the school funding problem must be resolved.  Yet, it has been 15 years since it was declared unconstitutional, and there is still no solution.  One must ask – are the voices being heard?  In the meantime, unfunded mandates have been piled on our schools, at the same time that the public school districts are facing severe budget deficits.  This is where the individual and collective voices of the citizens must be heard to compel legislators to make this issue a priority.

This is citizenship in action.  The more educated our citizens become, the greater the condition of our society will become. One of my goals during this campaign is to inform and enlighten the citizens of the 32nd district.  I believe that our government works best when it encourages each individual to strive to be the best citizen he or she can become.

I seek to serve the citizens of Ohio’s 32nd district.