OPINION: Good intentions, failed accountability

It often means well with ideas of doing the right thing.
Sometimes, the right thing is not well thought out. Other times, the rules simply change.
Two state statutes in Georgia demonstrate how things can start in one direction and then go wrong.
In the late ‘70s, Georgia passed a statute creating a 10-percent add-on fee for certain court fines. The purpose was to provide funding for law enforcement training across the state.
At the time, law enforcement training varied from county to county, primarily due to the costs involved. Our state legislators sought to remedy the issues by building a state of the art training facility at Forsyth to train the state’s local and state law enforcement officers.
The training center, to be paid for by the add-on fees, was a great concept and received visitors from around the world to observe and participate in the training. Training courses were designed to meet the needs of our local and state criminal justice agencies, including firefighters, correction facility officers and officers with the Department of Natural Resources.
It was a great concept but state legislators diverted much of the monies collected for other programs as well. Had every penny been spent on its intended purposes, Georgia’s criminal justice agencies would be light years ahead of the rest of the nation.
In the 1990s, state lawmakers approved a fee to be charged to assist with cleaning up scrap tire dumps and similar environmental issues.
One dollar was added to the cost of every new tire purchased to pay for hazardous waste cleanups and teen driver education.
Again, we found that those monies collected have been diverted over the years to other state needs. We are talking about millions of dollars.
Georgia legislators can and must do better. There are even darker clouds on the horizon and the worse may be yet to come. It will affect far more than just the people of Georgia.
On the national level, we find the Social Security Trust Fund to be in a dire situation because the United States Congress has borrowed and misdirected spending over the years. Future problems will be far more disastrous than what has happened in Georgia if Social Security runs out of funding.
We heard for years that a shortage was possible due to the government improperly borrowing from the funds that were set aside to help retirees.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in an editorial article last week (Charles Blahous), has again sounded the alarm.
The WSJ editorial said, “The downward spirals have accelerated. The combined Social Security Trust Funds — one for disability, one for retirement — as well as Medicare’s hospital-insurance trust fund, will begin eating into their reserves this year… (and) the Medicare hospital-insurance fund is projected to run dry in 2026.”
Even though voices have long cried out suggesting the funds were (are) in danger, Congress has taken no action yet to stop the bleeding.
As far back as 1993, the funds’ public trustees issued a call for “…congressional action to ensure the continued viability and fiscal integrity of these important national programs.”
The current report went on to say the programs need a 21-percent benefit reduction across the board to remain solvent.
The options are limited. A 21-percent decrease in benefits across the board will cause panic and an anger this country hasn’t seen since Pearl Harbor. Virtually every citizen will be affected.
There are a number of options that can help and even save the funds but no one is leading the charge.
The younger generations have more to lose. Even though they are paying into it today, the program may not be around to provide benefits.
Some life-saving options include raising payroll taxes, delaying eligibility until the age of 67 and changing the benefit formula.
Other options such as seizing retirees’ 401K accounts and a percentage of savings accounts may result in additional panic, anger and riots.
Congress must immediately reduce spending.
We can’t afford to provide benefits to illegal aliens, fight wars that don’t threaten our boundaries, maintain large trade deficits or spend billions of dollars in third world countries with no returns.
As a country we must focus on assisting those in dire need of assistance and reduce spending on those that can help themselves.
It’s time to tell Congress to get to work. Cut out the freebies at taxpayer expense, fly coach, reduce staffs, stay in Washington and do the job we sent you to Washington to do.
Tell them they were elected because we thought they could do the job. If they can’t, let’s tell them to come home at their own expense and we will look for someone who can do the job.
It’s time to be held accountable!

Jimmy Terrell is retired from a career in law enforcement and is a Winder city councilman. He can be reached at ejterrell65@gmail.com.