Byram Incorporation and Bad Politics

Originally published on Dec. 11, 2006 at http://www.onlinebyram.com.

In the December 2006 edition of The Byram Banner, the Byram "Interim Board of Aldermen" wrote within a long column concerning our bid for incorporation, "All of the interim aldermen are not in the incorporation area." The poor English used in this statement leaves one to wonder whether some of the "aldermen" are in and some are out, or whether all of them are outside of the incorporation area. If they all end up outside of the incorporation area, then I would say that's good news, and I would only hope that our "interim mayor" ends up outside the incorporation area, too.

But this is not the most disturbing part of their article, by far. The most disturbing part is the part in which the person writing for the "aldermen" writes about how Byram will have numerous churches with large acreages as if that's a bad thing because churches are exempt from paying taxes. I was warned as a student at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary's Northern Orange County Campus back in the 1990s that there might be, in the future, some people who love money so much and are so devoid of understanding of what's really important that they would actually seek to abuse the government's right of eminent domain to take away church property and lands and give them to businesses because the businesses would bring in more revenues to the city's tax base. That would be, of course, ignoring the value of Christianity to a city. I think that each of these "aldermen" calls himself a Christian, and the "mayor" probably would as well; yet they have a problem with churches having large acreages where businesses could be built and make more money. They've got their priorities backwards. Don't just listen to what people say; listen to what they really say, and look at what they do. One of the "aldermen" has already said on a blog that she didn't believe that morality had any part in the decision-making process of government officials. Well, excuse me, but every official action that a government official takes is either moral or immoral.

Now, the people of Byram aren't dumb. We are self-sufficient (meaning that we depend on God, and we also don't want to become dependent on the government; we want to do as much as we possibly can, with the help of God, for ourselves), and we can and will make Byram into a great place to live, given the opportunity. But opportunities don't just come by themselves. We've got to have good leaders who will be willing to make it happen. We need to elect a city government who will work for the good of all the citizens of the City of Byram, not just themselves and their friends, and we need to elect people who already understand what's truly important, not people who we have to try to teach or people who we have to beg to do what's right.

It seems to me that everything about the Byram incorporation is being manipulated, and the manipulators aren't talking -- or at least they're not telling us anything that they don't want for us to know. But "by their fruits you shall know them," and judging by their actions, they're up to no good.

If and when Byram ever gets to hold legitimate, free elections, and I mean free from manipulation, then we will have our chance to elect people who have the best interest of the people at heart. On the other hand, we can also elect people who only care about themselves. All of the candidates will say that they care about the people of Byram, but you had better take care to really get to know them and their views before you go to the ballot box. Otherwise, we the people could be taking what has the potential of being a golden opportunity and throwing it down the drain. On the other hand, we have, at the same time, a chance to make Byram a really wonderful place. The choice is up to us. Our children will either benefit from or be harmed by the choices that we make. God will also call us to account for what we do. There really is much at stake. As one of our Founders said so long ago, take care that you do not trifle with your vote, and give your children and grandchildren reason to curse you.

May God bless you.