Darke County Commissioner...
A Nice Place to Visit
By Mike Stegall  
June 16, 2012

Recently, I completed my “Bucket List” golf trip to Scotland and Ireland with my wife Rosemary and our friends, the Breadens. We all had a great time, saw some wonderful sights, and tried some new things that I never thought I would. 

Have you ever heard of the Scottish national dish called “haggis?” Haggis is basically the innards of a sheep, cooked in a sheep’s stomach for about 4 hours. I know it sounds disgusting, but I tried it and it tastes like a spicy sausage. It really isn’t bad!! 

That is why I love travelling. There are so many experiences to try, and new things to see. It really comes home to you just how young of a country we really are when you see castles that are a thousand years old, or cemeteries where people have been at rest since the 7th century. 

We in America do not have that kind of history. I guess it hit home to me for the first time when we visited Rosslyn Chapel. You know, the Chapel that was in the movie “The Da Vinci Code”. It is not as large as it looks on the movie screen, the stone work is incredible, and the history there is amazing. 

What got me though was when we walked into the basement of the Chapel. As you get to the bottom, on the left is the crypt of one of the Knights Templar. The inscription says the Knight was buried there in the year 1308! That is 184 years before America was discovered! Now that’s history! 

Besides the age of Scotland and Ireland, the other thing that really got me was how much like us the people are. They speak a little differently, smile easily, but they have the same worries and concerns as we do. 

Right now in both countries, everyone I talked to, (believe me, the Scots and Irish have never met a stranger!) was worried about their future. One gentleman’s job was as an electrician. He had been a golfers caddy for 11 years now because there was no work for him. Another gentleman was a plumber, 27 years old, and he was happy because he had been out of work for 7 years. He was going back to work in November because the State was putting on a water tax, and 1.3 million water meters had to be put on houses. 

The economies in Scotland and Ireland are doing poorly. As of now, the people, and the Governments of both countries are worried about the state of the Euro, the European Union’s currency. Spain, Portugal, Greece and now France have decided that they do not like the austerity programs that the European Union agreed upon and that Germany pushed for. 

The rest of the countries realized that they had to cut spending at the Government level (sound familiar?) In Ireland, ‘Sinn Fein’, the radical element of the Irish Republican army and the Union Labour party group, has posters up all over asking people to denounce the austerity measures and defy the Government. They do not want to give up anything. 

France’s new leader has decided that in order for his country to flourish, they need to tax and spend! I actually heard him say that in a speech on the BBC! (How do you think that will work out?). 

The Governments of Europe are scared to death that Germany, the true economic power in Europe, is going to cut off the money to the Union. If the German people decided they have had enough of funding countries that do not even try to cut spending, and those countries keep dropping in productivity because they do not want to work, and those countries want more vacation time while the German worker continues with their 40 to 50 hour weeks, and the German people continue on the austerity and growth path that has made them successful, funding for those countries will stop. 

The whole house of cards collapses. Europe will probably break out into civil unrest, and it will be a free-for-all as to what happens. Not a pretty thought! 

When talking to the everyday person, they don’t understand why the Government cannot live within their means. (haven’t we all said that before?). The average Joe seems to be angry because their money goes to help those who won’t work, they send foreign aid via their tax dollars to countries who don’t try to help themselves and don’t really like them anyway, and government workers make so much more, and are so non-productive, and completely unresponsive! 

See, they are exactly like you and I. 

The one thing I do know is this: Europe is not the way we want to go. We are headed down the same path that they took 40 plus years ago, and it will never work. We need to look closely at what is happening there, and tell our politicians that enough is enough. We have the perfect model of what NOT to do, so we should learn from it. Printing money, spending like drunken sailors, giving everyone everything they want, and promising the world to get re-elected has led to disaster for Europe. 

Do you think our leaders are smart enough to see this? I hope so, but I doubt it. 

We as citizens need to get involved, stay involved, and start demanding that our elected officials act and spend responsibly and be diligent about it. If we don’t, we will become Europe. Trust me, it’s a nice place to visit, but I sure don’t want to live there!!