There are times when a politician does the right thing.
I know that may surprise some of you, but it's true. But the interaction I had today with a politician is so unique, I felt I needed to share it.
A couple weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed (as I am wont to do regularly) and I happened upon this story. You can check the link out and read it for yourself. I read it, and I wasn't happy with what I read. It seems things are amiss in the town of Ocala, Florida.
It was, in short, as hopefully you've read by now, seemingly yet another story where the rights of the everyday American are getting trampled by government bureaucracy, mostly in the name of political correctness, and to add fuel to the fire, it seemed that the same rules aren't applying to everybody. The whole story, as it is presented in this piece, speaks to the center of one of the biggest hot buttons of the modern political landscape -- immigration.
As you might have seen, at the end of the story, the reader is invited to contact members of the Ocala, FL, town council, and/or it's Mayor. Their email addresses are presented, and I decided, rather than post my usual rants on my Facebook page, to instead write the Mayor of Ocala, FL, a personal email sharing my distaste for the events presented in the story.
Here is the email I wrote (mistakes intact!):
Sir,
My name is Paul Uhls, and I am a small business owner in Indiana. We have been considering relocating to Florida recently, but it is because of a story I read this morning, and others like it, that we will likely abandon that idea.
I read the story of your city's fight against a local business owner flying the Gadsden flag in from an internet link, so I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if indeed it's untrue, because I know you can't believe everything on the internet.
However, as a small business owner, it is very disturbing to continue to see our individual rights stripped away in the name of political correctness and the fear of offending someone. It is extremely upsetting to see your town punish an American business owner, holdng him to some arcane public standards, yet at the same time allow other ethnicities to fly flags in a manner that is against the law, presumably for the purposes of appeasing their sensibilities.
My wife and I are considering relocating to warmer climes, and I will be bringing my business with me. But it is for reasons such as this that we will not consider relocating to towns like yours. I am simply tired of seeing true American citizens get trampled in the name of political correctness, and you, and your town council should be ashamed of restricting the rights of this upright business owner, while allowing others to ignore federal law.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further.
Thanks for your time.
As you can see, I opened the email with the disclaimer that I understood not everything one reads on the internet can be believed. (Shocking, yes?) And because I am a firm believer that if one is going to share one's opinions with and/or about others, one should put one's name on it. As you can also see, I ended my email with an invitation to the Mayor of Ocala to contact me if he wished to discuss the matter at all.
I did not, as you might surmise, hold my breath in hopes of hearing from the Mayor.
Today, mere hours after I had sent the email, I got a phone call from the Mayor of Ocala. Because I missed the call, he left a voicemail message inviting me to call him back so we can discuss what the town has been doing to rectify the situation highlighted in the news story.
The Mayor of Ocala, FL, called me -- a nobody from some podunk town in Indiana he's probably never heard of -- to discuss a problem I had with his town. I returned his phone call.
Kent Guinn is the Mayor of Ocala. He was very personable, polite, and didn't seem to be irritated in the least to have called me. He was not offended, off put, and was, in fact, eager to share what they had done to solve the problem.
First, let me say that I explained to him that I was both fascinated and appreciative that he took the time to call some random guy in Indiana. He said he felt it was his civic duty to do so. He explained that he only got paid $200 per month during his 12 years as a town councilman and that he now earns $550 per month as Mayor, and that he has another, regular job, so he took the job because he wants to serve his town. He said he tries to respond to everyone who contacts him.
He explained what the town has done to rectify the problem of the flag. As I suspected, he shared some details of the story that weren't necessarily included in the story I read in hopes of shedding a little more light on the situation. But he did, in fact, admit the laws and ordinances of the town needed to be analyzed and changed to ensure that this type of problem wouldn't happen again.
He explained further that the town council has met and is changing the ordinances to be more accommodating to those who might want to fly flags that represent American values. He explained the measures that are being put in place. He noted that the business owner featured in the story is a very nice guy, and was a bit surprised the situation had gotten the publicity it had. He mentioned that the business owner has been working together with the town to reach a solution to the problem, which they all feel, at this point, they are achieving.
I mentioned I believed he could appreciate my frustration at the seemingly endless stories like this that continue to pop up and I appreciated his taking the time to call to tell me what was going on, as I was extremely surprised to hear from him.
We talked briefly further. He asked about my business, and that he hoped I might still consider Ocala when I do indeed relocate. We talked about the town, the housing market there, and so forth, and he invited me to look him up should I happen to get that direction. We thanked each other and that was that.
I regret that I failed to mention that those of us here in Mooresville are a little sensitive to flags, what with our being the home of the Indiana State Flag. But I digress.
First and foremost, I'm glad to hear the situation has moved in a positive direction. I'm even more glad that the political leaders of the town recognized a problem and moved to rectify it. And I'm downright stymied that the Mayor of Ocala, FL, would call a nobody from Indiana to discuss the issue, because I emailed him about it and he thought it was his duty to respond. I mean, I'm not exactly one of his constituents.
The pessimists among us might argue that he only contacted me because perhaps he inferred from my email that my business might be more prominent than it actually is. He asked about my business, and I explained that it is very small... that it is, in fact, just me and my own personal business that I operate.
And perhaps that did indeed have something to do with it. But I don't think so. I don't feel as though my email was misleading as to the size of my business, as though I led him to believe the town's actions regarding some guy's flag was jeopardizing some giant economic development opportunity for Ocala, FL.
No, I got the genuine feeling that this man cared that his town had been portrayed in a bad light. I can only guess as to why he thought it was important to explain it all to me, someone with whom he has absolutely no political clout and to whom he has absolutely no political responsibility.
I just think he thought it was important to set the record straight simply because it was the right thing to do. He was elected to do a job, which is to serve the people of Ocala, FL. Part of that job is to make sure others know that good things are going on there. To portray Ocala in the best possible light and to let others know that the town's leaders are working to make sure the right things get done in the end... regardless of who those others are.
Sometimes, that's the only reason I post something on Facebook -- a link or a comment on something -- simply because it's the right thing to do. Often, there's nothing to be gained. But I do it because I feel standing up for something is simply the right thing to do.
Is that refreshing? It is to me. I shared this whole story with my teenage son tonight, and he said, "Don't you wish Obama would do that?" My son nailed it. That's precisely why it is refreshing, because it happened in light of all the other political mayhem we hear of day after day on the TV newscasts. It happened because it was the right thing to do
We have politicians like that around here, especially locally. I don't want to name names, only because I'm afraid if I do, I might leave out some others who are doing equally well, or who care equally as much. We have some duds, make no mistake. But if you take the time to find them, and get to know them, and find out why they make the decisions they do, you may find some people who, deep down, truly care about our town, and the well-being of those who live here. I spoke at length the other day with one of our own, Mooresville town council members... a man who I know truly loves Mooresville, even if he might make a decision every now and then with which I might not agree.
Yes, sometimes, a politician actually does the right thing. Today, the Mayor of Ocala, FL, did exactly that.
