On November 27, this world lost a prophetic patriot. Chuck Wade of Taylor County, Georgia stepped into eternity.
Every Thursday, like clockwork, the e-mail showed up from Chuck Wade. The subject line always began with three letters, “LTE”
It was Chuck’s weekly letter to the editor in the Taylor County News. It was not just any old letter to the editor. It was was rarely sweet and syruppy.
It was a passionate, pointed, view of our state of affairs in the greatest nation in the world. I told Chuck that he was the Jeremiah of political affairs.
Chuck introduced to me to a couple of words. I do not know if he coined them himself or if he picked them up from someone else.
They both described the same thing. He used the term, “uni-party” to describe the power establishment in Washington. The members of the Uni-Party were the “Washingtonians.”
From Chuck’s perspective, there was really no difference in the Republicans and the Democrats. He believed that the debates and campaigns between the parties are more like the choreographed professional wrestling matches.
The candidates do not fully realize it at first, but after election, they are introduced to the way things really work. He saw how easily elected officials got hooked on the opioid of power and prestige.
Ever so gradually, elected officials began to see themselves as the saviors of the people, not the servants of the people. Chuck saw the foundation of individual rights, personal responsibility, and trust in God being undermined.
I told Chuck that I called him Jeremiah because he wrote like a prophet. He did not try to pump up his readers with bright optimism for the future.
He journaled the slippery slope on which the Constitutional foundation of the American Republic was sliding. He became cynical about the motives of nearly all elected officials.
I once told him that I felt that even if I were in office, he would soon turn on me because things did not change as fast as he wanted. He reminded me that our nation is in a crisis and most politicians refuse to clearly and loudly shout it out like Paul Revere.
He did find a glimmer of hope in the election of Donald Trump. At the same time he wondered if it was too little, too late.
Chuck did not simply sit and complain. He communicated regularly with his elected officials.
Although he sometimes felt his efforts were futile, he did it anyway. I believe that he carried more influence than he realized.
He also invested his money and time into his church, First Baptist of Butler, the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association and the Georgia Sheriff’s Youth Home, and the Kiwanis Club.
Chuck served our nation with honor, retiring as a Lt. Col. in the National Guard. He continued to serve our nation by steadfastly proclaiming the truth week after week, often referring to himself as just the “Old Man in the Woods.”
His LTE in the Taylor County News and Butler Herald that I received on November 8 presents a good synopsis of his analysis and candid outlook for the future. I am reprinting it below.
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Dear Editor,
Who is to blame for the current madness that defines American Politics? There are two candidates for this shameful honor. Politicians are blameworthy, but ultimately, it is voters who bear the responsibility for the upside down world in which we find ourselves.
Politicians have forgotten that they are representatives of the constituents who bother to vote in the electoral process. America is a Constitutional Republic wherein citizens grant to certain men and women the awesome responsibility to support and defend that which makes the United States the most unique nation that has ever existed in all of human history.
Clearly, the politicians have failed and continue to fail to do their duty. Why the pols reject their duty is the question of the ages.
Politicians seldom question their voters as to how votes should be cast on important issues. The ‘business approach’ and the ‘I will bring your values’ to Washington evaporate after the election like a morning dew in July.
This is because upon elevation to office, the reps assume that what they think is what matters and voters can be ignored. This is conscious, wrongful behavior among those who are supposed to vote in accordance with the will of the people who elected them.
The will of the people, carried out by the electeds, must be done in accordance within the limits placed on government and the reps by the Constitution.
The reps cannot be totally blamed for our problems because the great majority of voters consider that by voting they have fulfilled their civic duty. Too many voters avoid involvement in politics until the next election.
They voted, they assume their guy will do the right thing and they ignore the day to day shenanigans of the politicians. Ignoring what they do is a serious mistake. This avoidance allows the politicians to do whatever they please.
Upon election, the pols assume a very low profile, avoid involvement in serious issues and bring home the free stuff to their unwitting constituents. Failure of voters to question their elected officials and hold them accountable is the real reason for the sorry state of politics in America.
Fewer and fewer voters have any idea of the limitations placed on government by our Constitution. How can anyone be expected to defend something he or she does not understand?
This writer believes that the only change possible is that politicians will make things worse for all of us. Without accountability to the voters, the politicians will continue to do whatever pleases them, enhance their financial status and continue the façade that they are working hard to maintain our way of life.
Unless and until politicians fear their voters more than they fear their party leaders, nothing will change. Informed voters can control the politicians. Maybe someday they will.
There is little evidence to indicate as much for the foreseeable future. Some citizens vote, consider their civic duty done and hope that the political insanity ends. This does not bode well.
Chuck Wade
Butler
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Funeral services for Chuck Wade will be on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at First Baptist Church of Butler, GA. Visitation is at 10:00 AM and the service is at 11:00 AM.
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