All Lying Dogs Aren't Asleep

I am not a supporter of Mr. Roland, but he hasn't done anything bad. At least not anything that's been recorded so far. My distrust for Mr. Roland, is based on his political associations. He has adjoined himself with what I consider, some seedy characters. His platform below contains a lot of empty promises. That's nothing out of the ordinary for politicians. Unfortunately, they usually tell lies trying to garner votes. If he wants to beat Ophelia Ford. I would be more impressed with some solid propositions. Not just what the voters want to hear. Which is what most of these positions are. Below is what he has listed as his platform so far. Along with my assessments.

Platform:1. Education Being on the advisory board of the TN Lottery, I have learned that only 10%of the lottery money is allocated to funding education. That breaks down to8% for hope scholarships for college students and 2% for pre kindergarten and afterschool kids. The reality is that if we don't get funding for the students in between (K - 12th grade), they will never be eligible for the hope scholarships. The solution is to take an additional percentage of the lottery money and fund the kids in the K-12 group.

Everytime I hear someone trying to paint a bright picture, of the lottery and it's benefits. From that point on out. I take their solutions with a grain of salt. I wonder what's the next thing they're going to try and twist. The lottery is a bad deal overall. The people of Tennessee want gambling regardless. The lottery is already in place. The scholarships were just a smokescreen. To divert the attention of the hard sells. Since Mr. Roland is on the advisory board. He knows better than most. The numbers won't be changed to make more people eligible. This proposal sounds good, but it won't happen.

2. Health CareAfter learning there are 1/2 million people in Tennessee without any health insurance, and that the Governor cut several thousand people from theTenncare rolls, I have decided we need to do something to help those who cannot help themselves. The first way is to take some of the TDOT's 1.7billion surplus funds and divert it to pay for Tenncare and get this groupof disenfranchised citizens back on the rolls. State government took the money from the cigarette settlement and diverted it to the general fund,which caused a shortfall in the Tenncare system. I advocate doing something similar, by taking money from the roads projects and putting it intoTenncare. Are roads more important than people's lives?

Here he has suggested an awful lot of switching funds around. If we take the money from TDOT now, where does it come from later. The program needs to stand on it's own. His solutions are based on money being spent elsewhere. That it is supposedly not needed. The Tenncare medical plan is good in theory, but it doesn't work. The only healthcare that ultimately works. Is the kind that people pay for. Those thousands of people cut, weren't supposed to be on the rolls anyway. The program was riddled with fraud and abuse. The people he's appealing to in this election, only represent 30% statewide. If this fight advances, which I don't think it will. It won't be for them.

3. Urban Growth The big concern in the rural areas is "urban sprawl". Why not develop the urban areas that are blighted and leave the rural areas alone. We can takethe money that is being used to create infrastructure in rural areas, where people don't want it, and use it in the inner city, where the neighborhoods need to be rehabilitated anyway. There are thousands of vacant lots inside the city of Memphis that could be used for this construction. The infill would help the city of Memphis by creating homes for taxpayers, which in turn would create jobs, thereby raising revenue for the city and county.

Who says the citizens don't want redevelopment in the rural areas? To the contrary, I think that's part of the problem. We're using government funds to give incentives to developers. To build new subdivisions. Everybody wants to live outside of Memphis. I agree all government money allocated for redevelopment, should be used to redevelop existing areas. That's not what the people want though. They want to move farther and farther out. Why would he be concerned with this issue anyway? The district he is running for has no rural areas. I guess he could say, he is trying to get money the district might be losing. That would be stretching it though. It could possibly be construed by some. As him trying to off-set the migration or invasion of Millington, where he lives. A lot of the surrounding areas have found they don't welcome the sudden growth.

4. Senior Citizens After doing exhaustive research , I have learned that the largest concentration of senior citizens reside in senate district 29. I believe we should take care of those who have taken care of us. Elderly people who are no longer working should not have to worry about losing their homes to the government for failure to pay property taxes. My recommendation is to enact a "Homestead" act where we freeze or roll back property taxes for the elderly. Once a person dies, the property tax will be reinstated for whomever becomes the owner.All the above can be done without raising taxes! We are simply reprioritizing the allocation of our assets in Tennessee.

It would be wonderful if this city could afford this. There is some assistance for those earning less than $20,000 a year. The truth of the matter is, we can't afford to be so generous. If the senior citizens didn't pay property taxes here. Who would we collect them from? Many young people in this city. Don't own anything anyway. They still live in these houses, with their elderly relatives. If the senior citizens are no longer working. Unless they are disabled. They should be retired. In both cases they should be getting a check. I am in favor of senior citizen discounts. You still have to pay your way. Age doesn't make others responsible for you.

Mr. Roland is on the Republican steering committee. Based on the things he has said here. He doesn't sound like one to me. I think he says one thing to the Black voters. To his party members something else. A double minded man can't be trusted. What do you think?