SPEECH
DELIVERED ON OCTOBER 13, 2014 BEFORE THE GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP BOARD
Thank you again for affording this opportunity to
consider public input.
Recapping what I stated in the August 14 Township
meeting, my family and friends voted against the bond proposal, and we would
now request that Georgetown Township sell its Chicago Drive and Main Street
properties that are both prime commercial real estate, along with its
Georgetown Ice Arena property, re-directing the money towards reducing property
taxes as well as improving core infrastructure, such as the parks, library, and
roadside areas. The Township government should concentrate on its God ordained
core responsibilities, while letting the private sector own and manage what is best
suited for it.
The private sector can address empty commercial real
estate: let the price of commercial property decline to the point where more
businesses find it possible to make a profit given the real estate cost. Unwise government interference in this process
can actually delay the real long term solution. Sellers come to believe they
should not come down in price on the hope that the Township will come in and
buy their property at a higher price than the private sector would
provide. We should hope for commercial
real estate prices in the empty space area to fall significantly, like they did
in Dallas in the 1980s, so that more businesses can afford to fill the space
and get it occupied. The empty
commercial real estate in Dallas was filled after prices fell sufficiently; it
was just a matter of patience with the free enterprise system. The reason they have not become occupied in
Detroit is because government there has failed to perform its God-ordained
function of curtailing crime, and crime among the people has been rampant. The moral of the comparison is this: the more
we follow sound principles, the more we are blessed as a society. But if there is a current Board member that
is not persuaded, I would request such to engage me or others in a public
debate on this issue, so that the competing arguments may be aired.
The fundamental issue still comes to this though:
what is the ultimate source of authority and truth whose guidelines should be
followed in civil governance? Is it
God’s word the Bible, or something else?
The Bible says this: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve
the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son…“ Are we going to rebel against what God has
mandated for us, or are we going to kiss the Son corporately as well as
individually? We will descend into moral
anarchy like the nation is descending into on a host of issues if we do not
corporately bow to King Jesus Christ and explicitly acknowledge God’s word the
Bible as the blueprint by which we conduct ourselves. This is why I continue to ask the Board to
pass the following resolution on behalf of the community: “We proclaim and
acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of Georgetown Township, looking to Him as
Savior from the transgressions committed by the people of the Township, and
resolving by God’s grace to follow Him in gratitude in accordance with Biblical
principles.”
Since we are all sinners in a fallen world, I am not
saying that just passing a resolution will solve all of the Township’s
problems, but it at least would give us a sound foundation upon which to work
towards building that ‘city upon a hill’ that Jesus Christ described. But without such a clear confession and
belief as a Township in the Lord Jesus Christ and His word, we are lacking a
sound foundation. I am sure all of the
Board knows these words of Jesus Christ about the importance of sound
foundations: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell
not: for it was founded upon a rock…” Will
Georgetown Township be built upon the sound foundation of Jesus Christ and His
word, or will it be built upon sand?
Will we as a community and its leaders “kiss the Son”, or will we follow
our own devices?
Thank you for hearing these requests.