In the nation's capital

If you're a business owner and your manager has enabled your business to continue to boom during this historically rough economy, then you might not care how much free time he or she takes off of work.

But if your business is suffering like most are, then you're probably going to expect your manager to have his or her nose to the grindstone continually searching for ways to keep the business successful.

You'll expect the manager to lead by example and aggressively pursue methods to lead the company back to prosperity.

If we would expect our managers on a local level to lead by example then we absolutely should expect the same of the man we hired to lead our country.

We're living in a country that is being decimated by bad political and economic decisions, and a world with its fair shares of confrontational issues.

In spite of those challenges, there are many of us who still feel that we can truly reach the end of the tunnel where the light will be bright and warm, which makes it plain disgusting when we read that our president Barack Obama, in the middle of all of these crises and for the 100th time in his presidency, hit the links. That's an average of 2.4 rounds of golf per month during his time in office.

Mr. President, we really don't care if you play golf every day. We just ask you to step up and be the leader you were elected to be and if that means working 24/7 so be it.

We need a leader with a strong work ethic, backed up by courage and conviction, to raise this country back up to heights it can achieve.

Mr. President, please be our leader, not our recreation guru.

...and at the Gold Dome

Meet David Ralston, the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.

He is a lawyer who represents District 7, which includes Dawson, Fannin and Gilmer counties.

As the speaker of the house, Mr. Ralston has the opportunity to help bring some respect to the fine art of being a politician. He chooses to follow many politicians' habit of keeping one hand in his pocket as he praises the Lord with the other when speaking with you.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been doing a series on efforts to set stricter ethic rules on elected representatives, but, according to their stories, Ralston is not being very cooperative on the issue of setting limits on the free trips, dinners and sports tickets he often receives.

In answering his critics, who want $100 limits on the gifts elected officials can accept, he has reportedly said imposing a cap will simply drive lobbyist spending underground.

Excuse us, Mr. Ralston, for thinking that you were in charge here. If you set the example, we're sure your charges would not defy your wishes and that the lobbyists would not be allowed to go underground.

Mr. Ralston should gladly push for and accept changes to reforms that would stop this unreported lobbying in its tracks.
We don't expect our leaders to be pure; they never have been since the beginning of time. However, we do have a right to expect them to be honest. By his actions and by his leadership of the Georgia General Assembly, Mr. Ralston has shown that he has nothing but scorn for the citizens of Georgia.

The continued disrespect for the leadership of this state and country is motivated by men and women, who, particularly once they gain power, leave honesty and openness far behind.

We call on our own representatives, and other across the state, to stand up to this mockery of true leadership and to have the courage to pass a law that proves the word "ethics" maintains at least some shred of respect in the state of Georgia.