Some times you win, some times you lose

Each year during Heritage Days one of the highlights is the Annual George Norris Institute Prayer breakfast. McCook has been fortunate to attract a variety of good speakers honoring the works and successes of one of McCook’s more illustrious former residents. TVA and enabling our rural electrical system to be built and Nebraska’s unique non-partisan Legislative Body come to mind.

The speaker this year, current State Senator Danielle Conrad, is scheduled to speak on the morning of Friday October 13 at 7:00 AM. Ms. Conrad will be speaking on the advantages of our Legislature being non-partisan as envisioned by George Norris. Yes there are factions but no majority or minority leader separated by political party. It has worked well in the past but seems to be having problems currently. Should be an interesting presentation.

For the past several years the Norris Institute Prayer Breakfast has been held in a local church. This year when the speaker was announced the church officials objected to her association with the group that is so in favor of unlimited abortion and transgender surgeries for youth has asked that the breakfast not be held in their church building. The event is now scheduled to be held in the “Art Bank” the former Wells Fargo Bank building.

Growing up in this area I detected that my father did not hold Senator George Norris in very high esteem. He was in favor of the non-partisan legislature but Dad’s objection was that in putting together the TVA project George Norris broke new ground by committing the Federal Government to finance the project. Paid for by federal taxes from out of our pockets.

In my own opinion, on the other hand, I think that the TVA project and the electrification of the entire country was an economic boon to making the United States the economic powerhouse that it is today. The other nationwide project was President Eisenhower’s making of the interstate road system for which essential goods flow from coast to coast and for which we so enjoy today. It too has been an economic powerhouse for the whole nation.

Of course, once the die was cast our current politicians have gotten their fingers into it and things like President Obama and now President Biden have pushed their huge infrastructure spending bills through Congress and only a small portion of which gets spent for its stated intended purposes and is in large part responsible for the inflation we are seeing today.

Senator Conrad is a lawyer by profession. She also is one of the senior members of the Nebraska ALCU which in my opinion has morphed into more of a Marxist organization that we definitely don’t need in Nebraska today. She is also affiliated with the group that is pushing for unlimited abortion in our more conservative-leaning State. During this current legislative session, a bill was passed that limited abortion to the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. Supporters were pushing for a ban after six weeks. I understand that the more liberal supporters of abortion raised holy heck after the twelve-week ban was passed, yelling and screaming in the upper level of the Chamber even throwing supposedly used tampons on the floor. That bill, the after twelve-week ban, was also merged with a bill to prevent transgender surgery to persons under the age of 19 years and later signed by Governor Pillen. Now let me attest that Senator Conrad was not one of the screaming protestors although it was her friends and allies that were doing it.

It will be interesting to hear Senator Danielle Conrad’s speech at the George Norris Foundation breakfast. I understand that a couple of our local State Senators on the other side of these contentious issues will also be present at Senator Conrad’s presentation. This being a very conservative community I pray that all present will be respectful in hearing another side of an issue from our chosen way of life.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail