Helping Our Neighbors

While at the Eagle Forum Conference, I visited with some colleagues in the battle to save our country. I am here with Bobbi Schuessler, account executive and Rich Bott at the Bott Radio Network Booth. In the background is Judy Sofka with the Missouri Precinct Project. — *While at the Eagle Forum Conference, I visited with some colleagues*
*in the battle to save our country. I am here with Bobbi Schuessler,*
*account executive and Rich Bott at the Bott Radio Network Booth.*
*In the background is Judy Sofka with the Missouri Precinct Project.*

You can help others in your community just by shopping in your community. When I was on the O’Fallon Board of Aldermen, the Economic Development department had an annual “Business Appreciation Barbecue”.

The City provided all the food and invited all the businesses. For several years, the business owners were offered a “take-home” souvenir glass. It feels good to be appreciated and develop a cooperative partnership between businesses and government.

When it comes to serving our communities, the internet has been a difficult competitor. A lot of people have no idea how much it helps their own cities when they do business with their neighbors. While many people are proud of the sales tax they are saving by buying online, they may not realize these taxes allow us to have paved streets, plowed streets, street lights, police protection, fire dousing services, ambulance transportation and many other services.

Perhaps I feel a little more tuned into this than the average person since I own a business myself. 27 years ago, my husband and I were on a quest to fill a need in our community. We asked what O’Fallon needed that it didn’t have already. We asked what would raise the moral fiber of our community. The answer was to open up a Christian Bookstore. We are still running the same store today.

Harold Hendrick has a show on Bott Radio Network called “Encounter”. He asked us to share our story on his program. You can hear it here.

As an added bonus, my city occasionally features businesses to raise awareness of our presence in our O’Fallon marketplace. The name of the video series is called, “Keep it in the ‘O’ “. This month, the City selected our business, Back To Basics Christian Bookstore, to be highlighted as a feature story. You can watch the video here.

On our show this week, I asked my guest, Paul Berry, why he would want to run for Congress. He said, “The problem we have is that a lot of politicians don’t understand why people are angry. The opportunities we had even a generation ago, just don’t exist.” So I asked him to help me understand what changes he’s seen in the last ten years. It surprised me when he said his first concern is the rise of China.

Have we lost our way? We welcomed China to become the dominant force in our marketplace by making the price the most important feature. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that China is now the major player in our commerce.

China can get away with paying the smallest amount for labor. Is is possible that much of our prosperity is based upon acquiring our goods for such cheap prices? What happens when our houses are full? When the market gets stuffed, who else will buy Chinese goods?

Who did this to us? Instead of blaming the big corporations, we have to realize that we vote every time we purchase. Americans used to be committed to purchasing American made goods. To stay strong, we’re going to have to do more to protect our economy. It starts with a commitment to support those who live in our own communities or at least our own States.

Vote with your pocketbook! It’s one of the ways you can vote more than once.

Helping Our Neighbors 3

WHAT YOU CAN DO…

1.) BUY AMERICAN! If you can’t find American made goods, ask your retailer to consider stocking American made products. If you find the American made products are slightly more expensive, pay the extra. You will usually get better quality and you will enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you did something to support your neighbors and our economy.

2.) We’re asking for donations to promote awareness of Home Front. Even $5 or $10 will go a long way. If you want to contribute to this effort, it will help others become aware of our newsletter and our show. Our newsletter and podcast will educate others. Please consider sending a donation to keep us going. Since we do not have any other funding stream, your donation will be extremely helpful, especially for the sake of our experiment. Many people do not realize we are a volunteer entity and rely on their assistance along with God’s leading to continue. If you would like to help, please mail a check to:

Cynthia Davis
1008 Highway K
O’Fallon, Missouri 63366

Thank you for your consideration!