Over the last month, the Oxford EAGLE editorial board has interviewed 13 different candidates for three supervisor races in Lafayette County, the state house and senate races, and the justice court races.

Every candidate has different ideas and visions for what they want Oxford and Lafayette County to look like if elected or re-elected. What I would like for each candidate to realize is that voters want the best candidate in office, regardless if they are a Republican, Democrat or an Independent.

Many voters in our country are sick and tired of the status quo. Voters want our elected officials to vote for what is best for their constituents and not necessarily along party lines. All one has to do is look at how Initiative 42 and 42A have been handled, and one can quickly see how Democrats and Republicans work against one another to confuse an issue.

Do we not want to provide the best possible education for our children in Oxford and Lafayette County?

Most of the Democrats, Republicans and Independents who represent our state in Jackson in the House and Senate have children who attend or did attend our public schools. Shouldn’t they be concerned with seeing that their children in these public school systems in Mississippi get the best possible education?

It is obvious in the presidential election that people are fed up with the same old excuses from Washington. With Donald Trump leading in the Republican polls, it appears people would rather see someone with business sense than a politician with continued broken promises serve as president.

Regardless if you like Trump or not, his message is resounding with certain genres of our country much like Republican candidates Ben Carson and Carly Florina. None of them are career politicians; they are business people with new ideas who really owe no personal political favors to campaign contributors.

Our country simply can’t continue down the path of debt that we are presently sustaining. The current national debt of our country is over $18.5 trillion. That amounts to $57,200 per citizen of the United States or $154,493 per taxpayer. As long as our country can continue to crank up the printing presses under the current fiat system, money will never be in short supply as artificial wealth is stimulated.

China has taken over as the No. 1 economy in the world. Their currency, the Yuan Renminbi, eventually will become a member of the International Monetary Funds basket of reserve currencies showing the gains that China has accomplished while the Unites States falters.

Politics, in general, has turned Americans into apathetic voters. Our forefathers wrote a phenomenal constitution that has backbone for our country.

Many of us take for granted the rights that the constitution allows all of us. We all have the right to vote under the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unites States Constitution. But how many opt to not vote?

Only 24 percent of Americans, according to a recent poll, feel our country is headed in the right direction. If you are concerned for the future of your children, take the time to vote and let’s get our country back on track.

Tim Phillips is publisher of the Oxford EAGLE. Contact him at tim.phillips@oxfordeagle.com.