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| Affiliation | Republican |
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2021-01-01 |
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| Name | Bobbie Daniel |
| Address | 2657 Crestridge Court Suite 2 #269
Grand Junction, Colorado , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Donate |  |
| Born |
Unknown
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| Contributor | BrentinCO |
| Last Modifed | BrentinCO
Aug 06, 2021 04:41pm |
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| Info | Author. Local personality.
Fifteen years ago I was in Texas, in the blazing sun, building houses as part of my tour with Americorps. To say it was hot is an understatement, it was Texas hot. The kind of hot that probably explains why we have so many Texans up here now! While we were roofing, we had to keep pillows under our knees so they weren't scorched by the heat of the shingles in the sun. It was the end of a long day and the professionals who were guiding us had left for the day. There was just one problem, we hadn’t finished the roof on the second house we were working on. It had to be done that day. My group of women went across the street and volunteered to do the job. We didn’t necessarily have all the skills but something needed doing and we did it. We worked through the evening to finish that roof and we finished it to code.
That story has been on my mind a lot lately. For most of my life I thought that was just what people did. When something had to be done, you did it. That just seemed right.
Maybe it’s because I grew up the daughter of a coal miner, grew up right here in Mesa County and had to work my way through school waitressing at Denny’s and Boston’s. I always knew that if you wanted something done, you did it yourself. That’s why I’ve worked my whole life, why I joined Americorps, and why I started my own business as a hairdresser when I was just 23.
I ran my own business for a decade and I learned a lot. Not about the challenges facing our small business owners, although believe me, I learned that lesson. But the thing that struck me about that time was people’s stories. When you’re a hairdresser people tell you everything. Over time I realized that all my clients were telling me the same story, that they all had the same concern. No matter their politics or their backgrounds they all felt like they had less and less control over their lives.
I’ve always felt that the bigger the government, the smaller the person. So the fact that so many of my clients were expressing that very concern struck me.
I found myself thinking about how much heat gets reflected off roofing shingles in the Texas sun.
Everyone I knew was afraid, and afraid of the same thing. But, to hear the media tell it, it’s all so much bigger than us. Big Tech, Big Government, Big Money, Big Media, Big, Big, Big -- we all know the players, we know they’re big. ...much bigger than you and me. ...than a hairdresser from Grand Junction. The Bigs will do the right thing, Big Media said so.
Then one day Big Government decided the right thing was to outlaw coal. Bad news if you’re a coal miner. Bad news if you’re my father. Bad news if one day Big Government singles you out and decides that the way you’ve lived your whole life, the way you’ve supported your family, the way you raised your daughter is no longer acceptable. Now you can’t do any of that. And if you even want a shot you have to uproot your whole life and move away from your home.
Is that fair? Is that moral? Is that right?
When I was with Americorps I met a woman named Sandy who lived in a hotel on East Colfax in Denver. She had three children and her only wish, her only goal that she shared with me was that someday they’d be able to play on grass instead of concrete, play on a lawn instead of in the parking lot. She was just a woman fighting to get her hand on the first rung of the ladder of opportunity. You could feel it in the love for her children, that if she could just do that much she’d make it. She’d earn a lawn for them to play on.
Big Government had different plans. Big government decided overnight that the right thing to do would be to shutter every… single… restaurant. Thousands of small businesses, thousands of livelihoods wiped out with the stroke of a pen. But not to worry… Big Government might send you a couple hundred bucks to ease the pain. If they can get around to it in a few months. With no warning Big Government eliminated thousands of jobs that for so many people have been that first rung on their own personal ladder of opportunity. Just like my job at Boston’s was for me. People like Sandy were reaching for that rung and Big Government pulled the ladder up out of her grasp.
Is that fair? Is that moral? Is that right?
I knew something had to be done. But I didn’t know how to stop this pattern. Afterall, I’m not one of the Bigs. I’m just a hairdresser from Mesa County. ...of course, I didn’t know how to roof a house either. When I joined Americorps I didn’t do it to become the Secretary of Housing and Urban development, I didn’t do it to launch a career. I did it because things needed done. When I walked across the street to finish that house, I did it because it needed to be done.
Big Government needs to be reined in. And who better to do it than small government?
The pandemic hurt us here in Mesa County. There’s no question about that. But we all saw what happened in other counties, in other states, in other countries. Imagine how bad it could have been here if we didn’t have a sound county government to push back. The first rung on that ladder wouldn’t just be higher… it’d be gone.
The things we produce with our hands, with our minds, with our hearts... they have the power to change the world. ...even if it is just our little corner of it.
I’m running for County Commissioner because the job needs done. And my father, whose hands produced the coal that powered our country, taught me that when something needs done you do it.
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