This past week nationally has been scary.
The past few years locally have been concerning.
This platform has been labeled MAGA, propaganda, and disinformation.
None of which have proven true.
The purpose here has always been to create awareness and discussion in an effort to move Sheboygan forward — while listening to all perspectives and points of view.
Credit is due to Mayor Sorenson for showing leadership and vetoing an ill-planned amendment from a council member regarding the city attorney’s office.
The expectation remains that he will continue addressing the ineptitude and lack of preparedness shown by a majority of the Common Council.
The focus here has always been simple: right versus wrong.
Criticism came from Alder Dean Dekker, who accused this page of “running a good employee out of Sheboygan” when former Human Resources Director Adam Westbrook resigned.
Since then, Westbrook has been found guilty of sex crimes against his adopted child.
Alder Dekker has failed to publicly address his remarks in a council meeting you can view here.
There has also been concern raised over photos of Mayor Sorenson with a group openly mocking the Catholic faith.
Citizens of Sheboygan have spoken out both in support of and against positions shared here on many issues.
Can Alder Dekker not agree publicly the actions of Adam Westbrook were wrong?
Can Mayor Sorenson not publicly apologize for the photo where some employees of the City of Sheboygan and residents of Sheboygan felt marginalized based on their faith?
Without agreement on right or wrong we are lost — but this has become complex in recent times.
This debate goes back to the founding of our nation.
The Founders believed liberty and justice could not survive if good and evil were left to personal opinion.
It’s why they grounded rights in something higher than government.
Because if government gives your rights, government can also take them away.
John Adams warned:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
And Benjamin Franklin asked the chilling question:
“If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it?”
Fast-forward to today…
Nationally: our country is more divided than at any time in recent memory. What we witnessed this past week is disturbing — a symbol of how far we’ve slipped.
Here in Sheboygan:
- Lawsuits have drained millions of taxpayer dollars.
- A city attorney resigned amid controversy.
- Massive dollars are being committed to development with no understood plan for the future.
- Alder Dekker has refused to address public remarks blaming others for concern with the behaviors of Adam Westbrook while working as the H.R. Director in Sheboygan.
Different scale, same disease:
When leaders cut themselves loose from higher accountability, division, waste, and corruption follow.
History is shouting at us:
Liberty, justice, and freedom can’t survive in a vacuum.
They only endure when anchored to a higher order — when people recognize they are accountable to more than themselves.
Faith is personal.
History and truth are not.
Our country began out of a desire for religious freedom.
This freedom is essential for our nation to survive.
There is also a need for agreement on right versus wrong.
This cannot be left up to human interpretation, or the definition of right versus wrong will sway with societal pressure and public opinion.
There is no misunderstanding here — most people disagree with political violence.
But the deeper issue is how we define right and wrong.
The word often used in faith is ekklesia.
It has been adapted and changed over time, but in its original Greek it meant a formal assembly of people with authority.
In Athens this was how democracy was exercised — people who believed in something bigger than themselves, collectively agreeing on right and wrong based on a higher, more perfect order.
History shows this plainly: humans cannot define right and wrong on their own, or else we will fail.
The Founders knew it.
Sheboygan has proven it.
And America is living it.
If we want unity and healing — here in Sheboygan and across the nation — we need consensus on what is right and wrong.
We need leaders willing to admit wrong.
We need citizens willing to demand accountability.
We need virtue.
We need faith.
We need to remember where freedom, liberty, and justice truly come from.
Because without that, history tells us exactly where we will end up.
We want your input; where do we go from here?
You can contact us at https://takebacksheboygancounty.com/contact/.
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