Being a mom to three small children at Easter precludes any opportunity to actually write an Easter blog. Thus, I give you my “Springtime” blog one week later.

During a recent visit to Cheekwood, I did what all moms do: photograph my children amongst the flowers.  I also took photos of the beautiful flowers themselves, and then, curiously, this one that looks a lot like rosemary (we’ll just say it’s rosemary).  Instead of flowers of vibrant shades, it was a photo of green on green…not unlike the Williamson Families logo.  Now I might have been the only one at Cheekwood taking pictures of rosemary, but it spoke a clear message to me… of which I’d like to share.

The photo was of new growth.  I thought it was a beautiful thing.  Without the fresh shade of spring green, it would just be a photo of plain old rosemary. The new growth, coming forward from the old, is what made me take notice.

Williamson County has been led by the same set of commissioners, school board members, county mayor, etc, for many years now.  Betsy Hester has been on the commission for 16 years (she said so herself HERE).  Bert Chalfant is 86 years old (and can’t conceive of doing anything else).  The county mayor has been working in that building since 1986!

The Establishment is very well situated, accustomed to business as usual, and likes it that way.  As is human nature, they don’t want these “new folks” coming in here and shaking things up.  They accuse Williamson Families of being proponents of “radical change.”  These “fellow Republicans” go so far as to call this group of grassroots conservatives “right wing extremists,” “liars and deceivers” and from the “the East Side of the Interstate.”  Ha!  It’s as if they’re sharing rhetoric with the hard-left Williamson Strong (or maybe they are, in a way).  “Republican” Eric Welch made his alliance with the organization official while Williamson Strong doesn’t seem nearly so threatened by the “The Bulletin/Back to School” bunch as they do Williamson Families (see tweet).  Wonder why… 

I will save the dark underbelly for a different blog.  However, on this beautiful spring day in Williamson County, let’s focus on the beauty, and the necessity, of new growth.  This photo would be unremarkable without the fresh green forming at the end of the old growth.

We have a deep appreciation and respect for the foundations of traditional values that made Williamson County what it is.  (Have you seen our “Roots of Williamson County” blog?) But as Springtime is the season of renewal and new growth, and the Easter resurrection gives us reason for unbridled hope, I hope for a similar season in Williamson County.

So many people that I’ve spoken to ask the question, “How did we get here?”  The answer is “very slowly, but steadily.”  We have been a degree or two off-heading for many years now.  If we hold this course, we are headed for a Williamson County unrecognizable to us.  I wrote about this in my first blog post last September.

It’s time for some fresh new leadership, a fresh take, and a course correction lovingly applied to the county that we cherish.  Just as the new growth could not happen without the existing plant to support it, the plant would fail to thrive without the new growth to reach forward and take it to new heights.

If your approach is to burn it all down, may I direct you to Williamson Strong?  If you’d like to continue with business-as-usual as we fail to achieve our true potential, may I direct you to the Establishment?  (The Back to School (BTS) Facebook page and the Sargent Legacy PAC are great places to start.)

If you are ready to elect some true conservatives who are Rooted in Tradition while Reaching for the Future, then please join us at www.williamson-families.org.  We can’t wait to meet you.