The Country Music Festival at the Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio, in August of 2024, turned out well. Obviously, many people had a lot of fun, and it was a very positive experience for tens of thousands of people. I have a special relationship with that park that goes back a long way because of Senator George Lang, which is worth discussing. I appreciated the use of that particular park for a lot of sentimental reasons, and it was a very nice evening on the Friday night that Jason Aldean and other country music acts were performing from the vantage point of the Butler County GOP tent. I had a rare moment to consider that all was right in the world as I looked out over the vast crowd enjoying themselves under a setting sun and a wonderful evening under the stars as the moon peaked out and hung in the sky to listen to the music. I reflected on similar events around the country, and few could come close to the benefits of the VOA Park in West Chester, Ohio, because of its amenities and commercial access to the outside world. It’s a huge space to set up something like that Country Music Festival, but still close to the highway and major commercial enterprises, complete with double lane roads and a well-managed civilian population. I considered it the best that a society could offer and was a great example of what the world everywhere should be like. But what a lot of people don’t know is the history of the park, and I’m not talking about its location being the site of the Voice of America, which would broadcast anti-communist propaganda to every corner of the world and bring down many authoritarian regimes. Hitler referred to the site as the Cincinnati Liars because of the effectiveness of the VOA broadcasting station, which is still there and was part of the festival environment all these years later. It was an excellent place to have a nice night for a community that deserves nice things to happen to it. It’s been a rough couple of years, so there were plenty of reasons to celebrate.
One thing about my life is that there aren’t many moments to enjoy a few hours of anything. Usually, I have packed into every moment of every day many lifetimes of events. So I don’t leave much time to enjoy life for a few hours. But under the invite of George Lang and his lovely wife Debbie, my wife and I had a nice date night at the Country Music Festival under the added comforts of the Butler County Republican Party tent that was right off the main stage and had a great view of all the events of the weekend. Many people tell me that I’m burning the candle at both ends and that I should take more time to do things like that, which I wouldn’t have done without the invite. But I don’t think so. I do what I do, and I enjoy doing it, including long days of work where my life has a lot going on. While my wife could complain, she doesn’t. She understands. But with all that said, the chance to take a deep breath and have some well-catered food in an air-conditioned tent with so many friends was very well received by my family.
And speaking about George Lang, as I’ve said before, well, after he’s done with politics, I will likely still be friends with him and his wife. We’ve all known each other for many years now, starting during his trial, where he was a target of Democrat activism as they were making a move to harm the GOP in Butler County over essentially a turf war. Can you indict a ham sandwich in grand juries? Yes, I have much experience with that side of the fence now and will have much to say about it. Regardless, I thought what Democrats tried to do to George Lang over his relationship with the future Speaker of the House, John Boehner, at that time was horrible. It was a window into what the courts have been trying to do to Trump now; only George was an early victim of it, and it was scary as he went through it in court. I tend to like to help people like that in any way I can when they are being picked on by some cruel elements of the outside world, which, at this point, I have done for many people over the years. But with George and his family, we have stayed friends ever since and have developed some great respect over a long period. All this occurred when George was a trustee in West Chester before he ever went to Columbus as a state representative. So, I remember the conditions that helped build the foundation for the VOA Park because the nice park where the Country Music Festival was happening was not always there.
The decision to let Metoparks manage the property started with George Lang as a trustee, who had in mind a minimal government approach, which is why that particular park is so unique in the world. Typically, a large park with such a significant footprint in the community would be run by the city nearest it. But George and several other local politicians have fought to keep West Chester as big as it is, as small of a government as it can be, which is a lesson that every community, not just in America, should learn from. As George and I watched the setting sun over the festivities of that evening and remembered all the years, I had to remind him of his role in all this from a policy standpoint. If he weren’t such a small government guy, the VOA Park would be another over-managed failure. However, the decision to let the best at park maintenance manage the park paved the way for its current use. Which, for me, is a continuation of it being the Voice of America. I run this blog site essentially from there as a tip of the hat to its historic use as the Voice of America. I have written many millions of words and read many, many books from that park over the years because it’s where I like to visit to get my thoughts about lofty concepts worked out. Essentially, that’s because of my friendship with George and his wife, knowing the backstory of the park and how it could only exist with a small government approach to big things. And that’s what made that Country Music Festival so unusual, something you could drive all over the country and not see so well done as it was in West Chester, Ohio, one of the best places to live anywhere. And that’s not just me saying that. It’s known throughout the real estate world. And that is because it has stayed a small government and resisted the temptation to become a city with mayors and city council members screwing everything up with too much bureaucracy. It took vision to have the view of government that George Lang has expressed, and what a lot of people don’t know is that his epic vision that helped create that magnificent park is being applied to the state of Ohio right now in ways that will benefit it for many decades to come. For all those reasons and more, being at that festival that evening, I could only think of how proud I am of him and all the excellent work that goes on behind the scenes that nobody will ever know or understand. But that ultimately makes the world a much, much, better place. Good government is the kind of government you never see, but that makes all the possibilities of human existence happen under its power by removing the barriers that would otherwise prevent it. George Lang is a master of that, and many millions of people are enjoying the efforts he has put forward for their benefit, which was on full display at the Country Music Festival at the VOA Park in West Chester, Ohio, during the exciting year of 2024.
Rich Hoffman
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