Doug Grindstaff, the chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party, is a man of both ideas and action. His leadership of the county party, and his willingness to help Republican legislative candidates around the state of Tennessee is one reason the Republicans now have a 50-49 majority in the next legislative session of the State House of Representatives.

In a recent column in the Williamson County Herald, Grindstaff set forward an innovative proposal for the coming session of the Tennessee State Legislature.

Let's call on the new Republican legislature to increase our state gas tax by 20 cents/gallon and use ALL that revenue to reduce or eliminate the sales tax on food. Revenue neutral but helps low income citizens and provides an incentive to conserve energy. In the unlikely event that it were to affect global temperatures, that's an added bonus!

Unusual, perhaps, for a Republican to suggest increasing any tax, given the tendency of all tax increases to remain permanent, while tax decreases magically fail to materialize. We'll see if the Republicans follow up on Grindstaff's proposal in January.