“I implore you. Use your brain! It’s that warm thing on top of your neck.”
Photo credit: Kevin McGloshen Copyright 2010 The Tribune; published March 12, 2010.
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Caption by FauxCaption LLC
Most New Albanians desire a city government that works.
Most of us chose to live in this city. With little notice and only infrequent protest, we pay the price to have a functioning city government – through our taxes and through our fees. Those of us who earn wages pay 1.5 percent of it to keep it running. In a typical year, we wage-earners contribute a little less than $3 million in economic development income taxes to the City of New Albany. Those of us who own real property, and businesses that own personal property, pay property taxes to the county. That provides another $15 million or so to city coffers.
Most of us want that money to be used wisely, to be used for common purposes that will make our city a better place to live.
While we may not always agree with the decisions being made by those elected by a majority, very few of us wish to see our own city government fail.
But that’s not true for all of us. There are people who live in our city who are cheerleaders for failure. They don’t share our desire for effective government.
We honor the idea of pooling our financial resources, electing leaders, and hiring our neighbors to carry out tasks that none of us could or would want to do on our own. We want as much government as necessary. Call us the pragmatists.
They want as little government as possible. I call them ideologues.
Among the small government ideologues are several archetypes.
One rejects democracy and the whole concept of consensus on community standards. Another believes personal hatred trumps the expressed will of the city’s people. Yet another is willing to wreck the whole democratic apparatus if government action yields a greater benefit to one group than to their own.
These ideologues have marginalized themselves. They have voluntarily removed themselves from the class of people who want to see their government work. Yet they are still dangerous to the rest of us.
One way they are dangerous is that they seek public office, where they can do the most damage. The rest of us rightly expect, and wrongly assume that no person who hates government would run for office. Accordingly, the ideologues are able to get a head start on their campaign to cripple government.
But they are most dangerous when they try to define government as either small or big, as if those were the true choices.
The rest of us reject their formulation, logically espousing “effective” government. Size has nothing to do with it.
When we advocate for effective government and wise use of our collective treasure, they seek to shrink government. We talk quality. They talk quantity. We’re not even on the same page.
We believe in government and prescribe measures to make it effective. They disbelieve, and cite philosophy and slogans.
So we, the majority, the people who don’t disbelieve in government but who merely want it to work, must fight a rear-guard action against snipers and looters who do disbelieve.
These non-believers, government infidels if you will, aren’t universally evil. They aren’t uniformly ignorant. Whatever it is they do believe in, they sincerely think wrecking the apparatus of government is their duty.
They both parade their own ignorance and prey on the unknowledgeable among us. They exploit the most vulnerable, the people most dependent on effective government. They foster rage via lies and half-truths, feeding the paranoia of people who don’t have the time, training, or inclination to find out for themselves what’s going on.
New Albany is one city. It has one destiny. Isn’t it time we demanded from people who don’t believe in government that they step aside and let those of us who do make it the most effective government it can be?
The NewAlbanist 