GUV'MENT

Abraham Lincoln used the phrase in the Gettysburg Address: "That government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from this earth." Here in Marion County members of Lincoln's own Republican Party do all they can to undermine the government of, by, and for the people. And the most vulnerable suffer as a result.

Here's what happened. This county has a lot of children and elderly people at risk. They need all sorts of help to survive. We're not talking lazy people in good health who won't work, but children in poverty who aren't being taken care of, and elderly who have to choose between eating and taking medications. You'd think that the wealthiest country in the word could make provisions for its most vulnerable citizens, but it doesn't. Thank goodness there are all sorts of nonprofit organizations trying to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately there is never enough money to take care of all the needs. The question has arisen several times of whether the local county government should help some of the more effective agencies in their work. "That isn't what the people want," some commissioners claim. Are we sure? How do we know?

One of the commissioners, a Republican with a bit of the old Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt party spirit in him, proposed a non-binding referendum to see if the citizens of the county would support using up to one-half mil of assessed property taxes to be used to support social agencies. The local paper calculated that would mean each homeowner would be designating up to $50 a year to be used for this purpose. Not a spendthrift approach and one that would not raise the taxes at all.

Dozens of civic minded people packed the county commission auditorium to support the proposal. A much smaller number of people came to oppose it. The objections were that people are taxed enough and can't pay anymore, that the government is incompetent and won't spend the money rightly, that helping people is socialism and government shouldn't be doing such things. Those who supported the proposal talked about the dire conditions of some people, about the needs that just aren't being met.

Now understand that the proposal was only for a non-binding referendum, a straw poll, to see what the voters thought. The proposal was defeated 3-2. Three of the Republican members voted against it, one Republican and the lone Democrat voted for it. It was a sad defeat, but the position taken by the opposing commissioners was even more distressing. First, they took the position that it is not the purpose of government to do things like support people in need. It seems to me that the preamble of the U.S. Constitution says that one of the reasons for establishing the constitution was to "promote the general welfare." Of course, the Constitution doesn't seem to be in high regard lately, especially the Bill of Rights. The second reason for not supporting the referendum was essentially that it didn't matter what the people thought. The opposing commissioners didn't want the citizens messing around trying to tell them what to do. Out came that old saw, "This country is NOT a democracy. It has a representative government."

It seems to be a popular activity of some elected officials to undermine the expressed will of the people. When the people adopted an amendment to reduce the student-teacher ratio in schools, some "leaders" notably the unlamented former governor Jeb Bush (brother of the soon to be unlamented former President George W. Bush) worked hard to get around the amendment or have it repealed. Now there is a move to make it harder for the people to propose changes to the State Constitution. That will teach the peasants to stay in place.

I wish I could blame all the problems on a single political party, but idiocy knows no political bounds. The Democratic National Committee is going to disenfranchise the Democratic voters of Florida in next year's Presidential Primary. The state will not be given any delegates to the nominating convention as punishment for the state legislature setting the Primary date earlier than the national big-wigs wanted it. I have never understood why the people in Iowa and New Hampshire get a disproportionate role in the selection of the President. Usually by the time the citizens of Florida get to vote, it's all over. Why can't there be a national primary? And while we're at it, how come we are still messing around with that antique Electoral College which made it possible for the person who lost the popular vote in 2000 to become President? It's a holdover foisted on us by some of our founding fathers who didn't particularly want the people electing the president (or U.S. Senators, for that matter.)

Actually, our founding fathers didn't have much to worry about. Most people don't vote anyway. THAT should be a subject for another political blog.

May the Lord God bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.


Wayne