It’s a cliché, I know, to talk of civic duty — but that doesn’t stop me from doing so because many truths don’t become less true when they’re seemingly over-used in conversation. Eat right. Work hard. Don’t lie. Get off your ass and start doing something to save your country. See what I mean?
Not all political fights are located in Washington, D.C. or state capitals. In fact, most political fights are local. Local governments are typically as big a financial mess as the federal and state governments. Why? The cause is the same. Too few good people get off their asses and do something about it.
You’re too busy, right? I get it. Who isn’t? But our too-busy-ness has left the insane asylum to be run by the inmates. How else can you describe the disastrous government employee pension systems except as the product of crazy people? Okay, you’re right, let’s say it this way: they’re the product of crazy, corrupt, and amoral individuals that think it’s fine to steal from taxpayers.
Here are two articles worth reading — both focus on special taxing districts and what little most people know about them. Why are most people in the dark? Our side isn’t in the information war and not enough people get off their asses and engage in local government.
Image credit: The lovely home of the Oswego Fire Protection District in Kendall County, Illinois, photo courtesy of fgmarchitects.com.
