While I now live near Los Angeles, and love the urban environment, I grew up in Augusta, Georgia, and part of that heritage still is a part of me. I still hold a door open for a woman, and like a glass of lemonade in the summer afternoon. I’ve learned that there is a proper way to behave, and if left alone, most people will figure it out without being told what to do all the time.
I’ve learned that you can’t trust the media, because I know how they portray small town Southern life, and how different it is from my experience. I’ve learned that the federal government isn’t your friend.
Reconstruction may be over, but the Justice Department still rules most Southern states, and has a habit, among others, of reviewing any change in voting districts, a habit it does not enforce on other states.
Most of all, I learned that we should keep our politicians accountable.
I do not think our local politicians were any more or less corrupt than politicians anywhere else in the country. We have those who are simply trying to do their job, and we have our bad seeds as well. The governor changed our flag because he was worried that if allowed to vote on it, we would vote against changing it. Whether it was right or wrong to change the flag, it should have been for the people to decide, but the governor didn’t agree. Bad seeds.
The most important lesson I ever learned about government, however, comes from the town I grew up in. While our politicians may have been average, the founders of our city were certainly above average.
Every year as far back as anyone can remember, we always had a balanced city budget. Nobody thought too much about this, but we all agreed it was a good thing. One year, not too long ago, there was the danger of a budget deficit for our city. It made the news, but not in too spectacular a manner. Most people shrugged, thinking there was nothing that could be done, but one person decided to do otherwise. He read our city charter.
Hidden in our charter, much like the 9th and 10th amendments are hidden and overlooked in the Constitution, was a clause that stated that in the event of a budget deficit, the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, and the Members of the City Council are collectively, severally, and individually responsible for paying the difference out of their own pockets.
This clause was then publicized, and after a brief panic, the leaders of our city finally managed to balance the budget, but it was a lesson well learned by me. The only way to make sure our politicians do the right thing is to make them accountable for what they do. Most politicians are so far removed from the results of their actions, they feel they can do anything. The worst that happens to them is they lose the next election, but are never truly held accountable for their activities and voting records.
So how are we to hold our politicians directly accountable? The way my home town did, by hitting them in the wallet. The place to start, and the source of most of the rest of government mischief is the budget. Congress once voted on a budget limit, and when they reached that limit, they simply increased the limit. No thought was ever given to staying below the limit, or reducing the budget. Why should they? It’s not their money.
Holding them directly accountable makes it their money. Problem is, such a bill would never get through any legislature. I would like to introduce it as a ballot initiative here in California someday. I don’t know if it will pass, but the screams of indignation that will come from Sacramento will be worth all the expense.
I’ve always thought that being in politics meant that the person in office was meant to serve. Perhaps paying for the privilege instead of being paid to abuse the privilege will put things back in the proper perspective, as the average Southern gentleman would understand.
July 2, 2002
Jason Gonella [send him mail] is a computer programmer in Lancaster, California, and the secretary of the Antelope Valley Libertarian Party.
