Apathy, Taxation & Freedom

by Ron West

     Strange things seem to happen to people who are elected to public office. 

    Most folks decide to run because they think they can help others and make a real difference.  There are as many reasons for running as there are folks who run but for the most part the initial reasons do not typically include personal gain, ego, personal recognition or snobbery.  First time candidates talk about serving and responsiveness to the voters.  They often talk about fiscal responsibility and responsible spending.  They talk about communicating with the voters. 

    When they are elected they soon realize that most of the citizens don't even know who they are and for the most part don't care.   Only a very small percentage of the citizens vote and when they do, it is only because of some action by elected officials that has riled them up - such as the tax freeze for senior citizens.  Once their issue is  settled, they seem to go back to sleep so that the elected officials are left to their own thoughts and devices.

    The human response of elected officials to voter apathy is to do what they think best for the city, county or state.  Without input from the voters - or without interest from the voters, virtually anything can become OK or reasonable.  This includes their ability to spend all the money they want and to raise taxes and fees without restraint.  It also includes creating their own laws applicable to others and not themselves.

    Otherwise reasonable folks seem to forget restraint when spending tax (other people's) money.  It is a bottomless bucket that can continually be filled by simply increasing income (taxation) without regard for the taxpayers.  Under our elected officials, all spending can be justified and there is no such thing as taxes that are too high.  Games of increasing valuations on property have provided an endless stream of increased taxes to virtually all taxing authorities along with a host of other sources of income such as fees and fines.

    These dedicated (to spending)  elected officials seem to catch the spending disease to the point that even questioning of bureaucratic spending is off limits.  Budgeting processes of private industry are quickly forgotten because spending is not limited by income.  At some point the disease progresses to a position of making sure that governmental employees have higher pay, more benefits and more privileges than any private citizens that support them.  A new game of comparing your (carefully selected) city or county to other cities or counties  to insure the need for more pay increases to be justified has been invented and almost universally implemented.  Comparisons to private sector employers is no longer even considered prior to ever higher budgeting and higher pay and benefits for governmental employees.

    The elected - with the power to set policy and direction - are mostly part timers - so they have delegated their powers to the bureaucrats to submit the budgets for their approval.  Millions upon millions are spent without adequate questioning or supervision but no one seems to care.  Line item examination of budgets representing millions upon millions of dollars is just not being done.

    That no one seems to care insures that the elected officials can focus on ego, self gain and special interests without regard for consequence.

    If anyone did care - what could they do?  Criticism is dealt with by misinformation and the use of the public information channels to reach the special interest constituents who keep the elected officials in power.  Who are these special interests?  Simply those who directly benefit from the runaway spending by the governmental entities.  This can include all governmental or school employees who directly benefit from taxation along with all of the "friends" of the elected officials who benefit by special favors or privilege.

    The elected officials can grow even more calloused as their tenures extend into many years.  They can disregard law because such law is enforced by other elected officials who will not prosecute wrongdoing by elected officials.  Only in cases of gross malfeasance that is made public, is prosecution ever considered.   Laws that the now long term elected officials have passed become only for the citizens and can be disregarded by the elected officials in power.

    Ego - fed by voter apathy - allows our elected officials unrestrained power.  The principles our country was founded upon are lost in the bureaucratic power grab that is fueled by and the result of our own disinterest.   The founders of our country warned us about this very problem. 

    By our apathy, we are condoning ever increasing spending, ever higher taxes, more corruption in local governments and special treatment for the special few.  We have abdicated our rights to those special few and by staying home when elections occur, we insure continuation of an ever downward spiral that is eroding all of our Constitutional rights.  By continuing on the current pathway, even freedom of speech will soon only be a historical concept.

    Apathy has created Big Brother - even on a local level.  Continued apathy is prior approval for continuation of ever increasing taxes and spending by all levels of government. It is a blank check to take away the rights and privileges of the many for the benefit of the few. 

    Apathy is abdication of our responsibility as citizens of this great country.  The only correction of this course can occur by citizens returning to this depressing public arena and saying enough is enough by voting.  This is neither an easy or painless step because opposition is not tolerated by the current power brokers.  Fighting back against corrupt and unrestrained government has never been easy but we must first decide whether we truly care enough to enter the fight.  Do we owe ourselves and our children the effort required to reclaim constitutional and legal government?  Can we find and support citizens who truly wish to serve and who will not stay in office long enough to lose sight of what they want to accomplish. 

    First of all - however - we take the first step at fixing things by expressing our own opinion as an informed voter at the polls.  If we want the special and privileged few to continue their rule we can remain apathetic and stay home. 

    Your vote really does not count if it is not cast.