So I’ve gotten myself caught up in a bit of a feud. (Yes, I’m certain that shocks all of you to your very core.) The long and the short of the matter is that some folks back in my hometown want to generate renewed interest in the downtown area. This in and of itself is not a bad thing. Problem is that they want to do it by leaving the existing Single A Minor League Baseball Field and relocating the team in a spanky new downtown field with condos and restaurants all around it.
Sound familiar?
So, I’m on the side of the angels in this, arguing against sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into something so completely wrongheaded. That’s just how we libertarians roll. The thing is that one of the local Metro Councilmen, a theoretical Republican, has decided that I Hate Fort Wayne and All Of It’s Leaders.
This came as a great surprise to my husband, who ferries me up there twice a year on nostalgic visits, going with me to all my favourite hometown places. It especially came as a great surprise to him since he has to put up with my occasional fits of wanting to move back there permanently. When I told my husband about it, his response was very enlightening.
That’s just like all those people who say that someone can’t love America if they don’t support the Iraq war. It’s ridiculous.
Which of course got me to thinking about a couple of things. First off, why exactly is it acceptable to assume that someone on the opposite side of a disagreement about policy doesn’t care about their community? Surely the very fact that they care enough to have an opinion shows they have a love for the place, be it a midsized Indiana city or the entire United States of America.
Second off, why is it automatically assumed that our Elected Officials are actually our leaders? The more I think about it, the more that very label angers me. If you are elected to a public office it should be because you are eager to serve as a representative of the people. Not because you want to be installed as some sort of money-mad spendthrift overlord. That’s the whole problem with our representative government. The men and women we elect think, mistakenly, that they’ve been vaunted to some sort of papal status whereby they are never wrong and are entitled to great profit from their actions.
Frankly, no one outside of a military or paramilitary organisation should refer to him- or herself as a leader. It’s like telling people you’re good in bed. It’s arrogant and really a decision that’s better left up to someone else.
“Kat, its great to see that you continue to harbor such bitter feelings about Fort Wayne and its leaders even from your new home hundreds of miles away. It sounds like you are already complaining about things in Nashville, so it sounds like you are feeling comfortable down south.”
ALREADY complaining about Nashville? HOW long have you lived here? LMAO. What an idiot.
I guess ‘leaders’ would just prefer it if their silly constituents would shut up altogether.
I think you’re right about the whole baseball stadium thing. I was flipping through channels on my cable (nothing good on TiVo) and I came across a county council meeting.
They were all congratulating each other on what a good idea harrison square is. The conversation went something like this…
“I think so and so is doing a really good job with this, I think it’s a good idea. I can remember when downtown was so vibrant. I think you can make it that way again.”
My own socialist tendancies aside, there’s something about the whole baseball stadium downtown thing that just won’t work: Traffic.
Fort Wayne has one of the most ridiculous motor vehicle infrastructures. One artery for north, south, east and west, and all have traffic lights. Highways are designed specifically to move the traffic around the center city. There is no way to get a large volume of people in and out of downtown easily unless you have a mass transit component. Without something to bring the people in (not just a public draw, but an actual conveyance) people won’t come.
If the plan goes through, and knowing the way everyone seems to be excited for it I should say when it goes through, the novelty will wear off quickly and people will just stop coming to games, not that many people come now.
If you are elected to a public office it should be because you are eager to serve as a representative of the people. Not because you want to be installed as some sort of money-mad spendthrift overlord.
KC, I definitely think you are on to something. The key misunderstanding, I think, lies in the word serve: Somewhere along the way, elected officials forget that their duty is to sacrifice their personal interests for the good of the people. It’s ironic, and unfortunate, to me that our political system tends to attract arrogance and overlook humble leadership. That’s the exact opposite, in my opinion, of what it is intended to do.
Congrats on the move to WordPress. The new site looks nice. My brief experience on the WP side of things has been most pleasant, so I hope yours will be, too.