Tuesday, July 10, 2007
No more authority for Little Rock's mayor
The column in today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is one of my finest icon busting epic essays. Many of you – most of you – live in towns in which people are represented in a city council whose members are elected from various neighborhoods. It is representative government at its’ best. By no means is it perfect. I figure that the best human being can ever realistically hope for is “good enough.”
The current Little Rock city manager style is not even close. Everybody around here knows there is a problem, but the new idea to give the mayor more authority will only make things worse. The core issue is the at-large votes. The fat cats have figured out that, with thee at-large seats, the mayor elected citywide, and two more affluent zones, the big boys will win every important vote.
It is ridiculous and the power people just try to keep confusing things. The point is that diversion and confusion is usually the tactic of the forces of evil. It’s always a shell game. In Little Rock, or Baghdad, or your hometown, that is how the game is played, and they count on people never catching on. There is an election in my town in August. Right thinking folks will just say “no.”
You get to watch, but I’ve got to live here.
(Broadcast July 9, 2007)
The current Little Rock city manager style is not even close. Everybody around here knows there is a problem, but the new idea to give the mayor more authority will only make things worse. The core issue is the at-large votes. The fat cats have figured out that, with thee at-large seats, the mayor elected citywide, and two more affluent zones, the big boys will win every important vote.
It is ridiculous and the power people just try to keep confusing things. The point is that diversion and confusion is usually the tactic of the forces of evil. It’s always a shell game. In Little Rock, or Baghdad, or your hometown, that is how the game is played, and they count on people never catching on. There is an election in my town in August. Right thinking folks will just say “no.”
You get to watch, but I’ve got to live here.
(Broadcast July 9, 2007)
