Who Do You Trust
Category: Family and Community
Local New England Government
I live in a small Massachusetts community with a Board of Selectmen and the usual small town governmental structure…planning, conservation, health and safety, etc. It has been a rural community with significant small farmland, but in the past 20 years has seen a lot of development. As with many small towns in New England, there are a few key residential developers…and these few often are on town committees.
Last night my wife and I watched two hours of a conservation committee meeting where one of these key developers needed a special permit on a retention pond that was build BEFORE he had permission….in a subdivision that was built BEFORE it was fully permitted. It was perhaps the most painful two hours of television I have ever watched.
Our town government is dysfunctional. We have a Chairman of Selectmen who is combative…and abrasive. He is also a poor communicator. Some folks tried to recall him, but the recall was defeated…so now we have bitter factions. The conservation committee was constantly tangled in procedural issues…eventually one woman member stomped out mid-sentence. One of our friends on the committee is a local respected attorney… and even he was frustrated to the point of nervously shuffling papers.
The developer kept running up to the microphone to make impassioned appeals and objections, his small and obedient lawyer right at his side each time. His primary adversary was the Chairman of Selectmen…and they are archrivals. Mr. Selectman also kept running up to the microphone to make impassioned objections.
The committee has spent $40,000 getting expert counsel…all of which has been paid by the developer (do not shed tears for the developer…his little operation probably bought the land for less than $500k and will make about $1M…even with the $40k). None of the expert counsel seemed to provide all that much light on the issue.
It was a zoo! By the end of two hours both my wife and I had indigestion.
American Presidential Politics
Last night I listened to parts of the Democratic National Convention – including the speeches of Al Gore and Barack Obama. I find Mr. Obama a good orator, and he and his wife appear understandable and sincere.
There is something about the whole Convention that troubles me (and I would guess that I will have the same trouble with the Republican National Convention). The Convention gives the Party a national stage (I watched on CNN so do not know how much the other networks carried). Here is an enormous opportunity to lay out your case before the American people.
They use their time, however, to have hundreds of speakers say the same thing!
Al Gore, who knows a great deal about the environment and energy, could lay out a Democratic vision, platform, and program…he does not (other than to repeat a series of dire statistics). Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island could lay out a vision, platform, and program on the military and international affairs…he does not.
I believe the American people want to know the ‘nuts and bolts’ of what would be proposed if Barack Obama was elected president….and they want to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Mr. Obama spent a few minutes on those issues, and, for me, it was the most compelling part of his speech. Given his wonderful ability to speak, he crafted a few skillful platform issues. It was great! I’ve got a sense of what he would attempt.
Now on to the Republican Convention.
Joe Biden and Amtrak
Joe Biden has been an Amtrak customer for thirty five years. He’s a big advocate of mass transportation.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/joe-biden-fan-amtrak.php
Happy Birthday Social Security
The Social Security system turns 73 this month. The Providence Journal carried an editorial this morning about Social Security. The editorial points out…in addition to the $10 trillion-plus shortfall…that the program creates no wealth. It merely pays current obligations with our withheld income.
Because it is a politically managed system, the government can change how much it withholds (it has increased payroll taxes 17 times since 1935), how it pays benefits, who benefits… As the editorial writer says, the only thing you can count on is that it is a massive drain on the earnings from your work.
The writer makes the very interesting observation that, in order to ensure a ‘retirement’ for everyone, we are depriving young workers of their ability -and freedom- to plan their own futures.
He believes Social Security is morally irredeemable.
Mathematics and Policy
I noticed that John Phipps had posted today about the poor state of American math and science education. At the end of his post, he drew a parallel to ‘why mathematical evidence seems to carry very little weight in policy debates’.
I’m well aware of the problems with using scientific and mathematical evidence in policy debates, but never related it to a lack of education. My own experience is that there is a huge ‘barrier to entry’ in using science and math in policy discussions. Unless you are ‘preaching to the choir’… most of the decision-makers will have very little comparative experience with the evidence. No matter how relevant and accurate, it will have no meaning!
Richard Pace 