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Montebello
E-News
November 1, 2007
That
government is best which governs the least,
because its people discipline
themselves.
Thomas
Jefferson
[The
conclusion in “The Falling Dominos of Democracy, Part 4”,
in
this issue, is in line with Jefferson’s quotation.]
1.
“Wait and Whine” Nursery Rhyme
2.
The Falling Dominos of Democracy, Part 4
3.
Announcements
4.
Fun Facts about Connecticut
5.
The Flashback Quarterback on “Nanny” States
6.
Beware and Share
7.
About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”
“Wait and Whine” Nursery Rhyme
The
seemingly innocuous passage below from the September-October, 2007, Spotlight
on Montebello, led to the title of this community lesson:
...Work has begun to clean up street signs (stop,
yield, etc.) throughout the city and where needed, replace those signs in
most need. Poles will be
repaired / replaced and signage will have anti-graffiti coating.
In addition, Phase 2 of the stop sign replacement and re-striping
project began in late August and will include replacement of all stop signs
and repainting of pavement markings in the area north of Beverly Boulevard
and west of Wilcox Avenue.
The
city keeps telling us what they are doing for us. That is a good thing, but it does lead to a mindset in which
the city is convinced, as are we the residents, that it is the city’s job
to take care of us, while, like children, we wait—and whine if the job’s
not done in time.
I
keep coming back in lessons and essays to this issue of “paternalism”
because I believe that the dependence of the public on burdened civil
servants is going to lead to calamity, perhaps of the magnitude of the
disaster which struck New Orleans.
A
quaint example. If you
remember, before California National Bank was built on the southeast corner
of Beverly and Vail, there was an empty lot surrounded by a fence.
Somebody had bent part of the fence outward, so that the barbs at the
top faced outward, close to a bus stop on Beverly. The possibility that somebody could have injured herself
coming off the bus was more than remote and could have resulted in a lawsuit
against the bus lines, the city, and the property owner. Because letters to our city’s code-enforcement office
dated May 27, 2004, and June 15, 2004, did not bring about the needed
repair, on Holloween night, 2004, I walked up to the fence and, with pliers
in hand, bent the barbs inward.
Of
course, the Spotlight passage above is cause for additional concern.
New signs and cleaned signs are simply new marks for taggers, and the
new graffiti-tracking system is not going to eliminate the problem.
The ideas that the penalty should increase for defacing a traffic-safety
sign and that residents could be motivated to provide extensive
assistance have not moved city
hall to action, so I wonder how the signs would be kept tagger-free.
If
you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com
with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward
a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in
2007 by a local nonprofit organization.
1. Our city
(a) has a cooperative relationship with residents which taps our
energy and enthusiasm for neighborhood improvement.
(b) “performs” and looks to us for approval, but nothing
more.
2. The worst which could happen if we depend on the city
to do a job
(a) is that the job would not be finished on time.
(b) injury or death would result and compel
indemnification from the city to the aggrieved person, meaning that
taxpayer-generated funds would be lost.
The Falling Dominos of Democracy, Part 4
Banking
establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
-----
The
spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that
I wish it always to be kept alive.
-----
I have
the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my
public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.
Thomas
Jefferson, 1743 – 1826,
third
President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of
Independence, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his
promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States.
In part 1, we learned that our elected
representatives represented many more people than they did in the past.
This had harmful consequences, as explained in part 3.
In this part, we look at a possibly disastrous consequence.
In the Montebello Star News of June-July,
2007, I read with interest an essay by Montebello city councilor Robert
Bagwell:
Professor
[Alexander] Tytler, a University of Edinburgh history professor, had this to
say about democracy: “A
democracy is always temporary in nature;
it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
A democracy will continue to exist up until that time the voters
discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public
treasury. From that moment on,
the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits
from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
dictatorship.”
While
is it not clear, according to Wikipedia, that Professor Tytler made this statement, it is,
nonetheless, sobering, even frightening.
For more, see http://www.apatheticvoter.com/Article_DownfallDemocracies.htm
The statement can well apply to Montebello, California,
and the United States. When our President talks about protecting American interests,
is he trying to delay the inevitable by securing cheap oil and cheap goods
from abroad, while opening markets for American goods? Are we trying to prolong the life of a moribund,
fundamentally-flawed market economy?
Our city councilor goes on to say that
[t]he average age
of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has
been about 200 years. These
nations always progressed through the following sequence:
(1) from bondage
to spiritual faith, (2) from spiritual faith to great courage, (3) from
courage to liberty, (4) from liberty to abundance, (5) from abundance to
complacency, (6) from complacency to apathy, (7) from apathy to dependence,
(8) from dependence back into bondage.
A professor in
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out that the U.S. is now somewhere between the
“apathy” and the “complacency” phase of Professor Tytler’s
definition of democracy. ...
Is the downfall of America inevitable, as history would
seem to tell us?
No, because we can halt the downfall by addressing the
problem in the community lesson in this issue, “Wait and Whine Nursery
Rhyme.” We can involve
Americans, including Montebelloans, directly in government.
The assumption is that, when people learn by discussing and deciding
through direct, substantive participation in government, their perspectives
would change for the better.
Professor Tytler and City Councilor Bagwell are
concerned because they assume that our static, I daresay stagnant, form of
representative democracy would continue.
While the concern is commendable, the assumption is challengeable,
because I believe that, if we moved toward pure democracy, we would assuage
the concern.
In the next part, we will look at the consequences of
elected officials representing an “overpopulation” of constituents.
Announcements
FOR
VOTERS. Election on Tuesday.
We have a municipal election
on Tuesday, November 6. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Your polling place might be
different! Look on the back
side of your sample ballot or call the county at 800.815.2666.
We will be voting for city council, city clerk, city treasurer,
and school board.
FOR
EVERYONE. Skate nights.
November 9, November 30, at the skate park in
Montebello City Park. Starting
times vary. For more
information, call 323.887.4577.
Fun Facts about Connecticut
The first telephone book ever issued contained only
fifty names. The New Haven District Telephone Company published it in New
Haven in February 1878.
The Scoville Memorial Library is the United States
oldest public library. The library collection began in 1771, when Richard
Smith, owner of a local blast furnace, used community contributions to buy
200 books in London. Patrons could borrow and return books on the third
Monday of every third month. Fees were collected for damages, the most
common being “greasing” by wax dripped from the candles by which the
patrons read.
Mary Kies, of South Killingly was the first woman to
receive a U.S. patent. On May 15th, 1809 for a method of weaving straw with
silk.
In colonial New Haven cut pumpkins were used as guides
for haircuts to ensure a round uniform style. Because of this fashion, these
New Englanders were nicknamed “pumpkin-heads.”
Connecticut is home to the first hamburger (1895),
Polaroid camera (1934), helicopter (1939), and color television (1948).
The first automobile law was passed by the state of
Connecticut in 1901. The speed limit was set at 12 miles per hour.
http://www.fun-facts.com/item/86095
The
Flashback Quarterback on "Nanny" States
Each
of “Good Morning, America” and “World News Tonight with Charles
Gibson” had a report last month about “nanny” states, that is to say,
states in which neighbors snitched on neighbors.
Snitching
included reporting neighbors who overused water in Georgia, this in light of
the drought which has stricken that state.
Another type including taking videos of motorists speeding in school
zones.
Some
interviewees said that they would not snitch.
Now,
is public involvement for the welfare of the community a good thing?
Yes. Can public
involvement be had without stigmatizing it as snitching?
Yes.
So
how do we involve the public without coming up against the snitching taboo?
We have talked in E-News about thinking outside the box.
Here is such a thought:
An intermediary, like a community organization,
receives information and writes a letter to an offender, politely pointing
out a violation and asking for cooperation.
The offender is invited to reply, more so if he believes that the
accusation would be unjustified. The
accusation and rebuttal are kept in a private record. Should there be a second accusation in a short time, the
matter is elevated in seriousness. The
community organization writes a letter expressing “concern” and asking
for immediate voluntary compliance. A
rebuttal is again invited. A
third accusation means that the entire file is turned over to an authority
which could enforce against a violation.
The accuser’s name is not released to the offender, but on the
third time, the accuser has to agree to the organization putting the
authority in contact with him for testimony or other proof.
From
the IRS Web site,
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=170894,00.html
:
IRS
Warns Taxpayers of New E-mail Scams
Updated
Sept. 19, 2007 — Another recent e-mail scam tells taxpayers that the IRS
has calculated their "fiscal activity" and that they are eligible
to receive a tax refund of a certain amount. Taxpayers receive a page of, or
are sent to, a Web site (titled "Get Your Tax Refund!") that
copies the appearance of the genuine "Where's My Refund?"
interactive page on the genuine IRS Web site. Like the real "Where's My
Refund?" page, taxpayers are asked to enter their SSNs and filing
status. However, the phony Web page asks taxpayers to enter their credit
card account numbers instead of the exact amount of refund as shown on their
tax return, as the real "Where's My Refund?" page does. Moreover,
the IRS does not send e-mails to taxpayers to advise them of refunds or to
request financial information.
Updated
Aug. 24, 2007 — The Internal Revenue Service today warned taxpayers of a
new phishing scam, in which an e-mail purporting to come from the IRS
advises taxpayers they can receive $80 by filling out an online customer
satisfaction survey. The IRS urges taxpayers to ignore this solicitation and
not provide any requested information. The IRS does not initiate contact
with taxpayers through e-mail.
Updated
June 19, 2007 — In another recent scam, consumers have received a
"Tax Avoidance Investigation" e-mail claiming to come from the
IRS' "Fraud Department" in which the recipient is asked to
complete an "investigation form," for which there is a link
contained in the e-mail, because of possible fraud that the recipient
committed. It is believed that
clicking on the link may activate a Trojan Horse. ...
About
Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”
To
learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying,
growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.
Also, you will find instructions and contact information for
submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter.
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