In preparing for the upcoming elections I revisited the ‘chisms and ‘cracies of government and came across some amazing ironies. For my younger friends there seems to be a growing sentiment of anarchism — a political theory advocating the elimination of government and replacing it with voluntary cooperation among individuals. I could go with that but the latter must be prevalent first otherwise we haven’t learned from our past because without cooperation violence almost always dominates the absence of government.
Cooperation is a key to all of the forms of government or lack thereof that is appealing to me. I’m part of that overwhelming majority of Americans who think members of government are doing a poor job — the whole collective bunch of them. We all know it will take bipartisan cooperation to get any meaningful solutions towards an all inclusive economy and now, in a general election for the office of President are two extreme candidates preaching only to their choir while throwing political hand grenades at anyone outside of their box.
And here I thought higher education meant thinking outside of the box.
In Illinois it appears that we are somewhere between a chiliarchy, a system with one thousand rulers and a myriarchy, a system controlled by ten thousand rulers. We’ve got more units of government than any other state in the union (by far).
Some might say kakotopia, a state in which the worst possible conditions exist in Illinois because of kakistocracy, government rule by the worst of men. That’s an understandable position considering the combined arrest and conviction records with the sweetened mea culpa deals given so generously to public service employees caught with their finger in the coffee can in the Land of Lincoln.
Understandable but wrong. Kakotopia is the political capitol of Illinois in large part due to our abused system of municipalism, a doctrine of self-government by cities, towns, or municipalities. In the name of local control Illinois has 6,968 local governments, according to a 2012 U.S. Census Bureau report. Tops in the nation with some 2,000 more than 2nd place Pennsylvania. The problem is 90-plus percent of those local units are financed by neocrats, a near volunteer elected board of public administration amateurs who are wagging the dog for the nonelected appointed staff professionally trained in how to get elected local boards to “increase revenue.”
Delphi anyone? How else could you explain the frenzy of local government borrowing amid the pending storm of public debt? Why else does local government need to borrow money to fix potholes?
“If you scratch our back,” said the professionally hired public sector union negotiators to the appointed administrators, “you’ll also be scratching your own.”
So the Bureaucrats go back to the elected Neocrats and tell them, “government is a service industry so you have to accept that 90% of public revenue must go towards personnel.” That makes it very easy to convince them to borrow money for fixing potholes or even for laying off employees in some communities.
Delphied. Again.
Our universities hold the key to the solution to this whole mess. They’ve misplaced it. They’ve gotten so caught up in things like ROI for career seeking students they can’t see the forest through the trees.
Political Science is a major at many universities. Heck, here in DeKalb we have one of the top Public Administration universities around. They’ve trained many a public administrator now working in Illinois including Cook County.
Political Science. Public Administration. Statesmanship?
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Bonus ‘chisms (with comments):
carpetbaggism: the practices of the carpetbaggers, Northerners who, after the Civil War, sought private gain in the South from the Reconstruction government. (sound like TIF and CDBG?)
plutocracy: the rule of the rich or wealthy. (how much was the Senate seat freakin’ worth?)
democracy: a form of government in which sovereign power resides in the people and is exercised by them or by officers they elect to represent them. (the reason you should vote and remember early voting is now in effect)
doulocracy: Rare. a government controlled by slaves. (so a taxpayer is a doul?)
elitism: the belief or practice that government should be by a self-appointed group who consider themselves superior to those governed by virtue of their higher birth. (Replace the word ‘birth’ with ‘education’ and you’ve got something to make ya go hmmmmm)
fascism: the tenets of a centralized, totalitarian, and nationalistic government that strictly controls finance, industry, and commerce, practices rigid censorship and racism, and eliminates opposition through secret police. (Does the dept. of Homeland Security have a police force?)
foolocracy: government or domination of society by fools. (the byproduct of voter apathy)
isocracy: a government in which there is equality of power among all the people. (count me in)
socialism: a theory of government based upon the ownership and control of capital, land, and means of production by the community as a whole. (NIMBY)
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3 Comments
Your argument is making my points. But I didn’t say the majority of elected officials are doing a poor job. I said the whole bunch of you are, collectively. For evidence see the economy, the growing number of impoverished, war on a global scale and the streets of Chicago. Then ask the universities how prepared high school graduates are for entering college. And employers how prepared they are for entering the job market. Then take a look at your property tax bill.
We are in agreement that the citizens who serve on school boards, city councils, county boards, etc. are well meaning, civic minded volunteers. They are not professionals but they are doing the best that they can. That makes them Neocrats. And the Bureaucrats are taking full advantage of that situation. We need to pay our local elected officials better and pay for their continuing education so that they are better prepared for service. The bar needs to be raised.
One big disagreement. You said, ” It will only happen with an informed public that demands that our government works for the best interests of the majority.”
Democracy should be measured not by how well it takes care of the majority but instead how well it protects the minorities.
It is easy to point the finger at government bureaucrats for the failings of our government. However, I believe what is wrong with our government is the ignorant majority of citizens who don’t participate in it. Thomas Jefferson said, “That a nation that expects to be ignorant and free in a civilized state expects what never was and never will be.” The apathy of the public has allowed our government to be corrupted by corporate entities and their money. The defense contractors that President Eisenhower warned us of have too much influence in the Pentagon. The big banks have corrupted Congress and are regulating government instead of the other way around. Corporate financed groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and ALEC are pursuing legislative agendas that don‘t serve the interests of our democracy and our citizens.
To categorize the majority of our elected officials as doing a poor job is ridiculous. Citizens that serve on school boards, city councils, county boards, and many other governmental units are well meaning, civic minded volunteers. They are not professionals but they are doing the best that they can. No institutions private or public are without fault! Libertarians would like us to believe that government is unnecessary. The next time you use a product you probably would like to believe it is safe. Most people would like to breathe clean air, have clean water, and safe food. When you have an emergency you would like to have competent police and fire departments to come to your aid. Much of what government does is good but one can never expect human perfection on Earth. This is not to say that improvements can’t be made and aren’t warranted. It will only happen with an informed public that demands that our government works for the best interests of the majority.
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One could say that the press is doing a poor job collectively. That would be a generalization like the one that you make regarding public officials. I understand the tyranny of the majority. I meant to say that the public needs to make sure that government works for the common good. Did you say that we must pay our elected officials better? I can’t believe it. You can pay to educate our amateurs who serve in government but they will generally remain just that amateurs and not professionals. I wouldn’t expect too much of them. They lack institutional memory because they usually aren’t active for a long period of time. Amateurs in government may be susceptible to be sold on fads. One good example is the “open classroom” concept that the Dekalb school board was sold when building Clinton Rosette. They finally conceded that it wasn’t a practical idea to have classes held in a building without interior walls. They eventually put up dividers to rectify the noise problem.