CommentsALPERN AT LARGE--Much of what brings the divergent opinions of CityWatch LA contributors together is the overwhelming desire of the contributors to allow the right of Joe/Jane Citizen to be heard, represented, and EMPOWERED. Much of this desire is premised on simple "majority rule", but much of this desire is also in response to a City Council, County Board of Supervisors, and State Legislature/Governor who treat voters and taxpayers like lower lifeforms.
It's without a doubt that many of those elected to City, County, or State office have said something to the effect of, "Hey, I paid the price and did the work to get elected. If that group of people, even the majority, have a problem with my policies, they can get do the work and get elected themselves."
Which, of course, belies the whole idea of representative government that began with the dawn of the United States of America. That dawn, so eloquently and fervently understood and supported by Franklin and Jefferson when they wrote the Constitution, and after vigorous debate and drafting by Madison and others, was premised on the following paradigm: Those elected to public office are the servants of the people, and not the other way around.
The observation that so many of these Founding Fathers were slaveholders, and yet were amazingly ahead of their time, is as relevant as the argument that the Greeks of Athens were ALSO slaveholders and yet ALSO the first to promote the concepts and paradigms of representative democracy.
The original consideration of only allowing wealthy landowners to vote was rejected, and that set a trend that led to individuals of all genders and ethnic backgrounds inevitably being represented and allowed to vote in order to establish a true democracy.
President George Washington set both the trend of term limits and ensuring there would be NO king of the United States in his departure from office after eight years, and in the statements in his Farewell Address.
Yet after we fast-forward a few centuries, we've got human nature right back at its worst: City, County, State (and, of course, National) elected officials presuming they're higher life-forms, and all-too-many citizens willing to blindly re-elect them, regardless of their track records, to innumerable terms in office.
Of course, it should be remembered that:
1) The original representative democracy in Athens was never so threatened when they elected a tyrant (now a bad term, it should remembered that "tyrant" meant a pragmatically-elected general in times of war) who, understandably, had a hard time giving up the reins of power.
2) Democracy is never so much threatened today when society allows the executive branch of government (or any branch of government, including the legislative and judicial branches of government) the ability to change the rules against the will of the majority.
So if YOU are one of those who NEVER vote, or blindly follow the will of the elected as if they were kings and queens, then you're anything but a true proponent of democracy. That's how socialism, communism, fascism, etc. all come into being.
Of course, there's probably more than a few reading this now who think that socialism is a good thing, and that democracy is a bad thing. Pity--and if you're one who ignores (or never learned about) both the 20th century examples of socialistic failure, and if the latest examples of socialistic failure (Cuba and Venezuela) are lost on you, then clearly you're part of a frightening problem.
And ditto to that sentiment if you think that the historical perspective I wrote above is just booooooooring and irrelevant to our modern times.
But back to City, County, and State elections and how they view the rest of us as lower lifeforms:
1) When we ignore the pension crises as things we just don't want to talk about, or spend any time on, and are so easily cowed into avoid being called haters of police, fire, teachers, civil servants, etc. that we risk creating a slew of city, county, state and federal bankruptcies, then we've established ourselves as lower lifeforms.
Of course we respect and cherish the public sector ... but, as with doctors and contractors, if their paid and with early retirements and unsustainable pensions, then bankruptcy will help them, us, and our children...how?
2) As fellow CityWatch contributor and Planner-Extraordinaire Dick Platkin recently opined, there are a few darned good reasons why we need a Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, and legal efforts, and mass actions to allow the larger citizenry to say "NO!" to horrible ideas that enrich a few and significantly harm the majority.
It should be remembered that the Los Angeles City Attorney represents Downtown, and not the average Angeleno, based on that position's job description. There is NO attorney or legal or governmental entity for volunteer, grassroots neighborhood councils to run to for legal and political help when the opinion and rights of the citizenry get crushed.
Meetings in geographically-accessible locations, and held during hours when most of us aren't working for a living, is something we all deserve. This isn't ancient Athens or the dawn of the United States...it's an Era of Empowerment, and whether the tyrant comes from the Left or the Right, and whether the tyrant wears a scowl or a charming smile, that person is still a tyrant!
3) As fellow and occasional CityWatch contributor and Historian-Extraordinaire, Fred Gurzeler, points out, the ballot initiative came about because politicians don’t listen to the people, so the people have to do the work themselves. Hence we've got Mayor Garcetti trying to stop the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative by barring private developer meetings.
Here's another thought for all of us who no longer wish to be lower lifeforms. Pass the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative. Both liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans and Independents, and both the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy favor it because it's the right thing to do.
Too many of today's developers aren't looking for building within legal parameters that were established for a variety of scientific, environmental, and ethical reasons.
They're not they aiming for a reasonable variance based on compromise and mitigations. They want to win the lotto, and to Hades with the rest of us (who apparently can just move the heck out of the City, County, or State if we don't like it). Because they've got fiscal, political, and legal connections, and they can WIN.
Even if that means the rest of us LOSE in the worst sort of way.
Consider the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative. Donate if you can. And vote.
Because the rest of us in the Citizenry who opted NOT to be elected to public office did NOT elect our public officials, merely for them to turn around and then treat us like lower lifeforms.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
How to Empower the Citizenry: Try a Little Respect!
