The Problem of Representative Government

February 5, 2016

Our current problems with elected officials representing their own interests instead of ours are not new and the solution was the same back then as it is now.

William Willoughby wrote this in 1919:

The Problem of Representative Government

This type of government, from its very nature, raised a political problem of prime importance.  How are the people to make sure that their representative, the legislature, will in fact, represent them in the sense that its action will accord with their wishes?  This is a problem which, in spite of our hundred or more years of experience with the system, has not yet been solved.  It is only too well known that in many cases legislatures have failed utterly to translate into action the wishes of the people represented by them.  In many cases they can be said to represent the people only in name, since the election of their members has been controlled or dictated by a small part of the voters to whom we have given the opprobrious names of the “ring”, the “machine”, the “bosses”, etc.  Often members of legislatures have used their powers to promote personal or party interests rather than those of the people as a whole.

The remedy

The solution back then as it is now was to vote these people out of office.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

11 Comments | City government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Pavement condition index

February 4, 2016

Once upon a time the city published their pavement condition index  for members of the public to review.

As part of what appears to be a systematic program to minimize information available to the public the index has been removed from their web site.

Taking the index off of the web site was a deliberate action.  Not replacing it was another deliberate action.

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Shutting down access to information

February 3, 2016

The city is definitely in cover up mode.

The last financial report available on their website is for April of 2015.

That’s almost a year ago.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Invitation to write for this blog

February 2, 2016

From time to time we are fortunate to have members of the community write articles that we publish on the blog.

We would like to invite those of you who would like to contribute to do so.

We ask that you use good taste and be factual.  Not getting nasty or personal will be appreciated.

If you wish to contribute please send your work to brutusep@yahoo.com

It would be nice to be able to read about some of the good things that are happening in our community.

Thank you again for your continued readership and participation.

Brutus

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Knowing who is important

February 1, 2016

Watching the video of the Monday, January 25, 2015 legislative review meeting of our city council we saw an interesting event at the very end of the meeting.

Council had scheduled two simultaneous meetings, the legislative review and a special city council meeting.

Members of the public that wanted to attend the special city council meeting had to wait from 9:05 to 10:40 that morning before the legislative review meeting was over and the special council meeting was started.

Councilwoman Limon asked if they might change their policy and schedule the second meeting at a time where the public could reasonably expect the meeting to start.

She was told that the current method was used to “save time”.  Not our time but their time.

Thank you for trying Mrs. Limon!

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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