Year End Review: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Today = The Good

As 2009 approaches an end, I thought it would be a good idea to review what we have been discussing the past six months since the publication of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." I have entitled the review "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", based on an old western movie starring Clint Eastwood. Today I will review some of the good things we discussed as it related to the political class (the good), tomorrow we will review some of the ugly things the political class has done to the country and its citizens (the bad) and the next day we will review the incredible wasted of taxpayer dollars and government resources the political class has wasted. Each day I will pick the very best good, the very best bad and the very best ugly.

Before we start, please note two things. First, all of the instances of political activity I will review have already been discussed and analyzed in previous posts to this blog. Thus, for more detail on anything listed and discussed in the next three days you can review the past posts. Second, everything discussed in the next three posts come from credible news sources, these are not facts and stories I made up or are coming from highly partisan sources. Typical sources include CNN, the Associated Press, the New York Times, The Week Magazine, Reason magazine and other news sources. While I will not identify the sources again in these review posts, you can refer to the original posts to get the date and source referenced for the information.

Tonight I will review the good things the political class has done in my opinion in the past six months. Unfortunately, I was able to only come up with three instances of success, i.e. the actions of the political class members involved had the taxpayer and fellow citizens in mind when they executed their actions:

1) The first example is based on personal experience. I live in Pinellas county in Florida and over the past four years my property taxes have gone down on a year over year basis. They have gone down so much that I now pay about 40% in less in property taxes today than I paid four years ago. There are probably a number of factors, both political and non-political, that have gone into this decrease but the bottom line is that they have gone down significantly. And here is the good news: I still have police protection, I still have fire protection, the schools are still open, the parks are still open, most of the libraries are still open and the roads and traffic lights are still in good shape. This is proof to me, on a very local level, that excess waste can be taken out of government without substantial reduction in essential protection and services. The primary word in that previous sentence is essential.

2) The second example comes from the U.S. Senate and it was a suggestion and formal proposal to the Senate from Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee. His reasoning: since the Federal government paid about $60 billion of U.S. taxpayer money to acquire a 60% share of General Motors and theoretically save it from bankruptcy, shouldn't each American taxpayer get stock certificates and partial ownership of GM rather than the Washington bureaucrats? After all, government is able to function only because it takes money from taxpayers, if government acquires ownership in a private company, doesn't that mean that the taxpayers own the company since it was their money? Senator Alexander was the single politician this year that showed he understood the relationship between paying taxes and government spending. Giving individual citizens those shares of GM would ensure more interest in how GM performed going forward since each citizen would have had a stake in its survival, probably giving GM a better shot at survival than it has with government ownership.

3) The final example comes form a small town in south Florida, Miami Gardens. In the past year, Miami Gardens city government took the following actions:

• The city payroll grew. Most everywhere else in the country unemployment increased.
• City employees still got cost of living raises and merit raises. Most everywhere else in the country salaries and wages were frozen or reduced.
• The city increased its financial reserves by about $300,000. Most everywhere else in the country, local and state governments dipped into their reserves to cover operating costs.
• The city upgraded 17 parks and 4 schools. Most other government entities were reducing or eliminating maintenance projects.

How was Miami Gardens able to do all of these positive things in light of a very, very deep recession and the fact that they are not a city of wealthy residents? According to interviews with city officials:

• City employees share both personnel resources and other resources.
• The city hires only those people they actually need to do the work needed to be done.
• City officials claim they have the ability and backbone to say "No" to non-essential projects and programs, claiming that they cannot be everything to everybody.

Thus, much like my first example above, the Miami Gardens politicians have shown that running a lean, efficient operation is possible if you are respectful of taxpayers' dollars.

And the winner of "The Good" award is....... Miami Gardens city government. I applaud Senator Alexander's creative thinking and understanding that government exists only because it collects taxes, not because it itself generates wealth. However, his wise idea was never implemented. And while my personal property taxes have gone down without a detrimental effect on government services, I believe a number of factors were involved, including declining real estate values, not just government actions. Thus, while I am grateful for the reduction, not all of it was the work of the political class.

Miami Gardens city government, however, demonstrated that by respecting the taxpayers and the taxes that are paid, government can be run smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. All it takes is a little planning and the ability to just say No.

Visit our website at www.loathemygovernment.com to order an autographed copy of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government -Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class" and to sign up for the cause. The book is also available online at Amazon and Barnes And Noble.