Corruption Is Why We Lose
I'm fond of the Tim Blake Nelson (aka "Danny Dalton") monologue in Syriana. The mistake is thinking that greed and corruption in government stems from one individual. As any thinking, half-eyes-open American can attest to, the corruption goes from The White House to Congress to the numerous bloated federal bureaucracies to our own city & county governments.
The "advantage" of local politics is that you can see & even understand the corruption. In rare occasions that corruption, writ large, makes it on the evening news or Talk Radio or onto local blogs. As Chattanoogans, we share numerous first & second hand accounts of our government's corruption, which quickly builds community consensus.
We all remember (and were part of) the court of public opinion concerning Willie Cotton, John Ford, Charles Love, and Chris Newton prior to there being any public knowledge of their involvement in "The Tennessee Waltz". Would any of us bet on Ward Crutchfield being innocent? How many of us are disappointed he didn't get caught sooner?
When was the last time you looked in any of our local politicians eyes and saw a completely honest & intelligent man or woman (or raccoon) looking back at you?
If only it were as simple as laying the blame at the feet of we the voters (and our local parties). After all it's we (and the local parties), The People, who elect the uneducated, unintelligent, uninformed, inarticulate, and corrupt County & City government, who then hire the corrupt & incompetent. We tolerate and support their corruption & incompetence by year after year, re-electing the Rhonda Thurmans and Curtis Adams and Ron Littlefields.
But the real blame rests, I believe, in the lack of options (even our losers lack class) and the complicated lack of a robust fourth estate. Is 8th-grade-educated misogynist bigot Curtis Adams really the best his district can do? Is the high water mark of local journalism this editorial from Tom Griscom calling to question the Mayor's attack on Free Speech?
Addressing the first problem is simple and achievable. It's no more complicated than knowing your neighbors, your district, and making sure that your family & friends turn out to vote for the best candidate. The corrupt & incompetent win because the honest & competent take one look at politics and see waste, bloat, and inefficiency and then conclude they have better things to do with their time. Through incrementally improving voter interest & candidate quality improvements can be made.
Our local papers need to support & protect tenacious investigative journalism. The TFP & The Pulse should be feared by our local politicians. If either paper began consistently telling the stories of government corruption reader interest would increase (which means more advertising $$). If also makes it harder for the corrupt and incompetent to get elected.
Chattanooga Politics | By Josiah Roe | 1:12 PM
Comments
The township Supervisors and city Councilmen I reported on in Pennsylvania all seemed honest, hardworking, and corruption-free. If ever a matter came up in which any official had even a tangental interest, they'd leave the room.
Granted, the "city" I was covering had a population of probably 12,000 people and the townships maybe half of that, so we aren't talking about the big time here. But not all politicians, even local ones, are crooks. Just where there's money and sufficient anonymity to hide.
Posted by: ryan at July 8, 2007 1:42 PM
Synchronous post, my friend, given conversations I had this very day, and others had yesterday, on the topic of the fourth estate's role. Don't expect too much from the TFP, but if I have anything to do with it, the Pulse is going to turn on a big ol' spotlight and send some roaches a-runnin'.
We're past due for this, and it's even dangerous to commence at this juncture, given the entrenchment that abounds; but later would be even more "too late."
Posted by: joe lance at July 8, 2007 2:24 PM
Go get’em Joe. I look forward to see what you got!!
Posted by: gid at July 8, 2007 8:21 PM
