May 24, 2006
WRTA
 Brown
Shoes Diary
Economic Development?
Try this. Go down to Philadelphia, rob
some people at gunpoint and bring the money back to Altoona. Then hold a
press conference that you have money to provide to local businesses as
economic development. Will everyone clap for you and give you thanks? Or
might they ask where the money came from and call the police to haul you off
to jail as you rightly deserve?
The answer, it turns out, depends on whether or not you're in a position of
public trust and have taken a public oath against stealing. If you are in a
position of public trust and have taken such an oath, then people will applaud
your efforts and you can count on local businesses to support you in your next
campaign. If you're just an ordinary citizen who has taken no such oath,
you're going to jail.
What is it about public officials that they are held to such different
standards than the rest of us? We can't blame them because it's we who hold
the double standards. We would never tolerate a neighbor of ours stealing
from others, even if the stolen goods were given to us. We know stealing when
we see it and stealing is always wrong. Yet, if our state representative or
senator or congressman steals from our fellow Pennsylvanians or fellow
Americans, somehow we're okay with that. And not only okay with it, but we'll
happily support their campaigns when they run for re-election.
Recently we've had the usual pre-election examples of politicians preening
their powers of theft. Bill Shuster, for example, put on a show of
distributing "federal money" (that is, taxpayer money) for some infrastructure
projects in our area. He took full credit for bringing this money home to his
district, but he carefully avoided calling it stolen property. But what else
could it be, if it weren't voluntarily given to us? Apparently, the
Congressman doesn't think we have enough resources or initiative locally to
build our own bridges and roads. Equally apparent, he believes that justifies
his stealing from the rest of America.
I remember about a decade ago when Governor Ridge came to town with a check
for $700,000 for the renovation of Baker Mansion. He said he was owed no
thanks because he was simply returning our money. For some reason, it didn't
occur to him that he never should have taken our money in the first place. He
gave no apology for his admitted theft.
We get the government our character demands. When we tolerate and reward
thievery by politicians, then we get crooks in our public offices. They may
not have the nastiness of a Dillinger, but Dillinger was a piker in comparison
to the stealing our politicians do. When we allow and support government
officials doing things we would rightfully condemn if done by ourselves and
our neighbors, then we get public officials of sanctimony and imperiousness,
who are nevertheless reprobates and thieves.
As Pogo famously said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
The opinions and ideas expressed in this essay are those of John D
McGinnis and should not be considered representative of WRTA.com, any
institution with which McGinnis is associated, or anyone else. He can be
contacted at zoiprof@atlanticbb.net.
Contact John D McGinnis
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