Top-Down or Bottom-Up

I just want to explain my feelings about what I am seeing with governance on the local level. Many of the people in this area, known as Hickory, walk around with a swagger exuding artificial confidence about their independence and how no one is going to tell them what to do. What I am seeing is that nothing could be further from the truth. The system of governance in our area is fully vested in a simple bureaucratic system that is crippling ingenuity and entrepreneurship.

Look around, the real mindset is that we control nothing and we don't control our own destiny, but folks we do. We put the shackles on ourselves. We are only as strong as the people of this community and the ambivalence of the general populous is what has brought us down. At this point we are down for the struggle and we are enduring this negative economic momentum, but in the end there will be no badge of honor that comes along with enduring the struggle. We are sacrificing for nothing.

You know that my philosophy is "of, by, and for the people." But as many have stated to me, "the people don't care." And I tend to agree to a certain extent, but while we can't make everyone care, we have to make more people care, because if we don't we lose -- even the people who care lose.

I was a great admirer of Ronald Reagan, because he made me feel good about my country. No politician has made me feel good about this country the way that he did. In the events following 9/11, I felt that the people in this country were coming together for a common cause, but now it seems that was a brave front which was created out of shock in the immediate aftermath of the vulnerability that was exposed from those events. That was false swagger, much like this community still displays today, because of the state of our economy.

The Reagan era came about from Jimmy Carter's leadership of malaise. I was ten years old when Carter came into office and fourteen when he left. Those years remind me a lot of what we are going through now, but this era feels worse.

We had terror then. I remember worrying about the Soviets and the menacing scowl of Leonid Brezhnev or the Iranian Hostage Crisis. I remember Gold, Silver, and Oil shooting up. Inflation was high and Interest rates were ridiculous.

But then, we felt like we had control of the government. When America tired of Vietnam, we sent a message to Lyndon Johnson that it was time to pack his bags, When Watergate happened the American people did the same to Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter was sent packing after four years of no control. The common thread between all of these events was the way these men had people from their own party say enough is enough and remove them from office. We don't see that today.

The Reagan era brought about a lengthy period of prosperity and comfort. The admiration that many people had for Reagan got average people to buy into the Federal government, while Reagan talked about decreasing the size and role of the government, but the results over the long haul were that government continued to grow in size and scope. And Bush 41 put the government on steroids.

What Reagan espoused was Supply-side economics, what is derogatorily referred to as trickle-down economics. I truly believe that Supply-side economics works, but I think trade policies and multi-national corporate greed have not allowed the average American to enjoy the fruits of such a policy, because the owners of the methods of production have continuously sought to cut the costs of production at all costs, no matter what. The individuals at the top of the economic food chain have done everything they can to expand their wealth, so that those at the bottom do not reap any benefits from the increased production. On the macro-economic level, I think that is what has gotten us to where we are today. That is the main reason we have seen the chasm develop between income levels.

I am certainly not a socialist. I don't believe the government should be in the business of spreading the wealth. The government created the rulebook that moved us in the direction that we saw above through its convoluted tax structure. Under the current tax, the rich hire their attorneys and accountants to walk away from tax liabilities and the poor are absolved from paying taxes and many people even get back more than they put in through the Unearned Income Credit. They call the tax structure progressive, but in the end the true middle class is taking the hit. Look at the data about the Middle Class Squeeze.

I know you are thinking what does this have to do with local governance? Well, I believe that we are living in extraordinary times and to succeed in these times we are going to have to see extraordinary leadership. If local leaders want to see ingenuity and innovation, then they are going to have to display it themselves and at the very least they cannot afford to stand in the way of it, by trying to impose their self-imposed limitations upon everyone else by telling us what we can and cannot do or what will or will not work. If you have no imagination. then you have no business limiting anyone else's. Every major technological innovation we enjoy today was thought to be impossible at one point in time.

This city is famous for picking winners and losers, not by example, but rather by friendship and favoritism - sure sounds like Washington to me. I laughed when an associate talked about one of this area's major problems being TFB's (Trust Fund Babies), but over the last few years I have been brought to the fire on this subject. No one should earn a position of prominence just because of their name or who they know, everyone should be recognized on their own merits. An Aristocracy within a Republic will only lead to the destruction of the Republic.

We have to empower our local citizenry. We can do that with the Economic and Science Fair I have proposed. We can do that with Micro-Lending. We can do that by upgrading our Information Technology infrastructure. We can do that by trying to move towards a viable public transportation infrastructure that should include a Rail connection to the proposed Highspeed Rail Eastern Seaboard line, which will adjoin us to the Raleigh-Charlotte-Atlanta Megalopolis. We must do this by helping the PEOPLE in the poorer sections of Hickory.
We have continued to see efforts to invest in the same people, the same projects, and the same efforts. Logically, you cannot change the downward direction of our economy by heading in the same direction. If trickle-down economics hasn't worked on the national level, then it isn't going to work in Hickory either. I truly believe that this city's viability rests in the strength of its middle class. I am not saying that anyone should be sold out. What I am saying is that it is time that everyone who wants to participate be invited to the party.

The first thing we need to do is change our mindset. I constantly hear what we can't do. I say Think Big. I love that new saying, "Go Big or Go Home." Quit with the piddly stuff that is only going to make your buddy happy. That creates a sense of emptiness. Think of the thrill when something major gets done and we're all in it together. We all know the difference between the two.

The writing is on the wall that the next leg down in the national economy will take place by the end of this quarter. If anyone is going to turn it around, then why not Hickory? Why can't we take the lead? Why?