Slippery politics

Published February 1, 2014

By Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, January 31, 2014.

Nobody ever runs for office on snow removal, but it’s a sure way to get run out of office.

 

This week the mayor of Atlanta and governor of Georgia are skating on thin ice after a winter storm left thousands of people stranded on the roads. Earlier this month, New York’s new mayor caught flak when some people thought the city’s rich neighborhoods were being cleared faster than other boroughs. Everybody remembers that a big snowstorm ended John Lindsay’s tenure as mayor.

 

Raleigh went through a nightmare a bit like Atlanta’s a few years back. For weeks afterward, city and school officials were slipping and sliding with excuses, explanations and promises to do better next time.

 

And they did. Now, the hint of a snowflake in the forecast and – bam! – schools are cancelled. But at least we’re not stuck on the road for nine hours or at school overnight.

 

Storms bring out the worst in people. They get mad if things shut down and mad if they don’t. And nobody is ever satisfied with how fast the roads get clear.

 

As the AP’s Michael Biesecker noted: “Ah, Facebook. Where anti-tax, anti-annexation, small-government Southerners go to vent when no one plows and salts their roads.”

 

Bad winter weather often catches politicians by surprise, especially if they just took office. They’re not ready. Apparently, they don’t get briefed on that at New Governors’ School. They often stumble by making too-grand promises before it snows.

 

By their second or third winter, they figure out the drill: Put on khakis and a cool-looking jacket. Look like you’re concerned and in command. Get on TV with the guys and gals in uniforms behind you.

 

And hope like hell that it melts fast.

 

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February 2, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Norm Kelly says:

Yup. That's the answer. The small-government, limited government people are to blame for snow on the roads too. We have big shoulders, so we can take the extra weight of this also.

Except what's missing is the truth about small government types. What we expect from our governments is that they do their job and only their job(s). What we expect is that governments will NOT continue to take over markets that should be free markets. What we expect is that governments won't do things like own the liquor stores, but let those businesses be businesses. There are some things the governments are supposed to do. Like have firefighters, police, snow plows. They are not supposed to be in the hotel, theater, garbage collection businesses. These are supposed to be private businesses. Why does my government have to own a movie theater? Why does my government have to own the garbage collection service? Why doesn't my government simply manage the garbage collection contract? Is it even POSSIBLE that having a private contractor do the garbage pickup COULD save us some money? If the contract had to go to competitive bid, is it POSSIBLE that the service could be just as good, but possibly less expensive? Even if the biggest difference is that the collectors are employees of a PRIVATE business instead of employees of the government? Tax paying employees of a private business rather than employees of a government agency where money is transferred from one funny-money pot to another funny-money pot?

See, us small/limited government types are not completely opposed to government. We are opposed to government monopolies where government monopolies DO NOT belong. We are opposed to governments telling us HOW, WHEN, WHERE we MUST do certain things that as adults we are better making these decisions on our own.

Having libs define what we small-government types stand for is pointless, though I expect yous will continue to do it. Regardless of how we prove you wrong. Again.