Lynch Pen | Often voters, even uninformed, get what they deserve

— Surely as taxpaying citizens of a city, a state or our great nation, we really should learn a lesson from the experience of the city of Bell, Calif. As the story continues to unfold, the leadership of the city, both elected officials and hired personnel, used their positions and the faith entrusted in them by the citizens to abuse the pay and benefits that come with their offices.

The recent development reveals that an additional seven city employees had been drawing salaries far greater than those of California cities of similar size. Because the citizens had made this possible through their negligence in staying abreast of the activities and not researching the legislation that gave the City Council this authority, it is highly unlikely that anything was illegal.

The same as the citizens of Bell, Calif., gave their trust to their elected officials with very little oversight, we continue to send legislators to Washington to represent us. The larger the voting body (size of city, county, state, etc.), the less we are likely to know about the actual activities of those we elect because we are further removed from direct contact with them.

How many people reading this article are on a first name basis with Arkansas Senators Blanche Lincoln or Mark Pryor? However, a far greater number have met and feel a sense of personal contact with District 3 Representative John Boozman. And, at the state level we tend to know legislators because they are more likely to be some one we have met personally, etc.

My point is simply that we take far too much forgranted - including our freedom to vote even if we are uninformed. When we are limited only to newspaper coverage and/ or television information for our source of the elected person’s activities, we run a very high risk of receiving biased and often erroneous information.

The “error” being what was not reported.

Our tendency to support - by financial means and/or our vote - the individual who promises the most for our personal gain can lead to a poor decision for our nation and long-term can be detrimental to ourselves. Our current president made promises that sounded good for groups of people who failed to ask where the money was to come from. Fulfillment of promises of virtually unlimited government subsidies for health care, unemployment, banks or any other sector of our economy would be enough to get our nation to the brink of Greece’s financial shortfalls if we tried to enact legislation that provided all of them.

When I hear the dismal forecasts about our economy and the fact that unemployment will not improve until people start buying again, my questions are simply, who can buy if they are unemployed? That seems simple logic to me but the governmental policies seem not to take into account that when healthcare costs are being mandated in new legislation, someone hasto have an income to pay it - whether it is the law or not. And, areas such as the Gulf coast and Florida who suffered as a result of the oil disaster and subsequently have fewer visitors for the tourist trade, keep trying to get us to “come on down” and spend, spend, spend. But could it be we have become too much of an entertainment society - too busy enjoying ourselves to watch what is happening in Washington?

Maybe we need to take some of our free time to check up on our elected officials rather than rush out to the ballpark (major league, of course) for $4 hot dogs and $5 soft drinks as advertised by the new owners of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

At some point in time we are going to be faced with a serious threat to the future of our nation and I fear we are going to be very short on true leadership when we need it most. The “California Story” doesn’t end at the Bell debacle. The governor’s political race pits former E-bay CEO Meg Whitman and her personal wealth against former governor Jerry Brown with limited financial support. Ms. Whitman is reported to have spent over $100 million of her own money already.

She might make the greatest governor California has ever had, but she also fits the mold of the classic (current) politician - wealthy and Ivy League University trained.

We have seen capable individuals with grassroots support, well qualified and with strong convictions fall by the wayside for lack of money.

Ron Paul, a very conservative Texan, with many years in the U. S. House ofRepresentatives, was unable to raise the necessary funds to make a serious run for the Republican presidential nomination.

The news coverage of Mr.

Paul’s campaign gave no indication that they were willing to accept him as a serious potential candidate. How are we going to identify a true leader if and when they come along?

Locally we saw a similar situation in the District 3 congressional race with Bernie Skoch coming in fourth behind the top three known (name recognition) Republican candidates. Whether you feel a retired Air Force general is the proper person to represent you as your congressman rests with you.

However, his campaign promises were all about change in Washington and the way they handle our business. He probably was not the choice of the Republican Party, Pinnacle Hills, the Northwest Arkansas Council or the majority of those voting in the primary even though the TEA Party seemed to support him.

Until we make up our minds to get involved to bring change to the system, regardless of what state we live in, and really get to know all the candidates and their true motives, nothing is going to improve.

To rephrase an old quote “the voters who cast uninformed votes don’t necessarily get what they want, but they do get what they deserve.”◊◊◊

Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace.

He can be contacted at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 08/18/2010