Thursday, March 7

BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR


BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR

AND JUST SHUT UP

 

          I have a confession to make; I just don’t want to be a good neighbor. We are constantly being guilted into feeling that if we don’t act a certain way then we are not being a good neighbor. I was told that if I didn’t want to subsidize the water company I was mean spirited, selfish and just wasn’t being a good neighbor. I was told that because I write about divisive issues, like the water company, I am being petty, vindictive and just not being a good neighbor. Why is it that when people don’t have a valid defense for their argument they couch it in some humanistic gobbledygook?

          When I was exposing unaccounted for Water Company funds, at a BOS meeting, a person got up and made an impassioned speech about how in a community like ours we like to help our neighbors. Were they implying that I don’t want to help my neighbor? Then this good neighbor said that they didn’t mind kicking in a few extra bucks on their taxes to help out the water users. Apparently this good neighbor didn’t mind forcing everyone else to kick in a few extra bucks either. EXCUSE ME! You’re missing the point. Are you asking me to overlook the unaccounted for money and just keep paying more? No, you’re asking me to be a good neighbor and just shut up. What alternative universe are you from?

          After hearing that tens of thousands of dollars can’t be found; this person’s solution was to charge the taxpayers even more and make anyone who disagrees with them feel petty and selfish. After all we do want to be good neighbors don’t we? I could have argued that about half of the water users were second home owners and didn’t need our financial aid; but I didn’t. I could have said that less than ten people on the entire water system would be adversely affected by increasing the user fees to meet the costs associated with running the water company; but I didn’t. I said I don’t mind chipping in, not that I have a choice; but why would I want to pay anything into a water company that can’t even account for the money that has already been paid into it? Apparently this shut them up because they’ve barely spoken a word to me since. No matter!

          I guess some people really don’t understand the purpose of taxation. Davy Crockett summed it up in an address to congress titled “Not Yours to Give”. Isn’t it funny how easy it is to be a good neighbor with someone else’s money. Then if the taxpayer can be made to feel guilty about questioning these taxes it creates a system that is primed for waste and irresponsibility; kind of like we have in our water department. Well I just don’t buy it! If this is what it means to be a good neighbor then I’ll be an a$$ hole.

 

3 comments:

  1. Thank you. You have really hit the nail!

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  2. Many people who say they don't mind paying more aren't really good neighbors because they are thinking of their personal bank book. They aren't thinking of their elderly neighbors just barely making it. They aren't thinking of our young families who work three and four jobs to try to hold on to the American dream, or the single moms or those if us who make a third less than we did 10 years ago. To blindly assume that all the familie and neighbors here have extra cash to give for something they will never use and were promised they would never have to pay for, is not being a good neighbor.

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  3. Thank you Anonymous! You said it well and I hope you keep preaching this message any time some inconsiderate a$$ tries to make you feel small because you think, that like you, people should pay for their own utilities, and when a town makes an agreement it should be honored.

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