Post news and information from your neighborhood: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________ Fine Tim. I understand your point, but there is no doubt that there was a great deal of gerrymandering that went on behind the scenes at City Hall and the State Capitol where GSE is concerned and for me to point out by name who the culprits were, would not allow me to state so in this forum.
I agree than many elected officials have the public's interest in mind when they get elected, but the system is about to cave in on itself because, once you get there, you cannot stay there without the gaming that goes along with the public interest money that pervasively gets passed around. It is no secret that you need to go along to get along in the world of politics and generally speaking the citizen is shut out many times because the money from special interest weighs in more heavily with those in the game than an ordinary vote does. And believe it or not, this is why the general public loses interest in the voting process and decides their vote does not count. A good example of what I am talking about as far as the way the game is played is outlined in Bob Spaulding's recent email. The whole notion that issues that have little to do with one another impact each other. If Randy Kelly works to get a stadium in Saint Paul, he may be able to swing a deal for a bullet train from here to Chicago, or get public transit in place that we have little chance to get done currently. It is my experience from door knocking and speaking with a lot of citizens at other occasions that these issues should not be linked in this way. Oh, if I get you a stadium then public transit will happen? I think that most people believe that the good idea of public mass transit should be able to stand on its own two feet and become a reality on its own merit. This whole idea that you give me this, then we'll talk about this, that and the other, is ridiculous and the public is on to it. Nader is more right on this than most people want to think about. We have become more of a corporate oligarchy than a free market democracy. I for one am tired of baling out free enterprise. That isn't FREE. If a company has a product or service that is good and marketable, it should stand on its own success or failure, without government baling it out at the expense of programs that are vital. In my mind, any private enterprise that siphons money off of needed citizen services should die its own death without a handout from government. Corporate welfare is not what is needed here, in my estimation. So in summary, if there are public officials that want to gerry mander their way in, to political expediency for their own good and some "feel good" notion that in spite of their own gain it is a good thing for the public, then I believe they should be up front about it and let the public judge for themselves if the ends justify the means. In the meantime, if they aren't up front about what they are up to, and are exposed by average citizens who are appalled by their behavior or shall I say "political strategy", I would say they may find themselves falling upon their own swords. Pam ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Erickson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "St. Paul Issues Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 2:01 PM Subject: Re: [StPaul] the gse flap ...and .... > Post news and information from your neighborhood: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > _________________________________________ > > > >People in general are fed up with the money lining the pockets > >of our elected officials, and when citizens step up and say en masse, NO > >MORE, we'll see how the cookie crumbles. > > I just have to point out, that as a citizen, I'm a little disturbed > by generalizations like the one above. As much as I disagree with > many decisions that government make and as much as I dislike some > elected officials, I simply do not agree with blanket accusations > about public officials lining their pockets with money at the expense > of taxpayers. > > Yes, there are example of this - which need to be discussed. But, > general accusations about corrupt public officials tends to encourage > an unhealthy lack of trust in government and distort that debate on > important public policy officials. > > Most of the elected officials that I've met, whether I agree with > them or not, are hardworking and sincere individuals. Reducing bad > decisions to "corruption" is in my opinion an oversimplification and > does a disservice to public policy discussions. > > Best wishes, > > Tim Erickson > Hamline Midway > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -- > ================================================= > Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com > St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 105978430 > ================================================= > > > _____________________________________________ > NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul > > Archive Address: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ > _____________________________________________ > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
