Over-Inflated Self Image

We would be naïve if we tried to say that we were unaware that this thinking was rampant in America. Yet it seems as though a very small tail seeks to wag a very large dog in the question of federal support for municipal funding. The video here is from a Detroit Michigan city Council meeting and the council member who is speaking believes sincerely in what she is saying.

But Detroit is a city of less than 1 million people. To be more accurate it is a city of slightly less than 700,000. Although we like to think of Detroit as the motor city and the core of the automotive industry that was a long, long time ago. Today Detroit is largely a ruin. And if you sought the cause for that ruination you would have to conclude it was mismanagement by the city government.

The Constitution of the United States doesn't even mention governments below the state level. Municipal government is local and should be handled within the revenues generated by taxes which the city citizens impose upon themselves. City charters tend to be very specific about taxation limitations and their willingness to absorb debt for the good of the community. There is no obligation under any circumstances for higher levels of government to come in and bailout the municipal government.

Take a look at this woman who sincerely believes that her little town of 700,000 people influenced the election and now the president has an obligation to pay back.

We Delivered, Time to Bring Home the Bacon

In the simplest terms we need to make sure that people like this woman, and elected representative of her community, understand that government money comes from the people. It matters not whether it is a federal tax, state tax or municipal tax, it is still money taken from the people. If the city cannot live within its means then it is not the obligation of others, regardless of how the citizens voted in a presidential election, to rescue that city.

And those of us living in rural Texas, small-town America, sure as hell don't want to pay for her screwed up town.