About 10 years ago, when the Advocate was published on newsprint, this column began as a monthly update on neighborhood zoning issues.
Representing one of our council districts on the City Plan Commission at the time, I believed then, as I still do, that a well-informed public is the foundation of our democracy.
Since that time, the subjects dealt with in this space have evolved into more general topics, usually with a local government or public affairs bent, but sometimes offering a personal perspective on society, new parenthood or just life in general. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity for such a long time to share my thoughts, opinions, rants and raves with you.
As so often happens in life, however, it seems that one of the few constants is change. Between a demanding career and my two-year-old daughter Claire at the center of my universe, the time has come for me, for now, to ride off into the sunset.
I’ve tried in this space to be thought-provoking without being hectoring, to assert opinions without being disagreeable, but also to persuasively convey some ideas about which I feel strongly. I’d be very surprised, and a little disappointed, if you’ve always agreed with me. But I hope I’ve at least been a welcome presence in your stack of reading.
Whoever takes my place here, and whatever else you read, I ask only that you keep an open mind and listen sometimes to those with whom you disagree as well as agree. I’ve always learned a lot more with my mouth closed and my ears open, and I don’t think I’m much different from anyone else in that regard.
As I’ve touched on from time to time in the last couple of years, we in our quiet and leafy neighborhood have seen some very difficult and unsettling times come to our country, state and city. Fiscal and economic problems, and much worse, have changed our perceptions of the outside world and affected our response to it.
But times like these call more than ever for us to be responsible citizens, the most important position in our democracy. Remember, all those elected officials for whom you voted, or against whom you voted, work for you.
If I could change a couple of things about the way we live our lives as citizens, the first would be to get everyone to study the issues carefully, then vote. No precinct, no neighborhood, no council district will get the attention it deserves unless the politicians know that the folks who live there turn out and vote. I consider voting a sacred duty, and our system would work a lot better if a lot more of us voted.
Secondly, I would want us to use more critical thinking and be more intelligent consumers of the news. Guess what: Just because someone is in a position of authority doesn’t mean they’re telling you the whole truth, and fairly often they’re not. And with all the complex issues out there that are crucial to our future, I’m repeatedly astonished, and often dismayed, at how our news outlets, with a few laudable exceptions, fixate on trivia, sensationalism and "good visuals."
Lastly, in these trying times, don’t forget that a major theme of our entire history has been finding the right balance between order and liberty. As Ben Franklin once said: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Old Ben also said, upon being asked as he stepped out of Independence Hall what form the new government would take, that it was “…a republic — if you can keep it!” Or as another 18th-century luminary, Dr. Samuel Johnson, said: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” By that, his biographer James Boswell explained, Dr. Johnson meant not “…a real and generous love of … country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.”
Government ought to be about more than just institutionalized fear and selfishness, and public debate ought to be more than shouting each other down.
So let’s do our part as well-informed citizens and not trade away too much of our cantankerous, rebellious, freedom-loving democracy for things pitched to us as security or self-interest. My fondest wish for my two-year-old is that she live a long, happy life in the same freewheeling country in which her daddy grew up.
Well, so long for now. I hope our paths will cross again in some way. We’ll be here for a long time, so keep an eye out for a middle-aged guy in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals, with his wife Patti and Claire, the World’s Prettiest Toddler.
Thanks for your time. I’ll see you around.
