Sunday, December 11, 2011

Bureaucratic Hubris

It wasn't so long ago that I lived in Newton. I can tell you that it is a delightful town in many ways. You feel the smallness of it in a good way, not in that grumpy unhappy crotchety way of other small towns 'down the line'. Or the haughty, high and mighty approach that some towns within Sussex County see themselves add - or at least the management of those towns. But I digress.

The immediate concept of this topic is that the town of Newton has lost it's mandate. This problem is a symptom of a larger disease which has run rampant throughout our country, but can be summed up in this simple example. Towns have turned into Bureaucratic Monarchies filled with Hubris of their righteousness. It was said that the greatest thing about America was that it didn't have one king it had millions because everyone was able to make their own decisions and had as many rights as the King of England.

Not true anymore. We are no longer a country of kings but a country of Kingdoms, with little fiefdoms, lords, ladies and counts, dukes and earls. These kingdoms are the towns which set their rules and govern by fiat. Holding up people's dreams over some bureaucratic device that allows them to question, and overrule the individual trying to cut their own way in the world.

I understand that there is simple regulations that are needed, governance of the road system, maintenance of the utilities to an extent and a general common sense principal of living safely. But please - those who wish to say I am off my rocker, identify to me how a farmers market on a Saturday is going to upset a community of residential homes in an area that allows 17 and 18 year old students to park and drive in the immediate vicinity.

In other words, a problem plaguing the surrounding area of Newton High School is the inordinate amount of traffic in the morning and afternoon, the high level of roadside parking during the school day - Monday through Friday. How is a community which tolerates this, going to be negatively impacted by a bunch of farmers set up in the back of the school?

Answer - It's NOT!

So where does the fault lay? The fault lays in the build up of ridiculous ordinances, agreements, rules and bylaws set up by all the communities who use the identifier 'for the public good' as a shield for this silliness. People are suppose to be the governors over their land - not the government over the people's land. If the Newton Board of Ed. agreed to this deal, then it should happen. We shouldn't have to deal with silly laws which do not make common sense and who damage the public good in the name of helping the public good.

'nuff said!


Herald Article discussing Farmer's Market