Thank you to C.J. Carnacchio and Neil Peruski for the recent ‘call to action? on taxes and turf issues from Lansing.
I would like to see Oxford residents get it in gear and set the pace for the rest of Michigan taxpayers and fellow ‘subjects? of the ‘Lansing Court of NO resort? and those of their ilk seated locally (doing the same thing) ? SERIOUSLY!!!.
1. YES, we do need a part-time (unicameral) legislature in Lansing. NO party affiliations, JUST representatives from our respective (re-drawn) districts, with a DEEP, informed understanding of MICHIGAN NEEDS and CITIZEN NEEDS. They would meet (electronically) every two years (for three months) to do the people’s business and go back to their day-jobs ? ALL FROM THE SAME HOME OFFICE. We DON’T need to maintain marble monuments and mahogany offices in LANSING or locally to impress the Lobbyists and Special Interest Groups. If you consider the CONCEPT of servant’s quarters and then measure that against LANSING’S Public Servant’s Quarters, it brings an entirely different view on WHY TAXES KEEP GOING UP. The SAME for our elected officials in D.C.
2. YES, we (citizens) do need a TAX break. It comes from ? INNOVATIVE, STRATEGIC THINKING, unlike the recent response by Oxford Village Manager to local shallow coffers ? ‘we’ll just DOUBLE the fees?, and please increase my salary for such astute and insightful thinking on the topic? and we are all paying for such ‘innovative? solutions, believe me. How about a consensus on priorities, services and what WE really need governing bodies to do for us.
You know they want to do everything for us, so we become LESS self-reliant, MORE ambivalent toward the ‘giving? of our income in support of THEIR habits and our NEGLIGENCE toward questioning waste, corruption, inefficiencies and blatant incompetence. OUR FAULT THOUGH ? we hired them.
I’m REMINDED of the recent question put to Presidential Candidate ? ‘The DONALD? on how to deal with ISIS in Iraq. His response (business decision) was to bomb the oil wells they hold and STOP their revenue stream. AND his view is business centered ? a SIMPLE (but cost-effective) business decision. ISIS is a competitor of CIVILIZED THINKING, so undermine the practice of the ideology, undermine the competition. Take their money away. No boots on the ground, no staging of U.S. forces for six months, no fleet of ships, no piling up of material / supplies to abandon afterwards, at tax payer expense. JUST order the assault from the base in Utah where the Killer- DRONES are controlled by satellite. A strategic military unit takes care of business for the day and goes home for dinner with the family.
Ask a Washington politician how they would handle it and you’d have six months of Hearings and tax paid junkets to the islands in January to study the matter. Don’t forget the staged photo-ops to show people back home (actually working) what their tax dollars are paying for ? intense discussions on a global scale. Yeah, right.
The POINT here is, let the Public Feed Trough go dry and see how many ‘Public Servants? hang around. Business decision ? TAKE THE MONEY AWAY. Lansing behavior is SO-LAST-CENTURY. WE ALL should be public servants. Give back more than we receive. Do some public service. Don’t expect your neighbors to solve the tax revenue deficiencies. They’re waiting for you to work on it. We all need to work on it.
ALL of Oxford and the Twp SHOULD respond to an ON-LINE petition drive (maybe organized by the Leader) and SEND THE RESPONSE TO LANSING via the Internet, demonstrating we don’t need a town hall meeting or politicians TO SHOW that Oxford area citizens, businesses, schools, interested parties, etc., WANT (need) a PART-TIME LEGISLATURE NOW.
Wake up folks. The waste, inefficiencies, corruption, incompetence, and do-nothing mind-set in Lansing is being funded by YOUR (would-be) vacation money, your kids college tuition, your next meal, your car repairs, retirement savings.
WE ARE THE SOURCE OF OUR TAX DELEMMA? COMPLACENCY. Our elected officials know it. They feed on it. If FULL-TIME Legislature goes away, THEY go-away. Part ? Time Taxes, the result along with a Part-Time Legislature.
Ron Dix
Oxford Township