Sit Down And Shut Up! - Just Who's In Charge Here, Anyhow?

NC Senator Tommy Tucker earlier in the week admonished a North Carolina Publisher "I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet."

Democracy is messy. It doesn't always achieve the best result. But one thing is clear: elected officials work for the citizen, not the other way 'round.

Shame  on Tommy Tucker. And shame on citizens who don't stand up and make themselves heard. It isn't enough to just vote at election time.

The principle is, you can't have Democracy without elections, but you can have elections without Democracy. We have seen that in our time, around the world.

As Chris Fitsimon of NC Policy Watch explains, "Tucker's berating of a citizen he is supposed to be representing wasn't all that surprising. That's the way the General Assembly, especially the Senate, is run these days.... The folks in charge not only want to make sure you know they are in charge, they want your obedience, not your questions or doubts and certainly not your disagreements."

Closer to home, last Wednesday, Oriental mayor Bill Sage wrote an article appearing in the Pamlico News: "Oriental Town Board and Public Participation." The key message: "The town board's meetings are for the purpose of its conduct of official town business with which the board is charged with responsibility by its charter and by state law. It is an opportunity for the public to observe the work of the mayor and commissioners."

In other words, to the public: "sit down and shut up."

Incredibly, at a number of recent meetings, that has been the message to commissioners as well. Issues of public finance have been deemed unsuitable for discussion in public. "Schedule a private meeting to discuss your questions with the Town Manager," the mayor directed the board. Questions raised by a citizen concerning number of employees were not answered. The questions were not even answered when asked by a commissioner.

Sage's article does not come right out and say so, but the rest of the message seems to be: "input from the public is neither required nor desired."

Who knows - the Town's Governing Body might actually learn something from the citizens and be diverted from its preordained course.