As Originally Published in Key West the Newspaper July 15, 2011
I grew up in the middle of the energy crisis back in the 70’s when gas skyrocketed from around thirty five cents per gallon to well over a buck. America was in a crisis.
I remember a conversation my Dad and I overheard while standing in line at the hardware store. It seems “Mr. Green” had found a solution to the high price of gas. Apparently the adjacent town had an Esso station that was selling gas for five cents less per gallon than the Shell station in our town. As we left the store I watched as Mr. Green drove off in his Chevy Impala the size of a barn.
I struggled to do the best math my seven year old head could muster. If the next town was ten miles away, and Mr. Green’s car got twelve miles per gallon, it would mean Mr. Green was burning a couple of bucks in gas to save maybe a buck. To me, something just didn’t add up. Maybe there was a great deal on smokes too, who knows? I was just a seven year old, and Mr. Green was an adult.
My parent’s solution was a ‘72 Toyota Corolla that got 34 miles per gallon. My folks had traded in the station wagon with the tailgate you could play volleyball in for the car we affectionately called the grapefruit. Supposedly for it’s color, but more for it’s size. I fondly remember the ten hour trips to visit grandma with two adults, five kids and a dog piled into that car. We did more with less and survived.
Why this trip down memory lane? Because we need a better solution to what I have dubbed the Tallahassee Two Step. It’s the dance our local officials and agency administrators do with the State legislature every year. Each time the legislature convenes many of our local politicians and administrators run to Tallahassee to advocate for their respective agencies or department’s budgets. Recall that last session County Mayor Heather Carruthers performed the all important duty of presenting Governor Scott with an Honorary Conch certificate, then later strategurized about asking for it back. Yup, that’s the kind of work that gets done up there.
Think about it. Not only are our local officials spending our tax dollars to go advocate for getting more of our tax dollars to spend, but local officials from communities all over the State make their way to Tallahassee to show off their dance moves. All of this effort and expense is to lobby the people we elect locally to represent us and the needs of our community. All of these “adults” gather every year at this shin dig to cut the proverbial budget rug and do the important dance of gubermint. It just reminds me of Mr. Green proudly driving off in his Impala. But what do I know, they must have a good deal on smokes up in Tallahassee too.
Proponents of this “Mr. Green” solution will tell you if they don’t go to the dance, everyone else still will, and we won’t get our fair share of the pie! That’s the same twisted logic US Senators and Representatives use to rationalize the fact that bringing home their piece of pork barrel spending is good, and should be considered a feather in their cap. Remember also, that along with all our local officials, lobbyists representing countless special interests and corporations also have our legislature corralled in this sad episode of “Dancing with the Stars.” And those lobbyists know how to tango. This only adds fuel to the fire of those suggesting it is critical that they get to go to the dance.
That makes as much sense as Mr. Green driving his Impala to the next town to save a buck. When I ran for State Representative last year I proposed decentralizing the State legislature, and using technology to conduct open meetings, whereby our elected representatives would never leave the comfort of their own communities. The people influencing them would be those local officials that currently feel the need to travel to Tallahassee. Beyond that, you and I could then join in the dance, because every time our Representatives and Senators go to the supermarket, or stand in line at the bank, they are going to get an earful about OUR priorities, not those of high priced lobbyists with great dancing shoes.
Of course the idea is ridiculed and shunned by most of our elected officials. They snicker at me as if I am an unrealistic seven year old and they are the “all knowing” adults. They suggested it is impractical and that I really don’t understand how our State legislature works. Apparently they don’t want to move the prom from Tallahassee.
Folks, we are in a severe crisis. We all share this sinking feeling that government has become corrupt and inept. As Democrats and Republicans, conservatives or liberals, we may not agree on the cause or the solutions, but I think we are all slowly becoming aware that the system is broken. We have to start looking for ways to radically redesign our State government, and we have to stop listening to all those “all knowing adults” that say it can’t be done. Their use of the term “thinking outside the box” has become as ineffectual as their tired solutions for the host of challenges that we are faced with.
It’s time to challenge those in office and those running for office to demand an end to the Tallahassee Two Step. Lame solutions like casinos and toll booths are grasping at straws and are poor excuses for a lack of ingenuity. Everyone can think of creative ways to raise money, but how about ways to create efficiencies? Whether we end the Tallahassee Two Step by choice, or whether it is forced upon us by reality, the drummer of frugality will be setting the tune. Support officials that want to end the dance by choice.
I remember a conversation my Dad and I overheard while standing in line at the hardware store. It seems “Mr. Green” had found a solution to the high price of gas. Apparently the adjacent town had an Esso station that was selling gas for five cents less per gallon than the Shell station in our town. As we left the store I watched as Mr. Green drove off in his Chevy Impala the size of a barn.
I struggled to do the best math my seven year old head could muster. If the next town was ten miles away, and Mr. Green’s car got twelve miles per gallon, it would mean Mr. Green was burning a couple of bucks in gas to save maybe a buck. To me, something just didn’t add up. Maybe there was a great deal on smokes too, who knows? I was just a seven year old, and Mr. Green was an adult.
My parent’s solution was a ‘72 Toyota Corolla that got 34 miles per gallon. My folks had traded in the station wagon with the tailgate you could play volleyball in for the car we affectionately called the grapefruit. Supposedly for it’s color, but more for it’s size. I fondly remember the ten hour trips to visit grandma with two adults, five kids and a dog piled into that car. We did more with less and survived.
Why this trip down memory lane? Because we need a better solution to what I have dubbed the Tallahassee Two Step. It’s the dance our local officials and agency administrators do with the State legislature every year. Each time the legislature convenes many of our local politicians and administrators run to Tallahassee to advocate for their respective agencies or department’s budgets. Recall that last session County Mayor Heather Carruthers performed the all important duty of presenting Governor Scott with an Honorary Conch certificate, then later strategurized about asking for it back. Yup, that’s the kind of work that gets done up there.
Think about it. Not only are our local officials spending our tax dollars to go advocate for getting more of our tax dollars to spend, but local officials from communities all over the State make their way to Tallahassee to show off their dance moves. All of this effort and expense is to lobby the people we elect locally to represent us and the needs of our community. All of these “adults” gather every year at this shin dig to cut the proverbial budget rug and do the important dance of gubermint. It just reminds me of Mr. Green proudly driving off in his Impala. But what do I know, they must have a good deal on smokes up in Tallahassee too.
Proponents of this “Mr. Green” solution will tell you if they don’t go to the dance, everyone else still will, and we won’t get our fair share of the pie! That’s the same twisted logic US Senators and Representatives use to rationalize the fact that bringing home their piece of pork barrel spending is good, and should be considered a feather in their cap. Remember also, that along with all our local officials, lobbyists representing countless special interests and corporations also have our legislature corralled in this sad episode of “Dancing with the Stars.” And those lobbyists know how to tango. This only adds fuel to the fire of those suggesting it is critical that they get to go to the dance.
That makes as much sense as Mr. Green driving his Impala to the next town to save a buck. When I ran for State Representative last year I proposed decentralizing the State legislature, and using technology to conduct open meetings, whereby our elected representatives would never leave the comfort of their own communities. The people influencing them would be those local officials that currently feel the need to travel to Tallahassee. Beyond that, you and I could then join in the dance, because every time our Representatives and Senators go to the supermarket, or stand in line at the bank, they are going to get an earful about OUR priorities, not those of high priced lobbyists with great dancing shoes.
Of course the idea is ridiculed and shunned by most of our elected officials. They snicker at me as if I am an unrealistic seven year old and they are the “all knowing” adults. They suggested it is impractical and that I really don’t understand how our State legislature works. Apparently they don’t want to move the prom from Tallahassee.
Folks, we are in a severe crisis. We all share this sinking feeling that government has become corrupt and inept. As Democrats and Republicans, conservatives or liberals, we may not agree on the cause or the solutions, but I think we are all slowly becoming aware that the system is broken. We have to start looking for ways to radically redesign our State government, and we have to stop listening to all those “all knowing adults” that say it can’t be done. Their use of the term “thinking outside the box” has become as ineffectual as their tired solutions for the host of challenges that we are faced with.
It’s time to challenge those in office and those running for office to demand an end to the Tallahassee Two Step. Lame solutions like casinos and toll booths are grasping at straws and are poor excuses for a lack of ingenuity. Everyone can think of creative ways to raise money, but how about ways to create efficiencies? Whether we end the Tallahassee Two Step by choice, or whether it is forced upon us by reality, the drummer of frugality will be setting the tune. Support officials that want to end the dance by choice.
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