Monthly Archives: March 2010

On Units of Government

Mon, March 29, 2010 Comments Off by michaeltams

Illinois is home for me, I’m a native, born and raised.  It’s a beautiful state, rich in resources, with a great history and some of the best people you’d ever want to meet.

illinois

The Land of Lincoln

One thing that there isn’t a lot of pride in is the number of units of government Illinois has.  We’re tops in the country.  As of the 2002 census, Illinois had 6,904 units of government, beating Pennsylvania who had 5,032 units of government.  Please, Pennsylvania. If you want to continue to come in second place, keep up that level of effort.

We’ve had some problems, as you can imagine, with all these units of government. The DuPage Water Commission is one such unit of government, which has an up, and now decidedly down, history.

An audit of that unit of government has uncovered negligence and a lack of oversight.  And, sadly sounding familiar, a case of missing money.  Now, there is talk of the county government absorbing this unit of government and making it a department in the county.

While I’m an advocate of pushing government responsibility closer to the people, this move by the General Assembly and the county doesn’t bother me.  Given the responsibilities of the Water Commission, the county is the right home for the responsibilities of the Commission.

I’ve been talking a lot about what I’m calling the “Principle of Proximity” recently.  This Principle states that the government that is closer to the people is more accountable and more participatory.  For this reason, I have advocated and will continue to advocate for a proper re-allocation of responsibilities in the smaller (closer to the individual) spheres of government. Consolidation of authority, responsibility, and power hasn’t worked well in the general sense.

One of the key questions we have to ask ourselves in analyzing units of government is this: whose responsibility should it be? If the duties of a Water Commission are indeed necessary, it should be acknowledged that there are exceptions to every rule, and in this case, consolidating this responsibility in the next larger sphere of government actually makes sense.

Obamacare: the Symptom of our Ills

Mon, March 22, 2010 Comments Off by michaeltams

President Obama is right about this much: his health care win is what change looks like.  The questions we have to answer are: first, is it right, and second, is it really a win?

By a vote of 219-212, it has passed.  Of course, the yeas consider this a victory and them doing their job.

By now, readers of this space will recognize just how wrong this legislation is.  If the Congress, by a liberal interpretation of the General Welfare clause (or the Commerce Clause, or the Necessary and Proper clause…), may choose to interject the government in whatever arena they like, we have come to the place of an elective despotism.  As Madison wrote in Federalist 58:

An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.

Already, wise Americans are discussing repealing this foolishness.  So the question really is: can this be called a win?  Today, perhaps.  Tomorrow, possibly, but maybe not.  November?  That’s up to us.