Toute Nation A Le Gouvernement Qu'elle Mérite

The post's title is a quotation by Joseph de Maistre in his Lettres et Opuscules Inédits, Vol. 1, Letter 53, written on 15 August 1811 and published in 1851. The English translation reads, "Every nation has the government it deserves".

Monsieur de Maistre was giving voice to his dislike of democracy, thinking instead that hereditary monarchies were "a divinely sanctioned institution" and "the only stable form of government". He believed that "the social legitimacy of government must therefore be based on compelling non-rational grounds, which its subjects should not be willing (or allowed) to question". Any input or questioning from the masses would only "lead to violence and chaos".

That's all very interesting, Diarist. But what does this have to do with the District, its mayor, or its city council?

Upon the founding of the United States, we turned our back on monarchies. We believed that the People held the wisdom of how they should be governed, and not some man (or woman) holed up inside a castle somewhere. Thus our form of representative democracy was born. What was formed for the nation also became the blueprint for every state, county, and city.

Uh huh. Still not following you here, bud.

I love democracy. I believe that our Founding Fathers got it right and Monsieur de Maistre was a bit off track. That said, I also believe that the People tend to get it wrong from time to time. Democracy is messy and, if the participants aren't paying much attention, can have ... rather untidy consequences.

Which is what leads me to my city.

You may not be aware, but my city's government has been rocked with several lapses of judgement fairly recently. It's a shame that such a rash of highly unethical behavior is going on because we were doing very well for a while there. But now ... now we are being visited by the spectres of the 1980's and the mid-1990's. Trust me, faithful readers, those were not happy days for the District of Columbia.

Let's just have a quick look as some of the goings-on in the past nine months, shall we?

• We have a Mayor who needs some Human Resources help.
• We have a Council Chairman who's a bit picky about his traveling arrangements.
• We have a star witness who may or may not be certifiably bonkers.
• We have ridiculous feudal wars among self-anointed lords, leading to an even more ridiculous play of the race card.
• And as if all of that jackassery weren't enough, NOW we have ourselves a bona fide law suit ... with proof ... against a sitting council member for what can be boiled down to embezzlement.
  

And, really, that's only scratching the surface of how bad things have gotten with our top city government officials.

Look, Washingtonians, our city government is rotten and infested with the worst type of vermin. It is more commonplace to see budget cuts and tax increases coupled with even more ineffectual returns on our financial investment. (Make no mistake of it, people: Your tax dollars are an investment in your city and your government.)

Weak leaders with weak minds and weak resolve.

But you know what really pisses me off?

You!

Yes, you! District residents are the epitome of the ol' axiom, doomed to forever roll the stone up the hill only to watch it roll back down to the bottom come day's end. You constantly elect people to office who fail you. And when the next election comes, you elect the fools again hoping that, maybe this time, they'll do right by you.

They. Won't.

These people are in it for them and theirs. They don't give a rat's ass about you, your struggles, or your needs. And if Rome should burn around their blatant and criminal disregard ... what, they worry? Their abandonment of their real duties is made obvious at how they repeatedly, quickly, easily, and flagrantly flout the rules of law ... actions that would land you or me in jail quicker than you can say, "My kidneys made me do it".

Our swamp is putrid and it needs to be drained. We need to rid ourselves of the career politicians who are in it for themselves. We need to clean out the corruption and usher in stewards who will act in our best interests.

Otherwise, notre ville a le gouvernement qu'il mérite.

Congress To Leave The Oversight Business (Sort Of)

Well, this news seemed to come out of nowhere.

House Democrats are pushing this year to give the District full control over how it budgets and spends city revenue, severely limiting opportunities for Congress to intervene in local decisions such as support for same-sex marriage, needle-exchange programs and medical marijuana.

Now, don't go getting your knickers in a bunch. Despite the misleading article title, Congress will not be completely striped from D.C. budget oversight.

Congress still would have the power to enact laws on the District and block new legislation approved by the council, and would have oversight of federal money earmarked for the city.

I honestly think this is a perfectly appropriate compromise in advancing further autonomy for the District. Kudos to U.S. Rep. José E. Serrano for putting this out there!

Taking His Ball And ... Oh, Wait ... It's Not His Ball (UPDATED)

It seems that our City Council and our Mayor will never get along. Fenty is yet again playing hard ball and trying to squeeze the councilmembers out of their private suite.

For the second year in a row, D.C. Council members say Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is holding hostage the baseball tickets to their suite at Nationals Park.

The councilmembers, showing that they aren't some bush league team, are once more stepping up to the plate.

[Council Chairman Vincent C.] Gray said he will write a letter to the Nationals today demanding that they void the tickets for Suite 61 that Fenty is holding.

"We know these tickets were intended for Council members," Gray said. "This will be an opportunity for them to correct their mistake."

One councilmember decided that enough is enough and will go to bat for the residents of this fine city.

Council member Kwame Brown (D-At Large) said he's considering going even farther. Brown said he might introduce legislation to put both the Council's and the Mayor's suites at the ballpark on the auction block.

"We should sell both boxes to the highest bidder and use the money to help with budget pressures," Brown said. "It's the people's boxes. It's the people's stadium. Why does the mayor get the boxes?"

Some residents are already hoping that Brown's legislation will make the line-up; he is certainly swinging for the fences with it. If it does happen, Brown would hit one out of the park and become the populists' MVP.

Right now, this is anyone's ballgame. Someone will be the hero and someone will be the goat.

But quite frankly, I'm a bit tired of both sides making every miniscule issue a bench clearing rhubarb. I don't understand how they can't both see that they're playing on the same team ... the team of The District of Columbia.

UPDATE: Washington City Paper has the transcript from this morning's exchange between Mayor Fenty and the media. You really should listen to it ... it loses a lot in translation from audio to text.

You Get What You Vote For

It's a good thing our City Council has fixed the myriad of issues that has plagued our fair city for oh-so-many decades and can now focus on trivial matters.

I used to be a strong proponent of District voting rights. I used to be right up there toward the front of the pack yelling for an equal voice in Congress. But I don't yell anymore. In fact, most days I pull down the brim of my hat, turn my head, and cough into my hand.

Why should our city have any say in our Federal government? Have you seen the way we run ourselves? Have you seen the hucksters we've voted into our city government? Lord knows I don't want any more snake oil salesmen in the halls of the United States Capitol Building. And if there's one thing I can count on the residents of the District to do it is voting snake oil salesmen into public office.

You want a voice in Congress? You want to have folk up there who aren't going to embarrass the people who elected them? Let's start with getting our own city government in check. Address the issues that need to be addressing. Stop stupid political stunts like this street name change.

Git 'Er Dun!

This on-again-off-again dance with professional sports teams makes the District look the fool, from my perspective. It has been my long-standing opinion that having and keeping professional sports teams, regardless of how niche they may be, within the city boundaries is in the District's long-term interest. Having such entertainment unique to the city (and not running off to a suburb rival ... *cough Redskins cough*) is one of the many things that draws people to the city. Once here, especially if the surrounding area has been wisely developed, said people drawn to the city will stick around for a while before and after the game, spending money inside the city limits.

Wise people understand that money spent now is money made later.

And it looks like unwise people are finally understanding that too.

As with everything in the District, there are supporters and there are critics. Both voices should be heard but, in the end, the long-term interests of the city should be the deciding factor.

Is another stadium more important that improving our public schools? Absolutely not. However one should not be sacrificed at the expense of the other. Besides, it appears as though our publics schools are finally in the capable hands of a chancellor who is willing and able to make the tough decisions for the betterment of our failing education system. Instead of begging for more money to feed this bloated beast (as has been the modus operandi with past chancellors), Chancellor Rhee is performing the surgeries necessary to remove the tapeworms that have been eating the monstrous amounts of money already being given to the system.

Besides, the money being allocated to help finance the soccer stadium is coming from the money made at the baseball stadium ... money that would not even exist were it not for former Mayor Anthony Williams' and Councilmember Jack Evans' resolve.

Here's to hoping that this current City Council and this current Mayor have the same resolve to get this deal done, too.