An Adversarial Process it’s Not (supposed to be)
March 24th, 2008I spent Easter with my parents, and in addition to catching up on the various events in our respective lives, we also watched Tombstone on Showtime.
I was struck by the effect the Cowboys had on the community they inhabited. Whether they directly meant to or not, their lack of respect for order meant the law was not followed anyone—their attitude subtlety influenced and affected everything in the community.
The sad part—the tragedy—is perhaps they weren’t even aware of their role in creating the environment. I think of the funeral parade after the gunfight, and the banner they carried above them: “Murdered in the Streets of Tombstone.” There was a sense they were truly aggrieved by the treatment they were receiving, truly confused why people said the things they did, why people wished so vehemently they would just go away.
I wonder if the Monadnock Taxpayers Association is the same. I wonder if, like the Cowboys in the movie, they have no idea what effect they have on others.
I have to wonder after Mr. Moriarty’s last letter in the Sentinel, where he vigorously denounced Mr. Steven Gilbert’s portrayal of the school’s auditorium as unfair to him and not his responsibility. Mr. Moriarty seemed to point to everyone but him as the cause, accusing Ms. Dreyfuss and others of creating a “spin machine.”
I’m sure there’s some truth in what Mr. Moriarty writes. But I think it’s probably not accurate to say, “I have nothing to do with this” when one is responsible—to a very large extent—with the atmosphere in a community. If a group of people create a town where firearms are routinely discharged into the air, and a child is accidently killed, then that group of people have some responsibility for the death.¹ They helped create the circumstances that made it possible.
For almost the last decade, the Monadnock Taxpayers Association has routinely rallied around the cry of “no.” No money for this, no support for this, nothing at all for anyone—”No” is the only word they know. As a group, they are nihilists, who offer nothing but denial: Nein! Nein! Das ist nicht gut!
Think of the environment that attitude creates. This is a district where, for any little thing that costs a dollar, time must be spent, an argument had, a debate over every dime. In that atmosphere, who is going to spend political capital and time on anything less than the most vital issues? Who is going to spend the energy fixing the stage when even health and safety issues must pass through a gauntlet of taxpayer engendered criticism?
Proffering a sliced n’ diced maintenance article that only covers enough for the patient to stay on life support is hardly “supporting” anything.
But here’s my real problem, and Mr. Moriarty’s letter reeks of it. The Monadnock Taxpayers Association and its members view everything through a lens of “us vs. them.” It’s their weltanschauung and it comes out in everything they do.² Read Mr. Moriarty’s letter again—he’s quick to point fingers, to cast blame, to look at someone else as the problem.
The real test of an elected official—of a community leader—is who they can bring to the table, who they can work with. Washington kept his troops together through Valley Forge and strained relationships with the Continental Congress. Lincoln managed to appease war hawks in his own party with the need to offer the South terms they could live with. Eisenhower’s greatest achievement was not the actual Normandy invasion, but that he managed to work with the egos of the British and French commanders while getting the job done.
By that standard—by the measure of bringing a better environment, of making the world a safer, better, place, of creating a world where cooperation and collaboration are normal, the Monadnock Taxpayers Association and its members have been dismal failures.
If the environment one creates is poisonous, don’t be shocked when the fumes start to choke people—and they start looking at the cause.
1 So do the police officers who failed to stop it, of course. So do the townspeople who failed to get involved. But we’ll follow an old tradition and look at first causes. ↺
2 “Kids first, seniors last” seems to be the latest rallying cry. I’m wondering why supporting our children means we need to be against anyone? ↺
March 25th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Hale, I agree with you. However, the people who often cause the problem are also the ones who have the hardest time taking a good hard look at themselves :(. These children need an adult to sit them down in a room and make them work together. I doubt everyone in the Monadnock Region is that stingy.