R.
Lee Wrights
Contributing Editor
R. Lee Wrights is a writer and political activist living in North Carolina. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All and an editor at Free-Market.Net.
Can You Fight City Hall?
The debate has always existed, especially among anarchists and libertarians, about the level of effectiveness when becoming involved in the process of government. In other words, does it really do any good to attend a city council meeting; or a school board session; or a regular conference of the local county commission? Can you, as an individual, effectively fight City Hall?
Every time I have ever written about “becoming involved” or “doing something” I have always gotten the same kind of feedback. Someone always writes, “I would like to think that it makes a difference to attend board meetings, etc., but I have come to believe that unless there are a lot of people attending it makes little difference.” Someone else will say, “These boards have their ways of controlling any input or info. People have the idea that they can address these entities and make a difference, but it is an illusion and a distraction.” And someone always uses that sad old cliché, “You just can’t fight City Hall.” I tend to be a bit more optimistic.
My optimism about the impact individuals can have on their local levels of bureaucracy is founded appropriately on personal experience. My first run-in with City Hall occurred a couple of years ago when I attended a Board of Aldermen meeting to support a proposed reduction in the city’s property tax rate. It was budget time for my home town, which has a population of over 180,000, so eight individuals, including myself, decided to appear at the meeting to encourage the city father’s to continue a trend they had set in the previous two budget proposals of reducing the city’s tax rate. We selected a spokesperson to speak for us, which she did admirably, and all the rest of us did was stand in a show of support for the sentiments expressed in her address to the board.
We returned to the next meeting of the Board of Aldermen, which was the night scheduled for the budget vote. We were prepared to once again voice our support for a tax cut from the city. Imagine my surprise when we learned that a tax-reduction amendment had been added to a proposed budget that was previously void of any mention of citizen tax relief. So, in a city of almost 200,000 citizens it took eight individuals, only one of which actually addressed city officials, to prompt change in an impending government proposal. I began to see that the old political adage is true which states, “Government goes to those that show up.”
Now I know there are still those that will say that small victories, such as the one experience by my colleagues and I, are too few and too far in between. There will always be those that believe things have gone too far already in the direction of tyranny and that there is very little, if anything at all, we as individuals can do about defeating the beast Bureaucracy. However, this attitude only serves to perpetuate our bondage even further. One thing I have learned from years of local grassroots activism is that if you do nothing, nothing gets done. If government does in fact go to those that show up, then the only way to have an impact, and loosen the regulatory chains that bind us, is to get off the couch and actually show up.
My experience has taught me that individuals can and do make a difference when they become involved at the local level. Here we find the essential key to throwing off chains created by an overbearing Nanny State. We must learn to reassert ourselves as true independent citizens and reclaim our stolen birthright, which is control of government. You should never miss the city/county council or commission meetings in your local area. If you have children, and even if you do not, you should never miss a school board meeting. Anywhere the State meets you should be there to witness it first hand and use your presence and voice to oppose each new link in the chain of our bondage as it is forged. You must be willing to speak in public before endless boards in the fight to close down the foundry that produces the shackles of regulation. You must be willing to call for and support the repeal of useless laws to help preserve your freedom and that of generations that will follow. Show up, you can fight City Hall.
Turn the situation around on power-hungry politicians by appearing when public matters are considered. Write letters to the editor of your local paper outlining how seemingly endless, meandering layers of laws in your area enslave you and your neighbors. Remind people you should not be under the watchful eye of your resident nursemaids masquerading as elected representatives; they should be under your watchful eye. And you have to make people realize they are not as free as they presume especially if they are home/land owners. Many people are still not convinced that our freedoms have been greatly reduced; or, that our liberty is in jeopardy at all.
By becoming involved in the levels of government that are closest to us, such as city and county bureaucracies, we increase our chances of experiencing significant reduction in government intrusion. By remaining removed from the political process we allow tyranny to encroach upon us even further. Politicians all too often mistake silence from voters as a sign of approval and therefore see no reason to seek changes in the status quo. If you do not like high taxes and burdensome bureaucracy the only way to fight them, short of blood in the streets, is to show up at City Hall and let them know loud and clear that you are fed up and desire change. I say again, if you are not willing to do something, nothing will ever get done. Enough is enough, do something!
