A reader sent the following true account from his small rural town. Names have been changed and some details have been edited out to protect privacy. Here’s the story:
Several years ago, Marvin and Veronica moved here from a nearby state and told everyone they met that they were “so excited” to live in “such a beautiful place” full of “such wonderful, friendly, caring people.” Marvin soon got a job with the County and began “working to improve things” using government monies and volunteer help and contributions.
So today he tells me, “I can’t wait to get out of this place.”
Why? Because the town is now full of obstinate, backward, stupid people who don’t know anything about government and who obstruct his agenda at every turn.
A liberal? You betcha.
I always laugh to read his articles in the paper, extolling this project or the other. A perfect example is a new “tree barrier” along a roadside adjacent to one of our municipal facilities. The trees were intended to block the unsightly row of cars and trucks parked between the road and the buildings. To read about it in the articles he has put into the local newspaper extolling “community efforts,” you’d expect to find a verdant forest. When you drive by, however, you find a row of very small, withered trees, spaced too far apart, which, if anything, make the site look even more run down and neglected. In 25 years, should they survive, they might partially filter the view. A fence would have made more sense. Why didn’t they do a privacy fence? Because it would “block the distant view.” Of course, the large facility buildings already do that.
Currently he is involved in a fight with the City over a maintenance issue that damaged one of his properties. The City says it isn’t responsible because there is no ordinance covering such maintenance, and for that reason, the government agency that insures the City denied his claim.
What would a conservative (i.e., native) do?
Pay for the damage, do the due diligence on the maintenance himself, and write a letter to the Editor letting others know of this issue so that those who wished to do so could pressure the City to update its ordinances. And attend City Council meetings, keeping the issue alive until resolved.
A liberal?
He moves away in disgust.
Because, ultimately, it was always “all about him” and had nothing to do with us.
