A recent blog post from Eric Johnson raises a thoughtful question regarding the implications of an assertion by the recently appointed Council member Larry Foster. Mr. Fostered stated that having more representation in city government (instituting some districts/wards) in Decatur could be typified as a "corrupt" form of government. Many of us were distrubed by these false assertions when they were made. But, Mr. Johnson seems to have put his finger on something. Is Mr. Foster "in all due respect" insulting the citizens of Decatur as not being able to self-govern? Please read on at Mr. Johnson's essay. Thanks Eric for permission to post your ideas here. To see the entire post got to our opinion blog by clicking here. Other opinions are welcome.
One of Eric's more focused concerns is repeated here:
I think Aristotle gives the answer in his discussion of oligarchies(basically the concept claims those who gain power seek to retain that power and are reluctant to relinquish that power, many times at the expense of the greater majority) .......
........Further and continuing, following Mr. Foster's logic to it's illogical conclusion, ( and I hope he will correct me if I misstate the obvious?) should we presume that [if] Decatur [were] to change forms of City government to a form he(Foster) publicly claims is corrupt, should we then assume that Councilman Foster believes those Decatur citizen's who would participate in that system would be corrupt or corruptible by virtue of the nature of the system itself? Should we assume Mr. Foster believes only criminals would seek these positions in city government? Personally, I am offended by Mr. Foster's remarks and his insinuation that there are no qualified persons available for public office/service in our inner-city neighborhoods.......
........On my block alone live a retired librarian ,a school teacher, a small business owner. I don't know about anyone else but I find it a direct insult to the residents of Decatur to suggest no qualified persons live in Decatur's varied/diverse core neighborhoods. There are accountants, attorneys, postmen and women, nurses, pastors, librarians, small business owners and many other (more than qualified) civic minded citizen's who would jump at the chance to participate in local government ......
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