It is no secret that one of the things that elected officials do is pat each other on the back. But they also pat other people on the back. If you have spent any time looking around, you’ve undoubtedly seen a resolution of some sort of another that in the end does nothing more than waste a bunch of time.
The state legislatures are especially fond of these. When I lived in California, you could find these resolutions about anywhere. I was pretty young, and I’ll admit to not looking into it much, but I think you can get a resolution passed by the state for just about anything if you know the right person to ask. It seems that this even extends to the county level, if you live in Mecklenburg.
That’s right – it appears that the Mecklenburg County Commissioners have gotten into the act, and things may be a little out of hand with their resolutions lately. In just the August meeting, the commission spent over an hour debating such useful proclamations as positive four-letter words. A list of 49 such candidates, as in able, best, care and zest were submitted to fit the bill.
Why do such things happen, you may ask? I’m glad you did. As I mentioned yesterday, as long as a politician doesn’t completely alienate their constituents, they can generally live a pretty long life in office. One of the ways in which they can keep the voters happy is by doing things to make them happy.
For instance, if it’s coming down to the wire, why not put National Rutabaga Week on the agenda to make sure you get those swing votes when they count? Commissioner Bill James has said, tongue planted firmly in cheek, that if this nonsense doesn’t stop, he feels confident he can point out to the public just how much time is being wasted by doing just that.