http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20070815_How_to_dream_backward.h...
Posted on Wed, Aug. 15, 2007
How to dream backward
By HANNAH MILLER
THERE IT is, on the map, a stout rectangle, arteried by highways, greener at the top, on the lake that leads to Canada.
When you're a child, you point and say, "Pennsylvania." When you're older, you find out its full name, which is longer because it comes with an astounding idea:
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The common wealth. Common good. The well-being of all. A legal entity imposed on a forest to ensure the survival and health of those who live here.
Starting in 1682, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began to institute things that we now consider wildly liberal: free public education, job creation, city planning, parks and recreation, and civil liberties, to name just a few.
This is the heritage of our home. This is our name.
But I worry that we're beginning to forget it. We need to learn how to say it again.
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Over the last two years, the statewide movement sparked by the 2005 pay raise has solidified the ranks of Pennsylvania libertarians/conservatives who distrust not just elected officials in Harrisburg, but the very aims and existence of government itself.
The PA Clean Sweep movement (and everything in its shadow) included no fewer than 109 campaigns across the state in 2006. It was a massive organizing effort that shaped for millions of Pennsylvanians a way of thinking about state government that was, simply put, completely nihilistic.
And the aftereffects are beginning to show, most prominently in this year's budget battle, which was, in some ways, a breakdown in the basic functions of a legislative body.
(cont)
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20070815_How_to_dream_backward.h...
Other good things that come from Pennsylvania
And, as a p.s...after you've read the oped...
I just wanted to list a couple of other good things that come from Pennsylvania that I didn't even have room to mention.
1. The American peace movement (Quaker/Mennonite)
2. The American antislavery movement (although Massachusetts gets a lot of credit for this one)
3. The idea that people should be taken out of jails and given jobs instead (Quaker)
And let's not forget the best one of all...
My personal favorite (due to hometown pride)...since we were, after all, the first capital of the country...and I think we can all agree that the US of A has seemed for a while now to be heading full steam ahead on le wrong trac and it's right about time we remembered who we are...
Coming to you live, from the City of Brotherly Love:
4. American democracy!
American Democracy
Noy just American Democracy, but the idea of Democracy.
And somewhere, someone from
And somewhere, someone from Greece winces.
Sarcasm
Too bad sarcasm is not an Olympic sport.
I disagree...I think
Agreed, this fixation on taxes is uhealthy. It is this penny pinching that has let our infrastructure crumble. But I think this aversion to taxes is about a confluence of mismanagement and the arrogance of career politicians.
I have a habit of overreaching on my comments here, and I'm sure if guilty I will shortly hear about it, but I think you're mistaken in calling a surge of candidates a bad thing. How can you consider it a bad thing that more people are taking an interest in public office? It is possible they ran for the wrong reasons. However, a bunch of people running in and of itself is not a bad thing.
I may have a different perspective on this, because I am not a big fan of the two party system to begin with, but I was impressed with the number of Green Candidates on the last ballot. This is a direct consequence of people saying "Hey, I can do better", which is the exact reason we want people to run. The more the merrier. Whether they have a platform passed tax reduction is our job to discern. I am ok with a high turnover rate for Representatives. That's how I see our Republic working.
In the end, I agree penny pinching for the sake of being cheap is just bad policy. You are right there. But I find it interesting that a tax on paper and tea had similar reactions a while back. Except instead of a recall of several legislators, that sparked a war. Oh, and also our subsequent national history.