A Message from the Grinch
[ Patrick Tuohey ]We took our children to Christmas in the Park, a Jackson County Parks and Recreation event featuring approximately 30 holiday themed displays and 100,000 lights (none of them too Christian, by the way). But it is one display that stirs us to comment.
A lighted display at the entrance to the park reads:
Christmas in the Park
A Gift To All
From County Executive
Mike Sanders
and the
Jackson County Legislature
We haven't called the Parks and Rec department, but our suspicion is that this event is in fact not funded through the generosity of Sanders, et al., but by Jackson County taxpayers whose money is then appropriated by Sanders and the legislature in their official capacity. We've been given a "gift" using money taken from us.
Sadly, this mindset—that government money belongs to those who spend it—is common at all levels of government. This is why some think it is a compromise to increase taxes a little and increase spending a little, thinking the government is being prudent. In fact all money comes from the people, and good policy is reached not by a little of both but by less of one and none of the other.
We're confident that Sanders and the legislature did not require this sign be placed as a monument to their beneficence but by a grateful Parks and Rec. And we don't argue that Christmas in the Park ought not be funded. But it might be nice if the sign instead read:
Christmas in the Park
A Gift To All
From Jackson County Taxpayers.
Thank You For Your
Continued Support.
11/28/2012 1:10:24 PM
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