On the opposite page, Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, lays out his vision of the state’s most pressing need: More money for “transportation infrastructure.”

Peachtree City state Rep. Matt Ramsey also weighs in across the page on the need for less “backward looking” and more attention to those things that might improve the economy of our area. More about that later.

I agree with Gov. Deal about the need for upkeep and improvement of some parts of our transportation infrastructure. I disagree with his means to get there. Read More»

After incumbents get beat unexpectedly — at least unexpected by the incumbents — pundits usually feel compelled to pundificate on “what it all means.”

I will resist that temptation since I have no idea what “it all means.” I do have a few ideas about what some of it means. (You are free to assign whatever weight you believe appropriate to my pundificating — or my bloviating, as one soon-to-be ex-mayor dubbed my editorial efforts.)

A tip of the hat to old Tip O’Neill, who immortalized the truism, “All politics is local.”

Local. Not regional. Read More»

It’s personality election time in Peachtree City, as evidenced by the postings commenting on an otherwise rather bland letter by this year’s surviving challenger — Stephen Allen — who is trying to unseat incumbent Eric Imker.

One new anti-Allen and pro-Imker poster — Greenbelt — raised suspicions; a verification check validated the suspicion.

Thursday afternoon, I posted the following comment on TheCitizen.com:

“Greenbelt is committing identity fraud & election dirty tricks Read More»

Remember these two principles of folks with a conservative or libertarian world-view? “That government is best which governs least.” And “local government is the most representative because it is closest to the people it governs.”

And let’s throw in a third principle enunciated by the late Democrat Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill (a liberal, back before that word was replaced by “progressive”): “All politics is local.” Read More»

UPDATED OPINION — I filed an Open Records request to Peachtree City Monday afternoon of this week, asking them to produce for inspection all records and documents related to something called “Project Z.” Read More»

I shifted one word in the column title, from “essentials” to “priorities.”

That’s the shift that some local governments need to make as well: Determine what local government services are absolutely essential and then prioritize from that point.

In my first column, I put “Public Safety” at the head of the list of absolute essentials. “If government does nothing else, it must keep our persons and our property safe from attack, confiscation and destruction,” I said in Part I. Read More»

We began a conversation last week about defining the essential functions of local government. I placed as my number one priority public safety.

I have since been challenged online about what “essential” really means. The assertion was that I define “essential” based on my biases. So let’s see if we can come to a common agreement on our terms.

Let me be more precise: I define “essential” as closer to an absolute rather than a relative term.

For example, judge between these two choices: Read More»

I pose the big question in the headline above so that we can begin a discussion about what we can reasonably expect from our local governments. This is part one.

Before that, let’s focus on one single word that forms the basis for all the laws of economics: Scarcity.

Economist Thomas Sowell (the wisest man in the Western Hemisphere, in my opinion) puts it this way: “What does ‘scarce’ mean? It means that what everybody wants adds up to more than there is. ... There has never been enough to satisfy everybody completely.” Read More»

First of all, the two local governments that seem to be working most efficiently and with the most careful stewardship of the taxpayers’ money are Fayetteville and Tyrone. Read More»

What relation do stated political party affiliations have with positions taken by many — maybe most — local elected officials?

Answer: No relationship whatsoever to the votes and non-votes that matter the most.

For example, forget that all five Fayette County commissioners run on the Republican ballot. At least four of the five are really joint members of the real but unnamed party that controls Fayette County: The Government Party. Read More»