The response to my essay about the fire department
compensation by Mike
Morgan is indicative of a weakness in democracies in general - A public
untrained and unfamiliar with critical thinking. Mike Morgan along with many other community
organizers in the foothills are proponents of having the city of Los Angeles
stop the sale and development of the the Verdugo Hills golf course. Somehow he, as resident of
But a number of his arguments are so misplaced that it almost needs a whole
course in basic reasoning. I am a
stakeholder in
But if we accept the argument that we must be stakeholders before we take a
reasonable stand, then all Californians and residents of the
But there is linkage that is arguably stronger.
Here is another troubling issue with Mr. Morgan's positional statements - That
a landlord who resides in another city would have no say in the governance
where his income property and investment are located. Anyone who would consider Mr. Morgan's logic
as acceptable would, in effect, deny our advocacy as property owners. With over 62% Glendale's residential
population living in apartments and the preponderance of those
landlord-investors living outside Glendale, we could have the majority of
residential and commercial property owners paying taxes and not have
commensurate influence in city affairs. The
idea of taxation without representation was a sore point in this country's
revolutionary spirit if I recall correctly.
Mr. Morgan brings out another incredibly obtuse reasoning. That because I supported
candidates that did not win an elective office at the last election, then I
should have no justification for any advocacy. Irrespective of my support of a few winning
candidates in the past: Drayman, Najarian, Quintero,
you cannot logically hold a philosophical or ethical concept simply based on an
electoral outcome. Maybe Mr. Morgan
would have sided with the ethical points of view of Governor Wallace in
The reasoning for my positions has been clear and long standing. Taxation should be fair and equitable. An elected government that directs our tax
dollars has a fiduciary obligation to ensure that those funds are not wasted, it's
disposition free from corruption or corrupting influences, and its distribution
should improve the quality of life of all its residents. Unfortunately Mr. Morgan has not been a voice
for the quality of life of resident south of the 134 freeway where my advocacy
has been strongest. The disparity of
such distribution of taxpayer dollars is evidenced in salient areas: Huge
compensation and benefits to city elite unions and management, with an unfair
burden to rate-payers with limited income. Those rates are needed to sustain those exorbitant
salaries and benefits that became evident to the public only after a
To me, Mr. Morgan is not the real problem. Part of the problem is a cult of personality
that is now becoming associated with Mr. Drayman's strongest supporters, the
lack of sensitivity to the thousands of residents who have little voice in the
city's affairs, the ethnic divisiveness that permeates the politics of this
city, and a general lack of exposure to critical thinking and city governance
in general by the general public.
The messiness of democracy has been with us for thousands of years. Plato tried to postulate an alternative in The
Republic, but thankfully, Aristotle, and more recently Jefferson and our
founding fathers would rather accept the weaknesses of a voting public, even
when erratically emotional, than accept an authoritarian regime. We need more citizen and resident
participation in city affairs irrespective of Mr. Morgan's desire to limit the
evaluation of municipal government only to those who agree with his unexamined
positions.
Herbert Molano