Lately, it seems government incompetence and lack of scruples is on everyone’s mind.
The Bush administration’s declining approval rating, though a statistic of dubious meaning, has become front page news. Failure magazine is considering awarding the admistration its Failure of the Year award for an unprecedented second time for the poor handling of the Katrina rescue and cleanup. Tom DeLay is under investigation-like many congressmen before him-for shady dealings with campaign finance.
These problems get a lot of attention from the media and the American people. Ask people about their opinions of the president: they will have views, and they will likely express a course of action for dealing with Bush if they think he’s causing problems. This awareness is necessary for good government but sadly seems to be lacking below the national level.
For instance, how many people can name their national and state senators and representatives? Without the spotlight of the national media and its attendant public awareness, local officials-both elected and appointed-can easily misuse or abuse their powers.
Abuses occur in all levels of government. At Terry High School, the public school where I graduated in 2000, principal Stephen Handley illegitimately required students in an AP English class, including my sister, to pay for and take the $75 AP test to pass the class. Not only did a public school wrongly require students to pay for a test wrongly required for passing a class and thus graduating, the score could have a bearing on the students’ grades since the scores were not returned until after graduation.Also, less than 40 percent of students in AP classes normally take the exams, as reported in The Detroit News. Sadly, the superintendent failed to correct the injustice, and the matter was dropped short of legal action, which should not have even been an issue.
While my sister elected to shrug off Handley’s abuse of power and instead focus on graduation and college admission, such abuses must not be tolerated in general. Our culture and society are built around the premise of limited government, that those in power must follow the rules, and breaking those rules should not be tolerated at any level. Schools are our youth’s first encounter with government-any abuse of authority that goes unchecked weakens their faith in our government and discourages them from participating in a system that they see as corrupt, furthering the problem.
Fortunately, the abuse can be fought. For instance, after finding Starkville resident and MSU student Ben Howell not guilty of the charge of careless driving in Maben, Judge Steve Wright then announced that Howell was guilty of speeding. The officer that cited Howell for careless driving had not cited him for anything else. Nor had the prosecutor brought the charge.
Instead, the judge-in a blatant disregard for Constitutionally mandated due process of law-declared Howell guilty of a crime for which he had neither been charged nor tried. Common knowledge says such infringements should be tolerated: “You can’t fight city hall.” Howell disagreed.
Howell, noting the judge could not give a speed or zone for the alleged violation (both are required by state law), appealled his case without the help of a lawyer. The charge was dropped last Monday.
Howell’s case demonstrates how to fight corruption and incompetence in local government. Know your rights, know the law to the best of your ability and most importantly, do not be intimidated by the officials. Always be reasonable, polite and respectful and be prepared to deal with an official higher up the chain, especially when dealing with petty bureaucrats who take offense at having their authority challenged. Having a lawyer is also a good idea, but not always necessary as Howell’s case shows.
America is a democracy, reliant on her people’s participation in the governing process. Governmental incompetence and abuse at all levels-especially when encountered at a young age-create a jaded citizenry, whose apathy may contribute to the problem, harming everyone.
Our duty as citizens is to avoid falling into apathy, and be knowledgeable about both how our government is run and how it is legally allowed to run. When an authority abuses or misuses her power at any level, we must not be intimidated or apathetic. Instead, we should fight the injustices with the resources we have and, just as importantly, spread word of both the violations and our remonstrations.
Our system, while imperfect, does generally work, but only if we as individuals are brave enough to fight corruption, incompetence and abuse.