Public opinion in this country is everything

by David Grand
October 14, 2009

However, were he alive today, Lincoln would be dismayed to see how often his words, expressing his trust in the will of the people, have been ignored or played down in government circles.

And he'd have to look no further than how the majority of members on the Senate's Finance Committee have turned their backs on the reported 65 percent of Americans, who've spoken out loud and clear in favor of a government option being included in the final health reform bill.

He'd also be aghast in learning, that the Congress in 2004 had failed to renew the 1994 ban on assault weapons, despite 60 percent of the public, including half of NRA households, in favor of its renewal.

But he might even regurgitate in learning that tendency of elected officials of not heeding the views of their constituents had permeated down to local governing bodies. A shinning example of which, is the lengths Carroll's board of commissioners have gone to in order to prevent the voices of the people from being heard at a referendum on whether responsibility for law enforcement in the county should be vested in a new police department, or in the already established sheriff's department.

It's no wonder they were wary of the question going to a referendum. For based on the negative reaction they'd heard at a public hearing in Jan. 22, 2008 to their proposed creation of a police department, they decided to stop going ahead with the required ordinance, knowing full well, that if they did, it stood about as much of a chance of being approved as a referendum prohibiting the annual Wine Festival would be.

And even if they'd been foolish enough to go down that road, they would've found themselves stopped in their tracks by an insurmountable barrier that the county's delegation had erected; namely. by their succeeding in having a law passed calling for a referendum on establishing a county police force by no later than Dec. 31, 2010.

With that revolting development, the commissioners wisely decided that discretion is the better part of valor and shelved the proposed ordinance.

Needless to say that setback to their well-laid plans caused a rift between the board and sheriff that will last for as long they're in office. And any doubts on that score were erased, when the three deputy positions initially included in the 2009 budget were instead given to the resident state troopers. Petty is as petty does.

So, as it stands now, the whole ball of wax will be dropped into the laps of the five elected commissioners in 2010, who'll have to decide whether to revive the ordinance, and have a referendum on having a county police force, or to leave well enough alone with the sheriff as the top gun.

That's a question that all candidates should be made to answer, without hedging or given wishy-washy answers.