Joe Clarke wrote:
Are we not in a crisis? Cutting the libraries without consulting the community (or the City Council) may have been hasty but where is the money going to come from to cover the deficit? Is there any area of the budget -- fire stations -- that somebody, including the city employees, doesn't find unacceptable, draconian, etc...? I don't think the libraries were selected by the administration for any sinister reason. That's your take on it. I think the libraries are an important part of a free society and are an asset to communities that rely on them for information and activities. But it's not like the fascists who go after the intellectuals first in order to crush their dissent. You putting Nutter on that level makes me think that his decisions and administration are just fodder for your conspiracy theories. Is Obama next?
I think glenn's been trying to articulate principles here, and using examples that maybe get us confounded because they're on different scales (size-wise, time-wise). me, I tend to habitually think about these things (principles) as applicable on the entire local-global continuum...
so, for example, when I hear local questions about how a city's budget CRISIS relates to the actions of an elected mayor and the expectations of his municipal voters, I can hear possible answers in what our national leader just said the other day in his address to the world:
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.... Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. We are the keepers of this legacy.
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