One of the things we often hear is that government is best when it's closest to the people. Your local city government is going to be more responsive than your state government, which in return will be more responsive than the feds in Washington. This may be true in some ways, but it's also true that state and local government can be more corrupt and more dysfunctional, in part because there's less scrutiny. And also, on a local level, it's often not hard to get elected, which means your elected officials can be flat-out nuts:
Be careful before starting a Boy Scout troop in Gould, Ark. Or a Harry Potter fan club. Or a baseball team.
The City Council adopted an ordinance last week making it illegal to form any kind of group without its permission.
That is a clear violation of the Constitution, legal scholars agree. But it is also a sign of just how nasty politics has gotten in Gould, a farming town of 1,100 some 70 miles southeast of Little Rock, where members of the Council have struggled with a local political group that seeks to influence how the town is governed. The mayor, Earnest Nash Jr., also happens to be a member of the political group, the Gould Citizens Advisory Council...
Last week, the Council overrode the mayor's veto of two other controversial measures. One required that the citizens advisory council cease to exist. The other made it illegal for the mayor to meet with "any organization in any location" either "inside or outside Gould city limits" without the Council's permission.
The advisory council, which calls itself a nonpartisan group that educates voters and raises money for public causes, says it will continue its work. But the Council, in one ordinance, accused the group of "causing confusion and discourse among the citizens" by harshly criticizing local officials at public meetings.
As a result, the City Council said, "No new organizations shall be allowed to exist in the City of Gould without approval from a majority of the City Council."
Well, it's hard to blame them. If somebody is out there causing discourse, what are you supposed to do? Just let them spread it all over town?
