I've heard a couple stories recently about a state government stating over and over again that it will finish some project or other... eventually.
People get so tired of waiting that they gather either the money or the resources it do it themselves. Occasionally, the state will prosecute these individuals for this, what should be considered, an act of charity.
I think it was in California or Nevada about a road that was blocked by a mudslide or some such. The state kept saying, "We'll clean it up. We just need to get the four million dollars it'll cost. It'll get done... in a few years."
Tired of waiting, a number of local businesses who needed the road to stay in business took up a collection and did it themselves, much more quickly and much cheaper than the state could ever do.
Just today, I heard of a park that needed work and cleaning up. Citizens, tired of waiting on the city or state to do it, went in and did themselves. The city is now prosecuting these people for "Interfering with official business" or some such.
Comments (3)
I like the idea here, but this needs to be more specific.
When people take initiative here, they do need to cooperate with the government to make sure that they do the job correctly. In these cases, the government probably should thank these people and get out of the way.
I'd say when it's obvious, go ahead and practice some civil disobedience. But be careful, sometimes doing a "good thing" isn't so clear-cut: you might clean up a mess and cut a power line in the process. As much as I hate to say it, sometimes it's best left to the professionals.
I'm not talking about letting random people go in and fix the structural problems with an overpass here.
I'm talking about:
Cleaning up a park.
clearing a road blocked by a mudslide.
rebuilding a trail through a state park that has become overgrown or some such.
going in and cutting back ground cover to help avoid wild fires.
Yes, obviously there are some jobs that you need professionals on but I think most people are intelligent enough to understand which jobs those are. And you've got to remember, the cities and states are not the only ones who employ competent and educated people. There are electricians out there in private life, as competent, or more competent, to fix that street light or whatever than the guys who work for the city.