AG 1993 04 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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legislators are spending your money. When enough counties have enacted the B.S.A., there will be the strength in numbers backed by the voters, to successfully fight irresponsible, ~mfunded mandates. ~ DEFINING THE PROBLEM - WI~RE WE CA/VIE FROM AND WHERE WE ARE TODAY. AFTER declaring independence, while working to construct a new and better fo,m of government, our Founding Fathers sought to examine certain flaws in the British Parliamentary system. Flaws which had lcd to the corruption of ParNament and tyranny by the King. It was thought by some that the emerging system of ~epresentative democracy would be inadequate to govern more than a very small nation. They feared that as the nation grew, the federal head would become like an island trying to govern the sea. The solution though, lay not in the concentration of powers, but rather in their distribution. From the beginning, the nation was divided into states, the states divided into counties, and the counties divided again into townships. "So," said Thom~q Yefferson, "that each might do for itself what concerns itself directly, and which it can do so much better tl~an a distant authority." He said that it is "...by the partition of cares, descending from the general to the particular, that the ma~qs of human affairs may best be managed for the good and prosperity of all." This form of' self-government allows that peoples from among ourselves and our neighbors will be elected to govern our own affairs. These will be men and women who share our common concerns, who are best qualified because directly knowledgeable, and who while governing, remain among the governed, not separated or in~qulate& This, as opposed to rule by Officer of the State, like governors appointed by the Crown to enforce the will ora distant king. Jefferson wrote later, "Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread." The framers of the Constitution then set about to in~qure this system by establishing within the federal government severe limits of power. Among these are the checks and balances, the separation of branches, and a written emrmerafion of powers, beyond which all powers would remain the province of the individual states. Yet today, we control our own affairs less than ever before. The Federal and stale governments have laws, rules and mandates directing our every concern. Most often these mandates show little regard for the vast differences in the individual needs or pal'tionlar abilities of commnnlties across the nation. Furthermore, with increasing regularity, these mandates and laws are passed with no provision for funding. One has to ask, If these laws are worthy of enactment, why are they deemed not worth of.funding by those who pass them? The legislators have in~eacl, passed offto the counties the responsibility to shift costs, cut services, and raise taxes. Put simply, it is the EXEI~CISE OF AUTHORITY WYI'HO~ RESPONSIBILITY. Thi.~ is the injustice we seek to address with the Budget Separation Act.