This picture is a metaphor for my latest trip to the State Capital today. Government officials have an indisputable propensity to look out for and serve government itself rather than serve We the People who elect them. Most are oblivious of the fact that the power of government is derived from the consent of the governed. The picture above shows an ISP patrol car parked off the road tightly to the top of the very marginally shoveled west side Capital steps leading from the designated visitor parking area. When one arrived at the top of the steps, you could choose to walk in the piled snow immediately behind or in front of the patrol car. The officer could have pulled forward five feet and avoided blocking the people’s entrance, but in this case, it was just easier apparently for government to serve government regardless of the poor outcome for the governed. To be clear here, I’m not throwing the ISP under the bus, but in this case, it was just the low hanging fruit. They could choose to improve conditions for visitors, but in the end, they chose to serve themselves.
My trip today was to support a bill at the sub-committee level to provide local due process to a current Iowa code section. After all remarks were heard, the senators were sensitive to the lack of due process afforded by the current code section, but not enough to add any burden to government’s current process. In other words, the government chose to serve government effectively thumbing their noses at the people yet again. In the case of this bill, it allows unelected individuals to restrict private property rights without any vote of elected officials. After the rights are restricted, the peasant citizen may seek out a little-known exemption from the local appointed officials via a permit process. Does any of that sound like the 14th Amendment phrase; “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process?” Procedural due process is defined as; Steps that must be taken before government may remove life, liberty, or property. It does NOT state; the peasant citizen shall jump through multiple hoops to circumvent the will of their master and achieve liberty. As our Founders intended, the burden shall always be on the government as they seek to maintain the consent of the governed and serve the will of the people.
Local government is not exempt from this phenomenon either, as I have witnessed it often in our Board of Supervisors meetings. It comes from the mentality of placating who will complain loudest and most often with no consideration for what is right. Elected officials know their government co-workers will complain daily if changes are made detrimental to their workplace obligations, expectations, and accountability, whereas the citizens will only engage and complain for a short while before moving on and forgetting the disappointment of decisions that negatively affect the taxpayer. In the end the taxpayer loses, because the necessary difficult decisions aren’t made, and the results are unending tax increases. Ultimately this dilemma will only be fixed if We the People choose to get engaged and stay engaged holding our elected officials to their Oath of Office every day of their terms in office.
- Corey Cerwinske
Bremer County Supervisor
