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02/13/2005: "Miller has it backward: it is the people that empower the government."

The comments that Commissioner Miller made on February 5th at the Freeholder's meeting regarding government are greatly disturbing to me, and should be to every citizen and taxpayer in our County. Miller stated that "The purpose of government is to empower people…". If I am not mistaken, Miller has it backward: it is the people that empower the government. Our form of government is not dictatorial, communist or socialist, but a democracy where the people empower government.

Our Commissioner also stated that "Government is not efficient, nor is it intended to be. Government is designed to be slow, inefficient, and contain redundancy". Why can't government be efficient? Just because it is the taxpayers' money government is spending does not mean that it must operate in an inefficient manner. With good leadership, experienced people with management, administrative, finance and economic backgrounds, our County does not need to operate inefficiently. Perhaps we now have an insight to the source of the problems facing County government, for if Commissioner Miller is conducting her job with the intention of making government inefficient, she is right on the mark when she stated that, "The quality of government is directly related to the quality of the people who serve in governmental positions".

We as citizens and taxpayers must demand that our government officials spend our tax dollars and their time as efficiently and judiciously as possible and it is our will that they are mandated to carry out, not their personal agendas.


Ray Bigler