An appeal . . .

As we get closer to deciding who will sit as mayor and who will occupy three seats of the council, I'd like to make an appeal to certain people that may be taking the time to read this article. My appeal today is specifically to anyone who believes in the principals of limited government, free markets, and individual liberty. In order to advance the cause of freedom, we must take it upon ourselves to start paying attention to what goes on in the halls of local government.

We need to start paying attention to how much of our money is being spent and to whom this money is going. Whether it's a $50,000 per year “Hip Hop Dance” program or a $50 million, 51,000 sq. ft. bureaucratic megaplex, we must follow the money.

We must investigate, question, and follow the millions of dollars in grants being handed out to advisers, study groups, planners, and privileged businesses.

We must understand what the bureaucrats have in store for all of us, as stated in their various plans and schemes.

For example, in the future, the city has plans to dictate what kind of homes will be built, with an emphasis on increasing population density by limiting the number of detached homes and mandating high occupancy, multi-family domiciles, while simultaneously restricting overall development in the name of preserving the environment and government-owned “public spaces.”

This imposed artificial scarcity will once again drive the price of detached homes through the roof and beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. The “workers,” as they are referred to in the general plan, will only find affordable accommodations in government-mandated high-occupancy developments.

The city has already decided it will dictate what businesses and services will be available in Maricopa through licensure rejection and special incentives for “preferred industries” and corporations. In the future, limitation of commercial space to small enclaves within walking or biking distance of these planned, high-occupancy communities will further put commerce in the stranglehold of government and central planners.

The city will also decide what kind of transportation will be encouraged (and conversely discouraged), with a focus on taxpayer-financed, privately-operated public transportation. In the future, road design will be shifted away from private locomotion to mass transportation systems…You WILL be “encouraged” to ride the bus, walk, or ride a bike through exertion of public policy.

All of this and more is being proposed on our dime by “planning professionals” and unelected city bureaucrats in the name of progress, and then is rubber stamped by city council for implementation requiring even more studies, professionals, and advisers. Hard to believe? Read their plans. Research Smart Growth.

Recently, a certain mayoral candidate said in a response that completely avoided the question posed, “Maricopa is based on master-planned communities,” and apparently that means the entire city will be master-planned according to the desires of politicians, bureaucrats, influential landowners, and certain real estate investment firms. According to this candidate, if you or I happen to believe that government is inherently a poor provider of services because its revenue is based on coercion and not competition, then we “have moved to the wrong community.”

With all due respect to Mr. Diedrich … I believe that the rural, independent spirit of Maricopa makes it the perfect place to draw a line in the sand against the notion that government knows better than the individual, how his money should be spent.

I believe Maricopa can be a beacon of freedom and prosperity to the rest of the state by eliminating social and economic planning, reducing city expenditures to a minimum, keeping tax burdens low, not going into debt, and removing the roadblocks and barriers to individual and private entry into the market place. We would have the most vibrant economy in the state. No studies, grants, advisers, committees, micro loans, or taxpayer-funded small business classes necessary. Just get out of the way and out of our pockets!

And just so we're clear, a “citizen attitude survey” of several dozen people is no way to gauge the desires and needs of 40,000 inhabitants and their posterity, and to suggest such a thing is patently silly, but I digress…

My appeal today is to those people that feel as I do: That centrally planning the economy and dictating how future generations will live is beyond the proper scope of government; that only individuals know what is in their best interests and how to properly spend their own money; that government, at all levels, is simply out of control. I call upon all believers in limited government and individual liberty to start paying attention and getting involved in what's going on in our city…the peaceful revolution to reclaim our natural rights starts from the bottom up, not top down.