It seems to me it is time we-the-people here at the local level face up to the part we have been playing in the $14-trillion debt being debated in Washington. Our state and local governments have been gleefully participating in a high stakes game to see how much of that "free" Washington money we can get. It took a big jump locally when President Johnson declared war on poverty.<br />
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A bit of history, if I may. President Lyndon B. Johnson came to Gainesville, Georgia, to announce that those of us in the Appalachian mountain region were the poorest folks in America, and he was going to start all kinds of federal programs to help get us out of our squalor. That was when our local governments became true professionals in the game called "bringing home the bacon." Washington would announce it had a great new program to help us poor folks down here, and had a pool of money for us to spend if we would submit a proposal that fit their criteria. For instance, Washington, in its infinite wisdom, declared we had an environmental problem with CO2 from automobiles. The way to reduce pollution locally was to create more public transportation. Gainesville jumped all over that one. That is how we got the Red Ink Red Rabbit.<br />
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A key selling point for these programs here locally was if we don't get that money, somebody else would. We-the-voters got the idea if our elected officials didn't bring home the bacon they weren't doing their job. Some communities got more of that free Washington money than others, so one of the best paid bureaucrats was a "grants writer"...a person who knew how to play the game, and got more loot from Washington than others. With a federal debt of $14-trillion, it strikes me the game is over...and the quicker we recognize that, the better off we will be.<br />
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This is Gordon Sawyer from a window on historic Green Street.<br />
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