Published on: 2005-02-17

 

 

We do indeed live in a republic, not a democracy as Tim White somewhat awkwardly admits ("Annex everything," Feb. 13). But he doesn't seem to understand the difference between the two forms of government, as evidenced by his example of referendums in the "People's Republic of California."

Nor does he seem to understand the fundamental issue in the forced annexation conflict.

Californians may have the right to vote in referendums and recall their governor, but the state is not even close to being a democracy. If it were, the "legislature" would be composed of thousands of ordinary citizens, not politicians, who'd meet once a year for a short time, pass laws by majority vote and then go home. And they wouldn't be paid.

Yes, we live in a republic, although most politicians won't admit it. In a republic we choose people to make decisions for us. Locally, that means we have county commissioners, City Council members and school board members who decide issues of taxes, zoning, school district boundaries and garbage collection. If we don't like their decisions, we get to vote them out when they complete their terms of office.

In either case, people get to decide what form their government will take in the first place. In a republic, they then get to choose their leaders.

That's the point White misses. The folks in western Cumberland County never had that chance. They never had the opportunity to choose the Fayetteville City Council that wants to govern them.

This is what makes this decision by the council different. It was made without the "consent of the governed." The conflict arose not because elected officials made a decision the people they were elected to represent don't like. It arose because elected officials made a decision for people they were not elected to represent.

Brian Irving is chairman of the Libertarian Party of Cumberland County.