2013 Elections: Nothing Great

Well, nothing spectacular happened in any local races yesterday, which ought to have been expected. Mike Duggan was elected Mayor of Detroit (though not by so large a margin as we expected, even though it was almost a statistical landslide) and Detroit voters also elected Council members by district for the first time. A Latina, Raquel Castaneda-Lopez, was selected from Detroit's 6th Council district, and she is believed to be the first Hispanic ever elected to be for the Council. In Lincoln Park it appears that Elliott Zelenak will be the youngest City Council member ever there, being 18. Myriad other cities elected myriad others to various governmental positions, most of which are relatively blah except to the localities themselves.

Detroit saw a higher turnout than its last municipal election. A little over 25% of Detroit voted yesterday compared to around 22% in 2009. It's not exactly an outstanding number, but political wonks seem to believe it worth mention. The real big issue is probably that Detroit will have its first white mayor in 40 years in Duggan. Yet even that seems unimportant given that his election had long been a foregone conclusion; what excitement can there be when what was anticipated actually happened?

We do wonder whether some of the municipal offices require election. Why are we electing city and county clerks? Why can't they be appointed? There are likely many reasons for it, but we don't care to look them up. It sounds dull, so it probably is dull. We only the question to begin with because we don't see anyone getting truly excited over city clerk candidates; even political groupies seem rather ho-hum about them, don't they?

There were usual ballot initiatives which nobody but Library Larrys actually care about. Initiatives to fund community colleges were passed by people who think public vaguely education matters, while some provisions for road work (something where a local government actually has a legitimate sphere) passed too. There were probably a couple charter revisions as well, but, yawn.

Simply put, nothing earth shattering happened yesterday. It was what to be expected. And we all prefer things when they're we expect anyway, don't we?

Libraries are Past their Prime

Library Larry loved his local library. So much so that when he learned that it had to cut its budget significantly for the next year he remarked, "I would gladly pay a few dollars more on my property taxes to keep that from happening."

"I wouldn't," replied Conservative Carl.

"But the community needs the library!" Larry protested.

"Why?" Carl asked. "You have books and the Internet at home. You can read and research from there. Why should I have to pay for a library you don't actually need simply because you have made the value judgment that it's necessary? I am not expected to pay for your other forms of entertainment. Why should I pay for your use of the library?"

Library Larry muttered that Carl was a fascist and stormed off.

This may or may not be an oversimplification. Yet libraries, like the print media, are fast becoming obsolete. But perhaps more importantly, why should Library Larry be seen as such a hero (he will be for some who read this) for being willing to force his neighbors to spend their money on what he likes? It's arrogance, pure and simple. Yet that attitude is the basis for an awful lot of public spending.

All democracy ultimately means is that fifty percent of the population plus one person can force everyone else to do what they want. That is not a rationale for good public policy or public spending. But it can and will create jealousies which, in the long run, will rent asunder the body politic.