Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wrong teleprompter, bub.

It’s sublime narcissism, indeed, for Indiana’s property tax “revolutionaries” to imagine themselves populating an Ayn Rand novel and announcing that they intend to stop the engine of local government.

The only difference is that good, bad or indifferent, the original John Galt at least had a counter-proposal. The current crop doesn’t. They’re playing roles in Rand’s novel – just not the ones they think.

People like New Albany’s resident nutty professor have latched on to this issue for one reason and one reason only: As a means to sate a lifetime of pathological grudges while camped safely on the sidelines of relevance. Along with the Steve Prices of the world, they can offer nothing save for civic decay management. That simply isn’t enough for a 21st century city, although I suppose that at the end of the day, it scratches an itch.

The wrong one, but an itch.

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