Governance
We, the citizens of our community, have had to stand by as more of our representative form of government has slipped away into the hands of appointed councils, committees and regional authorities. These entities solicit for our tax dollars and develop mandates for how we are governed yet have limited accountability to we the people. The Piedmont Triad Airport Authority is a current example of this problem. A regional authority being discussed to address our sudden ozone level non-attainment crisis is a pending example – one that needs to be stopped before it is created.
We elect our county government to represent us. Within the jurisdiction of Guilford County, county commissioners should be the only officials we need to hold accountable for overseeing the spending of our tax contributions and the creation of local laws under which we all must abide by. Our elected officials in county government have an obligation to exercise control in this process and not transfer (willingly or through coercion) their powers to entities beyond the reach of the common voter.
If regional governance schemes are the wave of the future, then citizens should be voting for regional representatives. Those who value their freedom should not allow our elected officials to become superfluous to the governance system we have to live under. The trend towards unaccountable regionalized government must be reversed. Taxation and regulation without representation is not acceptable in a free country.
