My own little schmerz over bond issues, Donna, is reflected in the Friday edition of The Smithfield Herald, which reported on last week’s bond referendum:
By overwhelming margins, voters said yes to borrowing $85 million for the public schools and $10 million for Johnston Community College. …
The public-school bonds enjoyed almost as much support [as the JCCC proposal]. Seventy-seven percent of voters, or 4,400, said yes, while 23 percent, or 1,288, said no.
Actually, though, the News & Observer reported on Wednesday that only 7% of the county’s voters turned out for the two-item referendum.
So the real story is that 5.4% of the voters expressed support for the $95 million bond issue, which will impact 100% of the county’s residents; 1.6% opposed it, and the other 93% expressed no opinion whatsoever.
De Tocqueville was concerned about a “tyranny of the majority”; once again we’ve proven it doesn’t take even that much.
