At the last meeting of the Buncombe County Commissioners, Mike Fryar made more excellent points than I have the inclination to repeat. One that made headlines was his request that speakers state where they live and how long they’ve been in the county. It seemed like a good idea, as we’ve all been to those meetings where it seems like a busload of x-nicks have arrived to shape public policy at the local level.
After some probing by the local daily, we find several emails from local college kids were behind his prying request:
“I will never support people coming here and two or three years later saying, ‘I want to change this. I really like how we did it in Portland,’” said Fryar, who moved here in 1963.
He said he disagrees with an environmental group involved in the debate. “I’m not going to listen to any group. I don’t care what group it is, I’m listening to the 20,000 people that voted for me,” Fryar said.
He went on to say Wednesday, “I think you ought to be a property owner before you can speak, and you can print it if you want to because I’m tired of them bringing the college students from Warren Wilson into things and they’ve lived here six months.”
Although Fryar’s speech isn’t always precise, the statement of the last sentiment is worth revisiting. No taxation without representation is popular, but is the converse a good idea? We don’t want an aristocracy, but, in spite of denials from outsiders, in my little part of Asheville I see too much entitlement mentality. I see tax consumers with eyes bigger than their tummies and taxpayers with hearts bigger than their bank accounts. How we as a community resolve the issue, of course, will take something bigger than government. As somebody recently brought to my attention:
If government is the answer, somebody asked a stupid question.
