Our Fight With Local Gov Offers a Vital Lesson on Building Wealth

Andy Snyder|March 15, 2021

“Well, there is a lot of gray area in this ordinance,” the government lawyer told us. “But I think the current zoning officer will be lenient.”

That’s when things got serious.

We went to the local zoning meeting last week. The folks in charge wanted to implement a strict new ordinance. They weren’t after us – they like what we’re up to.

Instead, they were going after one specific business. But the collateral damage of such a silly law would have affected us and hundreds of others like us.

What was sad, though, was just two other people showed up at the meeting – the person directly being targeted and her friend.

After the meeting, we’re convinced that 1) every new voter should sit through one of these meetings before ever getting the right to vote and 2) there’d be riots (well, more riots) in the street if they did.

The State Comes First

Without a doubt, this half-cocked ordinance would have passed if we hadn’t spoken up. And if it had, it would have affected generations to come.

It teaches us a vital lesson about government… in all its shapes and sizes.

Government is as selfish as 14-year-old girl with a new Instagram account. It looks at itself in the mirror, twirls its curled hair and ponders what show it can put on next to impress its audience.

In the end, it just does something it will regret in 20 years.

In the case of this wayward measure, just three things mattered to the men with the vote – their liability, the cost of the ordinance and whether or not they’d have to suffer listening to their constituents again if they rejected it.

These public hearings, it turns out, are miserable for decision makers. It puts the spotlight on them and makes them hear from the people… not just the single-minded voice in their heads.

The first time the ordinance was proposed, the commission used a loophole to shut down public comment – never a good sign.

And last week, when it finally came up to a vote, they pleaded to chat in private. They didn’t want us to hear their tactics.

Their lawyer wisely vetoed the idea. “Like it or not,” he said, “the law says we must discuss it in front of the audience.”

Thank God for the freedom fighter who got that law implemented. It ended the discussion and led to the ordinance getting trashed.

What they wanted to discuss was silly – the cost of advertising the proposed new ordinance.

You see, the law says all new proposals must be advertised. It’s not cheap. In this case, they’d already posted the ordinance once. If they rejected it or, dare we say it, made any worthwhile improvements to it, they would have had to pay to advertise it (using our money, mind you) again.

Poor things.

Meanwhile… several businesses would lose big revenue potential and future businesses would never be allowed to start.

But government is selfish. It merely cared about a few grand and its precisely balanced budget. Never mind how the proposed ordinance would be detrimental to voters and how they make their tax dollars.

What a lark.

The System Worked

But as we expect of them, we expect of ourselves. We must give credit where credit is due.

The men in charge opened their minds and changed them. The system that forces them to hear other opinions worked. They listened to our appeal, admitted they hadn’t thought of things that way and pushed the new rules aside.

The system worked.

It’s just as true in our quaint little hamlet as it is – or should be – in the swampy depths of Washington.

Given the headlines of late, it’s a grand and vital reminder of how our system is to work.

Trust in the government has reached fresh lows. A recent poll shows less than 20% of Americans trust our keepers – a sad number given how much their lives now depend on their keepers.

For context, that trust number was nearly 80% in the early 1960s.

At the same time, quite ironically, many outlets are touting politics as the new religion.

Few Americans, it turns out, are willing to stand up and fight for their religious beliefs. But as the TV cameras show… they’ll surely fight for their party and its political beliefs. It’ll even break up a family.

It’s a scary notion… worshipping a beast you don’t trust.

Up to You

But here’s our point in all of this… whether politics are your religion or your curse.

Our system is designed for you to participate. In fact, for it to operate the way it is supposed to, it demands your participation.

Over the next few weeks, we have both a state senator and a representative scheduled to come visit our land and see what we’re doing. We may not agree with their stance on things, but we respect the system and demand the same from them.

Democracy relies on far more than a vote.

It relies on full-on participation. Ignorance is the enemy of democracy and the ally of socialism.

It bothers us greatly that just a few folks came to that oh-so-important meeting last week. Meanwhile, 17 million Americans tuned in to hear a woe-is-me conversation between a billionaire entrepreneur and a royal couple who just want to be regular folks living in their 18,000-square-foot home.

What a lark.

We’ve said it many times before…

Next to your own self-determination, the government is now the biggest factor in your journey to build wealth.

If you’re not involved… if your voice is not heard… you might as well sit back and watch your savings account dwindle.

It is truly that simple.

We fought the law… and the law lost.

It wasn’t hard.

We just had to get off the couch.

Have you gone to battle for your money? Tell us about it at mailbag@manwardpress.com.