{"id":4432,"date":"2009-04-03T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-03T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/04\/beware-the-fury-of-enraged-citizens\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T05:49:46","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T11:49:46","slug":"beware-the-fury-of-enraged-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/04\/beware-the-fury-of-enraged-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware the fury of enraged citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u00a9 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

It is hard for our local, state and national leaders to understand the fury of enraged citizens. A local politician was startled when I said, \u201cGo against the wishes of the people at your own political risk.\u201d We were discussing the introduction of \u201cred-light cameras\u201d to our city. I predicted that if they were adopted in this faltering economy, no one voting for these cameras would ever be re-elected.<\/p>\n

The cameras were adopted and are now in use. I hope each councilor and the mayor enjoy their remaining days in office, since they will all be defeated because they ignored what their citizens feel is proper.<\/p>\n

Right or wrong, the perception is that the introduction of the cameras was driven entirely by the desire for the revenue<\/a>. I am not saying that is true, but it is the perception of many people. They are enraged citizens who feel they have been betrayed by their leaders.<\/p>\n

Further, citizens are becoming increasingly hostile to the local, state and national notion that the citizens are just \u201cgiving units\u201d to give more and more money in more and more ways. When I was a boy, the police were exalted for their bravery in protecting citizens. Now, they are perceived as tax collectors and bully-boys.<\/p>\n

Football player Ryan Moats was kept from the deathbed of his mother-in-law<\/a> by a Dallas policeman full of himself and his pistol. If Moats had been Joe Schmoo and not a football star, this policeman\u2019s actions would not have been noticed. In my city there have been attempts to get a civilian review board to look at these kinds of actions by our own police members, but the city leaders will not allow it. Maybe they are afraid of what they will find.<\/p>\n

A friend was stopped and ticketed twice in an hour on his way home from out of town for having a faded license plate. The first ticket was accepted without much comment, though a warning would have been more appropriate. He was surprised when, 45 minutes later, he was stopped again and, even though he showed the first ticket, he got a second for the same faded plate. This citizen was mad and observed to the second policeman, \u201cI have always supported the police, but from now on if you are getting your brains beaten out on the side of the road I will not stop to help you. You are nothing but a tax collector.\u201d<\/p>\n

This might be a \u2018summer of rage\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Right or wrong, that is the attitude of many citizens about the multitude of ways our local, state and national government snakes money out of our pockets. Further, there is the feeling by many people that their leaders are not listening to them in any way.<\/p>\n

While it is destined to be misunderstood, there are nationwide \u201ctea parties\u201d<\/a> being held, and more planned for the future. In fact, several will be held in New Mexico on April 15<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nationally, the movement is expanding. A March 24 story in Investor\u2019s Business Daily<\/a> noted, \u201cFive more \u2018tea parties\u2019 took place last weekend to protest runaway congressional spending. Showing up with hand-lettered signs were people not often seen at protests… One of the biggest protests so far drew 15,000 on March 8 in Fullerton, California.\u201d<\/p>\n

This may become a \u201csummer of rage\u201d<\/a> for those who lost so much due to the actions of the government in requiring these sub-prime loans to increase home ownership for minorities, even though many borrowers did not qualify, nor could they repay the loans. Congress did this and is not taking the blame. Right or wrong, this is the view of what happened that is held by citizens in Middle America.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we are just \u201cgiving units\u201d who are supposed to shut up and put up as much money as our leaders require. No, those leaders, living like royalty at our expense, should beware of the fury of enraged citizens.<\/p>\n

Swickard<\/a> is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. It is hard for our local, state and national leaders to understand the fury of enraged citizens. A local politician was startled when I said, \u201cGo against the wishes of the people at your own political risk.\u201d We were discussing the introduction of \u201cred-light cameras\u201d to our city. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swickard-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}