Sunday, September 13, 2009

Stupidity (Part 1)

Looking at the idea of a Mayor in Pueblo.

One of my favorite citations is….

Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can’t it get us out?

I think a lot upon ‘stupidity’. I come across it nearly every day on the web. And when you encounter it THAT much, there’s plenty of it to go around. I encounter it so often I’ve developed what I call a ‘working definition’ of how to recognize it when I see it. Here it is….

Stupid, adj., Ignorant and proud of it.

The point here being that I consider stupid behavior in people as when they are ignorant of facts and are so proud of their ignorance that they refuse to examine a situation or proposal with an open mind, i.e., gathering all the important facts on the matter, before making a decision. And/or unable to relate the facts to the situation or proposal in a logical manner.

Case in point….

At the public forum on the proposed health care reform, I asked one of the supporters of HR 3200 if they’d even READ the legislation. To which they replied, “I don’t care.”

Got that? They don’t care enough about the matter to take the time necessary to read the legislation that will impact them, their parents and their possible children.

Classic ‘stupid’, by my definition.

So….

....we’re looking at the idea of changing the City Charter. It isn’t the first time we looked at doing that vis-a-vis a mayor. Won’t be the last.

What does this have to do with ‘stupid’?

Well…..

....I’m trying NOT to be ‘stupid’ and asking various parties in this discussion to show me the ‘advantages’ and ‘disadvantages’ of their proposals.

On the one hand we’ve got the CALM group with their proposal for a ‘strong mayor’.

On the other hand, we’ve got the City Council appointed Blue Ribbon Panel and their proposal for a ‘weak mayor’.

On the THIRD hand, we have today’s editorial in the Chieftain and it’s support of the ‘status quo’.

NONE of these have provided, as far as I can tell, a compare and contrast evaluation of the ‘advantages’ and ‘disadvantages’ of each of the three options.

With out this sort of information, we’re looking at another GREAT OPPORTUNITY to do something truly ‘stupid’.