Citizens Try To Abolish Their City Government!

[Napoleon's Shadow]

Citizens in a local town in Tennessee are trying to ABOLISH their city government!

This is one of the most encouraging stories of free individuals pushing back against tyrannical encroachment since the McMinn County War of 1946 -- look it up! (also known as the Battle of Athens, TN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_%281946%29))

Government in LaVergne, TN recently raised property taxes on their citizens by 100%, raised the water/utility rate by 40%, and also raised the sewage rate by 60%. Is it any wonder their residents want to do away with them? Here is the full story of a peoples' recent struggle against oppressive taxation that is taking place right next door to you: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110630/NEWS/306290120/2275/RSS05



This is an important lesson especially as we celebrate Independence Day. The Declaration of Independence had a central theme, and that is that the right of man shall be to overthrow, abolish, alter, or leave (secede) any government that does not uphold the rights of the individual. In that very spirit, the People of LaVergne, TN are trying to abolish the government which is oppressing them. Each of us should take notice and ask ourselves how we can fight back against big and oppressive government in our own communities?




So ask yourself, what are you doing to help restrain government and further liberty?




For some inspiration here is an image of the Virginia flag with it's slogan "[Death] Thus Always To Tyrants" and very vivid symbolism of such -- http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/virginia/images/state-flag-virginia.jpg


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[flightlesskiwi]

love this! i hope they succeed but it's obvious, by reading the statements in that article, the local PTB will enact a world of financial pain on the citizens of the county if they do manage to un-incorporate. this will stir up rage amongst those who were neutral/negative on the issue. it will be interesting to see where this goes. it's eye-opening to me that the petitioners must raise the money to pay for the special election if they are able to push it to a vote.

[Napoleon's Shadow]

love this! i hope they succeed but it's obvious, by reading the statements in that article, the local PTB will enact a world of financial pain on the citizens of the county if they do manage to un-incorporate. this will stir up rage amongst those who were neutral/negative on the issue. it will be interesting to see where this goes. it's eye-opening to me that the petitioners must raise the money to pay for the special election if they are able to push it to a vote.
Yeah, a ballot initiative is almost NEVER the right way to go about these things. But their heart is in the right place!

[MozoVote]

Apparantly, it has been done before in Lakewood TN. It passed by one vote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakewood,_Tennessee


On August 5, 2010, voters within the city passed a referendum to dissolve the municipal charter and become part of the General Services District Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. The dissolution passed by one vote: 400 to 399.

[cindy25]

but smaller units, with more legislators, are most successful; the NH state house has 400 members, and is surely more functional than the CA state senate.

couldn't just a limit on city/town taxes work better?

[TruckinMike]

La Vergne Mayor Senna Mosley, who is taking the brunt of her constituents’ anti-tax criticism, said the increases are necessary to provide services to her city’s ballooning population.

La Vergne had 32,588 residents as of the 2010 census, a jump of more than 74 percent from 2000.

“The more citizens you have, the more services you have to provide,” Mosley said. “We are the 19th-largest city in Tennessee. I did not make it the 19th largest.”

So the more population you have the higher the TAX rate percentage should be? Hmmm, spoken like a true government employee. I guess those new folks that moved to the city don't live in houses, own property, or buy anything(sales tax).

This is a common theme among cities and counties nation wide --- there is nowhere left to run.

TMike

[speciallyblend]

Yeah, a ballot initiative is almost NEVER the right way to go about these things. But their heart is in the right place!

???????^^^^^^ all i can say is politicians who screw the people are why we have to have ballot initiatives. Colorado Citizens were forced to make medical marijuana legal and amended the Colorado constitution with a ballot initiative because the politicians were useless! ps now citizens are suing the state law makers for violating the colorado constitution and i think they have strong grounds to stand on because citizens acted and delivered!! Wolverines:)

[Napoleon's Shadow]

???????^^^^^^ all i can say is politicians who screw the people are why we have to have ballot initiatives. Colorado Citizens were forced to make medical marijuana legal and amended the Colorado constitution with a ballot initiative because the politicians were useless! ps now citizens are suing the state law makers for violating the colorado constitution and i think they have strong grounds to stand on because citizens acted and delivered!! Wolverines:)
Ballot initiatives, or referendums, are typically not a good idea for both strategic and philosophical reasons.

1- Philosophically, we don't live in a democracy, and we don't want to either. We don't want our neighbors making decisions for us any more than we want the government making decisions for us.

2- Strategically, ballot items are often written in the inverse thus there is often times mass confusion on which way to vote if you support the issue (or are opposed to it). And if you happen to lose the issue on the main ballot, it becomes THAT much harder to get the legislature to do it after the fact because they will simply say "well the people spoke and they decided x".

[thehungarian]

I had not known that about McMinn County. Very cool.