Reeks of entitlement - I view this as...

A Response

1. Reeks of entitlement - I view this as another childish and immature attempt to get something you have not worked to achieve.  Joe Blows Martin's self indulged rant induced statement may seem logical, when bolstered by his circle of "like-minded, Star Wars conference attending, high-school drop out celebrity activist supporting, self absorbed, master thespian, wiki educated intellectual giants" he calls friends.  I contend, however, if Mr. Martin were to get his wish, and all the 20 year tenured employees (and all of their experience and understanding) were cleared out in one fell swoop, that all the untested, underachieving, unproven, self-promoting gimmes that are left would be so overwhelmed by the lack of recognition involved in the necessity of even the most menial tasks, mutiny would ensue.  I agree with Mr. Martin that in his "clear out" scenario innovation would abound.  After all, when you have little or no understanding of how things have operated before you were magically installed, innovation or better stated, invention is all that is left.  Can the city survive while waiting for Mr. Martin and his fellow uninformed co-workers to trudge through the arduous process of inventing effective processes?  I think not.  Can the city survive without the same old "push my own" agenda that Mr. Martin distrusts from others, yet gladly employs for himself and any other newby he deems young enough to stay?  I think so.

2. Our city council, however flawed in Mr. Martin's view, is organized the same in thousands of cities all over the nation.  How do you "overhaul' something that has its origin in the organization our free republic from its infancy.  Sadly, Mr. Martin gives no mention to how he might accomplish this task either.  He makes it clear that he feels it is necessary, but instead of enlightening us with a well thought out, insightful, and maybe even innovative solution, he employs the same fantasy he used in his "clear out" scenario.  He mentions the Obama Health Plan and says "no one has really stated what that is".  Possibly, Mr. Martin is only ignorant of the fact that the ultimate responsibility for understanding things such as the Obama Health Care lies on the US citizen.  Information on this reform bill is EVERYWHERE!  It is not our city council's responsibility to educate him or read the 1017 pages of the Obama Health Care plan before voting on it.  After all it is, just like Mr. Martin, the responsibility of each of the city council members, as US citizens, to be informed before they vote.

Government is made up of officials that we put there.  Mr. Martin should know that we as citizens have the duty and opportunity to employ or de-employ a government official through our well informed and educated votes.  He says "I challenge each of you to check it out".  I believe his intent is to say "if you looked at this you would see things like I do."  I can only hope that Mr. Martin would take the next step and vote his convictions.  Otherwise, this is where Mr. Martin's fantasy again takes flight.  He looks for others to swoop in and change whatever is necessary to make things "right for him".

3. While infrastructure can be a great means of sharing resources, it can just as easily consume an afternoon wasted among techies discussing every fantastic way technology can make our life better, and how lamely backwoods every one alive remains for not blindly accepting everything touted as "integrated technology."  Technology is hardly the magic bullet Mr. Martin seems to imply.  The "in-department spending" he describes doesn't change or automatically vanish with integrated infrastructure.  These are systemic changes that are governed by policy and policy makers, not technology geeks.  Mr. Martin mentions another of his culprits: circa 70's Data Processing, yet again fails to describe how he deems them 70's technology.  I certainly am not sure, but I get the impression from Mr. Martin's fantasy-based rant that he would not be old enough to be an authority on 70's technology, nor 80's, if I am correct.  So what would a person his age be an authority at doing?  ...balancing the city's budget using fiscally responsible practices?  ...increasing the city's revenue by attracting highly profitable small businesses?  ...lowering the city's unemployment by providing tax breaks to industries capable of employing and training thousands?  I'm thinking none of the above.  More likely, he would be an authority at searching the internet for freebies or means of gaining grants (free money) from an overbloated liberal government which embodies what Mr. Martin's generation is all about.  I use the word again - entitlement.

4. This one truly makes me laugh.  If Mr. Martin had any experience, valuable to operating city government, he might understand that the city is no different than our own lives.  We have many different areas of need and expense, which we monthly budget to purchase.  If we do not have the income to cover a need this month, we pull money budgeted for a "less important expense" to cover our need.  I expect Mr. Martin works in a department deemed less important than others that may be more crucial to the operation of the city.  So are we hearing valid arguments or just "sour grapes"?  I expect Mr. Martin has always been given what he wants and has been given more than he's ever earned.  He likely has little understanding of needs vs. wants.  Self-indulgent inepts commonly buy impulsively and use credit to cover thoughtless and selfish purchases which they deem needs instead of the luxuries they truly are.  Often they have poor overextended credit because they have failed to pay for what they owe... a concept never learned when someone else always steps in to fix their problems and allow them to go off and make the same mistakes again without concern for the lesson learned.  Yet he wants to curb uncontrollable spending.  Its more likely Mr. Martin want to be afforded "the right" to spend great sums of tax payer's money on ill-conceived and selfish purchases things he deems needs instead of the luxuries they truly are.  "I want mine!"

Hate West Memphis?  No, I do not think he hates it.  I think he sees it as a means to an end.  A way to get something for nothing.  I believe that, since Mr. Martin's life has obviously been filled with so much fantasy, he expects our city and its government to operate the same way.  He wants someone else to clear the ladder for him because he is obviously too untalented to develop any truly innovative solutions to his own daily tasks that might actually gain him recognition and reward in the normal vein of business promotion.

Happy New Year Mr. Martin.  Don't get me started...

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