Tuesday, June 01, 2010
BS Alert by Brett Narloch
Issue: Economic Development
A recent editorial by the Bismarck Tribune underscores a troubling trend in today's society that policymakers and political pundits simply do not care about the rule of law.
The following is a snippet from the editorial:
Of course, there are those that believe the city shouldn't do economic development, that it's unconstitutional. Well, those horses left the barn a long time ago.
The implication, of course, being that since no one cared enough about the Constitution when certain laws were passed, we should continue to ignore them because... well... it's just a piece of paper.
The North Dakota Constitution is very clear about state government providing grants and loans to private businesses. Article X, Section 18 of the Constitution states:
The state, any county or city may make internal improvements and may engage in any industry, enterprise or business, not prohibited by article XX of the constitution, but neither the state nor any political subdivision thereof shall otherwise loan or give its credit or make donations to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation except for reasonable support of the poor, nor subscribe to or become the owner of capital stock in any association or corporation.
But apparently the Bismarck Tribune believes that since the horses are out of the barn, nothing should be done about it. In other words, governments have been breaking their own laws for so long that the people shouldn't expect them to start following the laws, nor should the people expect the laws to be obeyed.
It's BS to see a newspaper so willing to trash the Constitution. What would the newspaper say if free press provisions were being ignored? Rightfully, they'd quickly start caring.
Luckily, there are people in North Dakota willing to take their fights to the court system. A businessman in Minot recently sued the State of North Dakota over the illegal "economic development" schemes.
And don't forget that the North Dakota Policy Council sued the City of Bismarck on behalf of Curly Haugland over tax increment financing abuses by Bismarck. Click HERE to read more about that lawsuit.
North Dakotans need to put the proverbial horses back in the barn. It's time to ignore those who ignore the Constitution. They are the source of the problem.
A government that disobeys its own laws can only be held accountable by the people waking up to the lawlessness of our political system. Newspapers should take notice that they're causing harm by encouraging lawlessness. That's BS.
After every other provision of the Constitution has been trampled on with their aid... newspapers should also expect that when the government turns on them the government might use the very same logic: those horses left the barn a long time ago.
