Same old boys year after year

Mark Twain once famously said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it ..."

The same goes for politics and local elections, except there IS something you can do about it - get off your duff and run!

In most small towns, the "natives" or "townies" usually run things because of their family and social ties, as well the property and businesses they own. In a town like Mount Pleasant, the local "old boys" gang is especially tight-knit. Over the years Texas has seen a lot of move-ins, either from north of the Red River - the Sun Belt migration - or from south of the Rio Grande - the expanding Hispanic population.

Mount Pleasant has been hit with a double whammy - we have both kinds of newcomers. The result is that a very small fraction of Mount Pleasant's residents run things -probably no more than 25 percent, if you take into account that half the city's population is Hispanic, and there's probably at least 25 percent of the population born elsewhere in Texas and the U.S.

The result is that the ruling clique is badly socially inbred and has no appreciation of other's people feelings and needs. There is even a local acronym, BIMP (Born in Mount Pleasant).

There are no Hispanics on either the city council or the school board, and very few non-Titus County natives. The few office holders who weren't born here married Titus County natives.

So you have three-quarters of the city's population paying taxes and having essentially no voice on how their money is used.

When the tax base was plump and everyone was fat, dumb and happy with money pouring in from gigantic taxpayers such as Luminant and Pilgrim's, nobody cared. There was enough gravy for everyone.

But now that the gravy train has derailed, instead of listening to the taxpayers and tightening their belts, local leaders have been pretty much going along as usual, or getting even more hateful than usual.

The school district, which is a classic example of a BIMP full employment racket, has a budget so screwed up they had to drop the homestead exemption for property taxes. Everyone's taxes are shooting up to pay for for the board members' patronage and nepotism.

Commissioner Al Riddle has consistently worked as a fiscal watch dog at the county level; all he's gotten is insults, disrespect, and all the county employee and their family members working against him as he campaigns for re-election.

Riddle and the other candidates running in the March 1st Republican primary are in the thick of their campaigns, but we want to remind you that later, in May, there will be the elections for the school board and city council.

There are signs that the complacency and apathy that has so often accompanied their elections is lifting. In the case of the city council, one incumbent may be retiring and two new people have already filed for that seat. A second incumbent has already drawn a challenger.

The school district, which is the biggest gravy train for the BIMP full employment racket, has the two worst old boys up for election this year, Buddy Blue and Ezeal McGill. Neither of them knows anything about the hard times that face the average Mount Pleasant taxpayer. They've lived off the government all their lives.

The deadline for sign-ups for both the city council and school board is Feb. 19. Stop complaining and get out there and run, so the citizens have candidates they can vote for, instead and returning the same tired old old boys year after year.