PUBLISHER'S NOTEBOOK & MAILBAG REPLIES                                       - - what's WRONG and what's RIGHT with the U.S.A.!              copyright (c) BEJO 2011

Today's news reporting how towns and boroughs have been trying to annex surrounding county areas reminds me of a rather similar idea  by one of our editors  -- an article that I turned down as being too much "off-the-wall" and "not timely"!

While having my second cup of coffee, late this morning, I tried to remember the details of what I will call:

"Searching for a way to Save Taxpayer Money while improving Government Efficiency!" 

The entire subject brings to mind when -- shortly after leaving my teaching job -- many school boards began to merge into larger AREA and REGIONAL High Schools. Proponents of these mergers insisted that all school districts that would participate would save money because of what was called " the Economies of Scale!"

The Public meetings held to explain the idea of "consolidation" created some very difficult weeks for my friends who were members of the merging school boards! But - in time - brand new, big schools out in the countryside soon grew into impressive-looking campuses looking very much like colleges!

As I recall, within ten years, the promises of "Economies of Scale" were forgotten and every department had its own Supervisor/Manager and what was said to be adequate space for the next fifty years became a crowded, inefficient physical plant. The School Tax burden was appropriately "out-of-sight", too. Oh, yes, instead of having one Principal, the large consolidations required more and more people to control the Boomer kids who were in training for the 1960s Anti-Establishment Riots!

Now, I will tell you the editorial I turned down because it seemed to be ill-timed!

Given the Federal and State governments plunge toward "clear and imminent bankruptcy", the article declared that the fifty States in the Union would be reorganized into a system of eleven Regions! The Regions would send Representatives to the Regional Caucus and a much smaller number of Representatives would be members of the Federal House of Representatives. The number of Senators in The Congress would remain 2. But the Senators would be elected by the Regional Caucus. Tenure would be limited to an unspecified number of years to be decided by the Regional Caucus!

Reliable estimates on the actual time spent by Reps and Senators in Washington ON THE PEOPLES BUSINESS will permit a change to a mandatory six months for a Congressional Session! (Think of the savings in Transportation Costs, all sorts of expenses paid out during the time members of Congress are "in town"!

What are they doing the other six months of the year? I am glad you asked! They are engaged in "politicking" and "socializing" all of which Taxpayers are supporting! -- like it or not! The new system of Regions will address a number of developments wherein efficiency and work product have become increasingly expensive due to members who cannot read new bills and are generally not contributing much to the forward thrust of government!

Well, friends, that is the kernel of the Idea on Regionalization of the USA!

Obviously, there's a lot of nitty-gritty involved in such a change. But it is the only way that we can stop the continued pressure to move all authority and action to Washington, DC which makes it easier for a political faction or enemy to take over the entire system in one fell-swoop!. In this system, the Regions have a positive role to control Illegal Immigration! Regions will also have a vote to approve and renew licensing of TV and Radio stations located in their areas! Better yet, this idea will give every Senator and every House member an adequate opportunity to get acquainted with his or her constituents back home! Savings would cut 45% of the current Federal expense!

Was I right in rejecting that Op-Ed piece? It did have some merit in that it wisely understood that our plunge toward a huge, expensive, European-like Socialist Government in the District of Columbia could be stopped! It could also stop our drift toward secessions by Big Cities & States who no longer respect or trust Washington!

-- CSF   (Nov. 28, 2011)