Opinion: complacency bad for the Republic


For those of you who have not read Mr. Lewis Edwards’ excellent Letter to the Editor in Sunday’s Daily Dispatch, we strongly recommend it. It’s worth a look.

We do not mean by recommending this letter to disparage the Dispatch. If any sins against the great gods of journalism have been committed, then surely we are just as guilty as any other Henderson media.

In fact, having covered many meetings with Dispatch reporters, we have witnessed on one occasion a reporter contact the North Carolina Press Association when he thought a meeting was illegally closed.

First, let us give credit where credit is due. Of all of the governing bodies in Vance County, the City of Henderson is certainly the most media-friendly. We are informed in a timely fashion as to all meetings, we are copied paperwork, emails, recordings, and pretty much anything else we ask for promptly and without question, except for those things which the law forbids dispensing, like personnel records, iinformation pertaining to property acquisitions, attorney/client privilege, and the like.

The only real beef we have is that the bulk of the committee meetings are held while working people are off earning the money that is the lifeblood of goverance. Being among those people, we feel somewhat excluded. However, since we have a vested interest in the matter, our complaints can only take us so far. A lone reporter swinging two jobs can hardly claim to be the voice of the people in this situation.

The Vance County Board of Education has been similarly forthcoming. We get an email each month telling us when the committees meet and a press packet before each meeting summarizing the actions of those committees. Of course, those meetings are also held during working hours.

Hmm. Should we save all of our questions about local government for when we retire?

Then there’s Vance County Government. They have committees, we’re pretty sure, because they refer issues to them at every meeting. We don’t know who’s on them or when or where they meet. They don’t put reports in the press packet for the monthly meetings. It’s all kind of a mystery.

Why don’t we know?

Well, like Ma always said, first you have to ask…

And that brings us back to Mr. Edwards’ point. We have been complacent. Many of us take what we’re given and convince ourselves that it’s enough, that we know what’s going on, and how bad can it possibly be, anyway? There’s a chicken in the pot and we’re getting a paycheck, so let government do what it’s going to do, because we’re all going to get screwed anyway, right?

Wrong.

Mr. Edwards, you are right. It is the media’s job to push until it gives. To get answers. To peer into the corners and see if anything is moldering there. We have become complacent as a people, we have ceased to question, and we seriously doubt that the Founding Fathers would approve.