Ask not what your country can do for you?

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” we have come a long way baby from a time when a statement like this would resonate with Americans. Now it’s ask not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for you. I think John Kennedy would be shocked at what has happened to his party and to America. On Wednesday night there was an open meeting for the Rio Nuevo project. They wanted input on the proposed new hotel that would be funded and owned by the city of Tucson. A friend of mine attended the meeting and told me that there were many service union workers there with signs that said JOBS. Now jobs are something all of us can get behind. The rallying cry for the Arizona Small Business Association is jobs. ASBA is focused on advocating for small business so that they can get through the red tape of government so that they can create jobs. It is far better for the private sector to create jobs than it is for the government. Not to mention that after the taxpayers pour hundreds of millions of dollars into building this new hotel they will have to fund the shortfalls. A similar project was built in Chicago and had a 5.7 million dollar shortfall this past year. My friend talked to one of the union members after the meeting and asked him if it bothered him that the money for this project is coming from the tax payers. He smiled and said “I don’t pay much taxes!” It reminds me of this statement that is oft quoted today:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can
only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse
from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always
votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public
treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose
fiscal policy, and is always followed by a dictatorship

This has been attributed to Alex DeToqueville, but it may have been originally made by a Scotsman named Alexander Tytler. No matter, I think that it is a true statement and worthy of our attention today. It would be a good idea to have 1000 rooms downtown and a revived convention center if it makes financial sense. The smartest thing the city could do is offer incentives for a developer to do it and then get out of the way. But, that could be difficult since that actually makes sense.