As I write this, a giant pink pig is supposed to be making its way up Interstate 81, headed to the Luzerne County Courthouse where a protest rally against government gluttony is scheduled for later in the day.
Busloads of irate citizens are set to descend on the building to make known their concerns about the embarrassing lack of public accountability that regularly takes place there by one elected and appointed official after another.
The huge inflatable pig is a symbol of all that’s wrong with what nowadays passes for public service.
Real pigs are wonderful creatures. Real pigs are more trustworthy than most public officials. Real pigs make too many politicians look like the true swine in the selfish slop in which they wallow.
The people are long overdue in their rebellion.
From Capitol Hill in Harrisburg, to Luzerne and Lackawanna counties to Washington, D.C., elected and appointed officials are losing what little public support they have. People have become frustrated with a glaring lack of real concern displayed by these people who draw salaries and benefits from public funds only to grab more and more whenever they get the chance.
Luzerne County officials’ misuse of public funds resulted in a Secret Service investigation that should soon be wrapping up. An FBI investigation also is proceeding, and insiders have whispered rumors of indictments for more than a year.
Federal prosecutors are currently preparing to go to court in the case of a man with long-standing political connections who is charged with allegedly misusing Lackawanna County funds.
And another Lackawanna County businessman who has made many political contributions over the years to some of the state’s highest-ranking officials is charged with felonies for allegedly lying about mob ties when he was applying for the state’s first gambling casino license, which he received.
Now we hear about Lackawanna County school board directors and a high school principal who charged tens of thousands of dollars in hotel rooms for themselves and family members, lobster and steak dinners, wine and other personal expenses while they were in Florida attending a conference that presumably would benefit taxpayers and their children.
Our little corner of the democracy is in big trouble.
But we can and are doing something about it.
In many cases, the increasing public criticism is a first. For decades people refused to complain or speak out for fear of retribution, a very real threat that’s still wielded today. Family and friends are targets of payback that reaches deep into the social fabric of our lives. People know that the forces of darkness can indeed get you, and sometimes they do.
But strength exists in numbers.
Power also lives in the increasing number of state and local lawmakers who are willing to break from the tightly controlled past and strike out on a reformist plank.
Sadly, most state and local lawmakers still play voters for suckers.
And that’s worth talking about. That’s also why WILK News Radio exists. We’re social critics who watch and listen and issue calls to action. We’re community rebels who incite thinking among the peasants who must storm the barricades every now and then.
That’s why one of the first moves that dictators make when the revolution comes to town is to shut down the radio stations where commentators challenge government.
WILK talk show hosts from morning to night have talked openly and at length about every example I have mentioned to corroborate our regional state of emergency. We also take on statewide and national issues that always have a local impact.
The number of local war dead stand as mute testament to the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The importance of Northeastern Pennsylvania in the upcoming presidential election also makes the case for speaking out.
That’s why voting still remains the single most impressive and focused act of rebellion that individuals in a community can take to express their ire at the status quo and the agents of mediocrity.
Voter registration still matters and drives must be engaged in with the enthusiasm of a fundraiser for a particularly worthy cause. Getting out the vote is a singular act of defiance that can get you killed in some countries.
In the United States, though, apathy regularly kills the drive for better government.
So register. Vote. Agitate publicly on behalf of making a better place for everyone. Then squeal your delight that you are part of taking on the system the way we’re supposed to take on the system.
Rush Limbaugh
