New Albany's debilitating dysfunction & Pogo's famous axiom

It all seems so quintessentially New Albanian.

Verily, to live in New Albany is to intuitively grasp the existential condition best illustrated by the late philosopher (and sometimes cartoonist) Charles M. Schultz.

You recall the scene.

Charlie Brown eyes the crossbars and runs to kick the football, only to be denied his chance when Lucy pulls it away, leaving him lying on the ground, humiliated but with sufficient self-knowledge to understand that he is doomed to repeat the process over and over and over.

This recurring, quasi-Sisyphusian saga is New Albany’s dominant civic motif.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that $2 million is borrowed during a previous mayoral administration, the transaction promptly forgotten as though it were a scribbled phone number on a cocktail napkin, then allowed to lie unexamined like a booby-trapped land mine until uncovered by an outside auditor, necessitating immediate and painful budgetary revisions, offering an opportunity for small-pond politicians at all levels to play politics, and leaving those few New Albanians who give a damn about any of it lying on their backs in the dust, staring at the sun, asking of no one in particular …

What is the nature of the “disease” that grips New Albany?

Is there a cure for it?*

NA Confidential proposes that we undertake to measure the suitability of our elected public officials, both those serving now and the ones certain to bob to the surface during future election campaigns, by their willingness to acknowledge these two questions and their ability to offer answers.

Furthermore, we suggest that this examination not be restricted to elected officials. Rather, it must extend to those unofficial power elites that sometimes can be seen aiding and abetting our collective New Albanian dysfunction.

Most importantly, as citizens and voters, we must recognize that this process will be incomplete if not accompanied by a concurrent willingness to point the mirror toward ourselves as well as in the direction of our “leaders.”

Assigning blame isn’t the point so much as diagnosing the problem and working toward a solution.

Make no mistake: In the wake of this latest epic fiscal fiasco, the urgent need for accountability has taken on renewed significance.

Don’t forget the public forum scheduled for March 2 at Destinations Booksellers. It should be a good place to initiate a process that may eventually help New Albany to get well.

That's because we’ve been unhealthy for far too long.

Mayor: New Albany faces tough decisions; Budget cut may delay some plans, by Ben Zion Hershberg

* Join Volunteer Hoosier for thoughtful discussions of current events in New Albany