re: The failure of Libertarian "paradise" Colorado Springs

i remember when they did those cuts, they removed trash cans from parks. So people just left piles of trash in parks. Good times.

All the article does is show that when govt wants money and the people don't give them money the govt figures out a way to screw them.

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Take the streetlights. Turning them off had saved the city about $1.25 million. What had not made the national news stories was what had happened while those lights were off. Copper thieves, emboldened by the opportunity to work without fear of electrocution, had worked overtime scavenging wire.

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We don't have street lights where I live. There are no thieves. We've got lots of guns. If you want to do something at night we put up our own pole at our own expense. Zach doesn't have a light pole in his yard. Zach likes the dark. So do all my wild critters.

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seriously i want OP to come back and explain how this is a "Libertarian" example

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This. There is almost zero Libertarianism on display regarding anything in this story.

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now is this an example of how government actors can create a failed system and fight to the death to prevent change? yes

is this an example of intra-governmental conflict? yes

i mean the fricking major cuts in spending were made BEFORE the "Libertarian" mayor was even elected

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All of this.

It seems like they may have been a little overzealous in their cuts.

So many times local and state governments run into problems by spending based on the revenue highwater mark. When the economy is sizzling and revenue is rolling in, politicians are incapable of exercising restraint and commit to budgets on the assumption that the revenue will always roll in at the current levels.

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the people who look bad in this article are the government actors. they come off as pure titty babies it's hilarious that more leftist posters in this thread are promoting their "Expertise" or wahtever

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Well gee, when you call people idiots and incompetent I wonder why they don't want to work with you.

Dealing with people is a part of the job description. Don't take the job if you can't handle their response to your rhetoric.

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when you call people idiots and incompetent I wonder why they don't want to work with you.

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if they don't want to work with the leader, then they should resign and find new employment

i don't believe they should be indentured servants to their executive, but if the vision of the government doesn't mesh with their own AND they can't operate in the new paradigm, they should just resign. at that point they're nothing more than bureaucrats and it isn't their job to create policy anymore

if you want a good example of this, just look at Sally Yates. her employer/manager wanted her to do something she completely disagreed with. what did she do? resign

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Dealing with people is a part of the job description.

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not in the role they created after the former government failed the city

you keep forgetting this: the people who drove the city into the ground and had to turn off street lights and remove trash cans from parks are the ones who were fighting the change. at what point is their alleged political capital seen for what it is (worthless and/or harmful)?

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He said "Hope and change" and people ate it up.

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I seem to recall in the 2004 campaign that Lurch Kerry would repeatedly say, "I have a plan" during speeches and debates.

Pissed me off, thinking, "Well, if so ... SPIT IT OUT, YOU GOOFY frickER!...ta-ta-ta-TO-DAY, JUNIOR!"

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No, the lesson you should learn is that democracy is hard. It takes knowledge and experts, not political novices who say everything is easy to fix.

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Voters have no incentive to be fully informed in democratic politics. It is impossible to have a well-rounded, educated, and informed electorate capabale of making good decisions by the ballot box.

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now is this an example of how government actors can create a failed system and fight to the death to prevent change? yes

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I did enjoy how even the article admitted that some of what the government did in response to not getting its tax increase was petulant.

I'm reminded of when I lived in Tampa and a half cent sales tax increase was rejected.

The city had just approved a massive expenditure to build this area called Harbor Island.

But, when the sales tax failed, the city Furloughed police officers and sent notes home to parents to send printer paper to the schools since the schools couldn't afford printer paper.

Government fricking sucks.

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Catholic monarchy is clearly the only path forward.

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I am afraid that American culture, religious background, and political sentiment remove any possibility of monarchy like what we saw in pre-revolutions Europe. I'm not sure that any kind of absolutism is possible, except after balkanization.