Monday, January 25, 2010

Governor

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(Abbr. Gov.) A person who governs, especially:

  1. The chief executive of a state in the United States.
  2. An official appointed to govern a colony or territory.
  3. A member of a governing body.

A feedback device on a machine or engine that is used to provide automatic control, as of speed, pressure, or temperature.

I think that in a sense what is missing from our society is the act of governance, which for the most part is the act of saying “No”.  Most governments at all levels now are more interested in “providing service” than governing.  That is because governing calls for setting hard limits and controlling peoples insatiable wants.  If you are in the business of “providing services”, the consumer of those services becomes the dictator of the arrangement.

In a sense what we are experiencing now is the fallout from regulatory capture.  Where the regulators “provide service” to the regulated.  It is no different than what has happened with the wild growth in counties throughout the country, where planning commissions become pawns to developers.  It happens throughout the country where local governments become nannies to their citizens and the citizens expect that they will be taken care of.

We need governance, and we need to be mature enough to not throw a tantrum when we are told we cannot have something