CONCLUSION
The conclusion seems inescapable: regardless of the “ism”; “Cornithaca County” is marching steadily towards an all-encompassing dictatorship. A secular theocracy.
In putting together the material for this book; I followed two threads that fully support this conclusion: one was to try to build a strong circumstantial case by showing that many facts that all point in one direction; the other was to use the beliefs expressed by our most revered humanitarian figures as a touchstone for the policies and politics of Cornithaca County.
This book eschews the Emperor’s New Clothes fear of “unworthiness,” and removes the thrones and pedestals from the stage; leaving people and policies in a human scale, and visible for what they are; not what they pretend to be.
Among the tangle of deals and dictates; here are a few of the points that stood out particularly to me:
The gifts of privileged policies and money to corporations and private interests because they are “so important” – since when did the importance of private interests outweigh the rights of the people?
That legal loopholes were used to minimize, or even eliminate, any meaningful citizen participation in government and government policy making. All policy was generated and approved by government authorities – there was no public debate, or right of questioning, and no approval of policy by citizens.
Residents have already adopted an oppressed behavior: conforming and keeping quiet out of fear. [A number of rural residents firmly believe I was sprayed with Roundup to teach me a lesson.]
The elitist powerbase is assured by a large student population that is “represented”; but not involved. Their “four-year-memory” and ignorance of the county’s residents make them the perfect stooges for the University’s corporate agenda. The “County’s” most recent redistricting, looks like a diagram from Gerrymandering 101; and a new redistricting is planned.
There is no ethical foundation for environmental policy making. It’s routine for corporate polluters to do the environmental impact studies and be given the oversight of their own polluting activities. Agricultural interests control the various committees that absolve them from any accountability or penalty for toxic spills and polluted wells. The “fox guarding the henhouse” is the quid pro quo of Cornithaca County. [The NYSDEC is as sympathetic to the plight of these large corporations and agricultural interests; as they were uncaring about mine.]
Form Based Codes that give unprecedented power to government authorities for deciding how and where everybody should live; and in a county where there is no oversight or meaningful citizen participation . . .
“Take your breath away” bigotry: it’s still hard to believe that the lead writer of a government policy would express the opinion that rural residents did not deserve to live on the land they had lived on for over 200 years; and create a policy that excluded them from any participation or benefit. And maybe harder to believe that County government would approve and promote this plan and this viewpoint. In the County’s most recent Comprehensive Plan “vision of the future”; today’s rural community no longer exists. There is no door open to for rural residents except the door that leads out of the county. Ithaca’s power elite covet their land, and want the rural people gone; and they’re making it happen.
This book is not a “call to action” for Cornithaca County. It’s too late for that. It’s a cautionary tale for other “counties” in other places. What’s happening where you live?
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“The conclusion seems inescapable: regardless of the “ism”; “Cornithaca County” is marching steadily towards an all-encompassing dictatorship. A secular theocracy.”
Four years of hate and manipulation are cresting in a toxic tsunami: whether through voting or violence — soon we’ll all be living in “Cornithaca County”:
A government where an intransigent and dismissive; “greater good,” is the only response to protests of overtly repressive policies. A government whose marching banner of “justice” invariably covers up oppression, bigotry, and corruption. A government that can just refuse to enforce laws whenever they choose. A government of Doctrine.
“A word to the wise is sufficient.”
But wisdom is “old school” — and Doctrine is everything.