Send In The Clowns

The time to make significant corrections to the politics of Iron
County is here. In fact, we are already well behind the times,
because much of the work should already have been achieved.
Unfortunately we don’t appear to have the visionaries capable
of undertaking the task, so it is possible that the only recourse
remaining is the state. The reader sentiments that follow appear
to be pretty much universal for this region, and we think the
reasons in the analysis that follows do a good job of explaining
it.

Some time back a citizen of the Iron County Community took it
on themselves to be critical of this publication because, “Just
curious Bill, If you are so unhappy with Iron County and it's
"Doings". Why do you choose to live in this community? Your
negativity tarnishes the joy that those of us who appreciate Iron
County feel. Remember the old adage, 'If you have nothing nice
to say..... If you are not part of the solution you are part of the
problem. I'll be looking for my opinion to be added to your blog.”

As originator of this publication, I appreciate the sentiment and
the person stating it because it is one more “finger on the pulse”
of the community. There is no right or wrong to deciding what to
publish since we’re all concerned about how local governments
act, why they act that way, and the reaction of the community.
As I’ve written in the past, here and elsewhere, the other
regional publications do an adequate job of presenting positive
images, and in the end, that’s an unstated subtopic of this article.

After I commented, the same person came back and wrote,
“….I am simply a citizen of Iron County who appreciates the
beauty of the area, and all of the wonderful people who make
this a special place to live. I have no political agenda. My point
was, I spent half an hour browsing this blog and found not one
positive thing said about this community. In that half an hour, I
read derogatory posts about the Judge, the school system, the
city manager, the hospital, and the dog catcher to name a small
few. And yes even the way this county celebrates Christmas! I
can agree that change is needed in our county as it is everywhere,
but a negative blog such as this is in no way proactive towards
that goal.”

In 1973, Stephen Soundheim wrote a ballad called “Send In
The Clowns,” which, while about human relationships in the most
intimate context, translates equally well to the overall conditions
in Iron County. The background of the song has to do with when
a show isn’t going well, distract the audience and make them
happy by sending in the clowns. That’s precisely what has been
going on here in Iron County or rather a long time now, to the
point that the local population, as demonstrated in the two
communications above, has a skewed perspective. The locals
have mostly stopped looking beyond the immediate rewards
they receive whenever complaining, while they’ve concurrently
learned to ignore the fact that the underlying problem, the cause
of their complaint, has not been addressed—again!

Richard Bach, in one of his erudite (some of the local anti-
intellectuals consider that a dirty word) books, wrote, “There
is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands.
We seek out the problems because we need their gifts.”

Please note that the first “complaint” above wants to make the
community out to be a place where everyone in the community
feels nothing but joy.

After some small amount of interaction, the same person
complained that the approach that this publication has been
taking isn’t “proactive.” Excuse me? What is it you want then?
Head in the sand, or should we “send in the clowns” yet again?
There’s the crux of all the local issues, and the ineffective
“solutions” that local politicians around the world have been
using for centuries. Alas, it isn’t unique to Iron County, it’s just
that here the local citizenry has bought into the “rewards”
aspect more thoroughly than elsewhere.

When I lived in the south, every time that local minority leadership
started to cause the politicos any problems at all, they were bought
off, usually with a new school bus or some other meaningless
concession. In Chicago, more like the old south than they like to
admit, mayor Richard J. Daley threw things like new buses and
elevated system rolling stock into the fray to make problems go
away temporarily without fixing anything. And so too birth was
given to “Community Concepts,” an entity that met (does it still)
regularly with an agenda to create an event for every month here
in Iron County, Michigan. Perhaps they thought 12 annual rewards
might shut people up permanently?

The first was the “Christmas in Lights” parade with the name
changed by one of our influential secular progressives in the second
and subsequent years. That was followed in short order by the “Rum
Rebellion” that is a celebration of Iron County lawlessness. And with
that, the “send in the clowns” approach by “Community Concepts”
(an organization with no legal existence, BTW) appears to have
ended. Still, a “Disk Golf” course was added at public expense. It
was poorly planned and part of the course is a victim of a subsidence.
Then too, cash was permanently transferred more than once out of
the Iron County Economic Development Corporation’s revolving
loan fund to get a modern sawmill up and running, and to keep it
operating, with no new jobs created in our region.

So where’s the real economic advantage to the public from any
of these, Aren’t they merely all “clown” antics? Here’s one stanza
of Soundheim’s famous song:

“Don't you love farce?
My fault, I fear.
I thought that you'd want what I want...
Sorry, my dear!
And where are the clowns
Send in the clowns
Don't bother, they're here.”

As a child, it goes something like this:

Child-“Dad, I want a pony so I can learn to ride because
that’s my future livelihood.”

Dad-“I can’t afford a pony or the feed and other upkeep.
Here’s a nickel, go see a movie.”

Yes, the immediate gratification reward is much cheaper and it
usually side tracks the request. “I thought that you'd want what
I want...” is any unrequited love or desire, whether for a person
of a thing. We’ve become accustomed to accepting substitutions.
That example is well suited to so many, much more serious,
occasions.

As an example, the reason that minorities in this country started
being successful in their drive for equality was simple enough.
A new generation of leadership refused to accept the substitute
cheap immediate gratification; they ignored the clowns. They
were polite. When the clown act was over, they asked, “Now
where’s that pony?” And they kept it up until, sure enough, a
pony was produced. And then another, and another….

The author of the feedback I published above has spent a
lifetime, along with the rest of this community, being thrilled by
the clowns. The objective of this article, and this publication,  is
to encourage the local populace to put their foot down and
demand, “Now where’s that pony?” Please start insisting that
your demands of government are met. Please start today.

Bill Vajk