A Dispatch (6-9-15) article concerned issues of direction of the Brainerd City Council. It's an excellent illustration of a problem I've seen occurring in our county commissioners government, and all the way up the government line. I've seen it occur in clubs and organizations I've been part of.
There are those who want to "privatize" the functions of government in order to make more money for themselves. They proclaim, "Government should be run like a business." But situations like the Brainerd council (and many others) shows exactly why this isn't a good idea.
Businesses are dictatorships. Our government is a democracy, or republic.
Businessmen often make the poorest government leaders.
In a business, a direction for the business is chosen, and a person is picked to lead the business in that direction (or a person starts his own business in that model). The other employees are there to aid the leader in moving the business in that direction. They need to all pull in that direction, whether they like it or not, whether they agree or not.
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Democratic government is just the opposite. Each person has a right to go in their own direction. The goal is to compromise or reach consensus in whatever ways necessary to meet the most goals as possible, for the most people
Good business leaders often make poor governmental leaders, unless they relinquish the reins of control. A good government "leader" doesn't try to control. His/her function is to assure the orderly operation and cooperation of others in the group. A government leader doesn't impose his own views or will on the group, that's the job of the group - to find the most common ground of all it's members.
Government should not be "run like a business," unless the object is a dictatorship.
A. Martin
Merrifield
