Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine, is a tiny hamlet by the sea that treasures its old fashioned ways, and tidy small town lifestyle. It may be filled with liberals, but it looks like a Norman Rockwell cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
It seems all American enough, with its Mayberrylike facade of barbershops, diners and public spaces that would look fine in any Frank Capra film. It is, unfortunately, presided over by totalitarians who believe in the power of government to control the people and the property of their lovely town in order to keep that small town look, by strict Stalinist-like standards, if necessary.
Ogunquit is the latest town nationwide to consider a law over so-called "formula" businesses. From Maine to California, more than a dozen municipalities now have laws that ban or restrict chain restaurants, motels, retailers and other establishments. In other words this town is a rotten apple. It looks just fine on the outside, with it's artists studios, genteel antique shops, bed and breakfasts and other goodies that would make any 1950's phile drool. On the inside, however, it has the heart of a Peyton Place, where any deviation from the accepted norm is verbotten.
No MacDonald's, K-Mart, Wendy's, or any of the other establishment that scream "America"! Instead, by force of law, Ogunquit wants to limit the right of the people to use their property as they see fit, unless it conforms with "small town Americanism". And that's funny. Because what Ogunquit proposes is the opposite of what small townism and that movement to retain or restore it, is all about.
There is more than one way to vote. And the wonder of capitalism (one of its wonders) is the ability of the people to vote with their feet, pocketbooks, loud voices and what not. And capitalism, unlike any other system, "remembers" that the right of the individual is not one speck smaller than the so-called rights of the majority.
So if Ogunquit wants to keep its lily white sheen of a small town intact by removing the rights of the people and their derivative rights of property, I guess they can.
Just rename it Ogunquit, North Korea. (That would have been Russia in the old days, but they're not many communist countries left these days).
Joe Postove
It seems all American enough, with its Mayberrylike facade of barbershops, diners and public spaces that would look fine in any Frank Capra film. It is, unfortunately, presided over by totalitarians who believe in the power of government to control the people and the property of their lovely town in order to keep that small town look, by strict Stalinist-like standards, if necessary.
Ogunquit is the latest town nationwide to consider a law over so-called "formula" businesses. From Maine to California, more than a dozen municipalities now have laws that ban or restrict chain restaurants, motels, retailers and other establishments. In other words this town is a rotten apple. It looks just fine on the outside, with it's artists studios, genteel antique shops, bed and breakfasts and other goodies that would make any 1950's phile drool. On the inside, however, it has the heart of a Peyton Place, where any deviation from the accepted norm is verbotten.
No MacDonald's, K-Mart, Wendy's, or any of the other establishment that scream "America"! Instead, by force of law, Ogunquit wants to limit the right of the people to use their property as they see fit, unless it conforms with "small town Americanism". And that's funny. Because what Ogunquit proposes is the opposite of what small townism and that movement to retain or restore it, is all about.
There is more than one way to vote. And the wonder of capitalism (one of its wonders) is the ability of the people to vote with their feet, pocketbooks, loud voices and what not. And capitalism, unlike any other system, "remembers" that the right of the individual is not one speck smaller than the so-called rights of the majority.
So if Ogunquit wants to keep its lily white sheen of a small town intact by removing the rights of the people and their derivative rights of property, I guess they can.
Just rename it Ogunquit, North Korea. (That would have been Russia in the old days, but they're not many communist countries left these days).
Joe Postove
posted by Mr. Liberty at 1:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home