As a reporter and concerned citizen, I was hoping to walk away with a clear sense of the best way to handle what has turned into a civic controversy. Instead, a well-known reality of Politics 101 in the year 2001 came home to roost — old people rule.

For the next several decades, people who are nearing the end of their working lives and those already retired will dominate the electorate. Whether this fact is good or bad is a valid question to ask. The answer, however, is as elusive as trying to map out an individual’s value system in a readable, easy-to-use guidebook — in other words, it’s nearly impossible. Perhaps more relevant is trying to look at where this reality may lead us and whether that future is appealing.

I don’t know Tim LaBelle, but he was concerned enough about what kind of justice center and jail Haywood County will build that he went to the public hearing last week at the Main Street courthouse in which I had hoped to be edified. He drug himself up to the microphone and argued for a smaller, more economical, less taxing building.

Then he also asked those present to look around the room and see just how many “younger” people were in the audience. Younger is a relative term, but I guessed LaBelle to be in his 30s, early 40s at the oldest. I swiveled my 41-year-old body around in my seat and gazed at the crowd. Of the 150 to 175 people attending, 95 percent were over 55. I don’t know if there were any 20-year-olds (other than a couple of reporters) and there was just a smattering of people in their 30s, another handful in their 40s. In reality, it looked to me like probably 90 percent were in their 60s. And this was a night meeting, held specifically at 7 p.m. so the working public could attend.

The inattention to local civic life by people younger than 50 is profound. Many of them do get interested in statewide governor's races and national debates over who will be president or the morality of stem cell research, but ask them about the local county commission or school board and they stare back blankly. Go to one of the public meetings of these bodies and the truth stares back at you from behind the wise eyes of the senior citizen set.

In many ways, there is some comfort in knowing that rash heads are not making our local decisions, that experienced (ie, elderly) leaders and civic-minded, experienced (ie, elderly) citizens are shaping policy.
But there are also some fundamental differences in values, I think. I believe that people in their 20s, 30s and 40s might be willing to invest more in their schools. Ask a group of people thinking about having children or who already have young children if they would pay more in taxes to make their school system the most technologically advanced in the state or to immerse elementary age students in foreign language education, and I think a high percentage would say yes.

Ask the same group about imposing environmental regulations — which may make it more costly to develop land but would protect us from future problems — and I think many might say yes, it is worth it.

Yet this age group, and most others, love to ridicule those in public life. The truth is that we get what we deserve — uninformed people put unqualified people into important positions.

The national debate during the last presidential election on Medicaid and a prescription drug coverage for seniors is a stark reminder of who is running this nation. Candidates spent more time on this issue than perhaps any other. Yes, taking care of seniors is an important issue. But it seems little else was discussed during the last few months of the election.

So forget the beer commercials and most of our national advertising that would lead one to believe that we are a nation of young, healthy and beautiful people. Those people may spend a lot of money and are important to advertisers, but they aren't involved in our political discourse. Neither are working people.
We can only hope this all-powerful geritocracy won’t forget us middle-agers and the kids. They are in total control, and what happens to our government over the next couple of decades will rest with the decisions they make.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News