Our Boisterous History

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday so far!

In a rare moment, I have been sitting and staring at the screen trying to figure out what to write. The problem is there is so much to cover, I do not even know where to begin.

I had an idea, but then decided I wanted to research it a bit more. I had another idea and then decided I wanted to watch the BOCC meeting over again to refresh my memory on a few things. I had another idea... and another..

All good things to write about (and I will), but all things that will take a bit of time and yesterday was a busy day in the photography job. I did not have much time to dive into some of the topics and get the information that I needed to get. Hopefully I can do that a bit today and do one of those topics for you all tomorrow.

I will say this.. We heard a lot of talk about the "Circus" of a meeting on Tuesday and how the chair lost control of the meeting. I am going to spend a bit of time digging through old meetings to show you other instances where the chair of the board had similar issues. This was not the first time there was clapping and the like and it will certainly not be the last time.

Expect those videos to drop here soon.

I do want to talk about discourse a bit. We keep hearing "We need to be respectful of the Chambers" and all of that stuff... and I would tend to agree. It is always good to be respectful... however... was this country not founded on loud, sometimes violent, protests and debates?

Pretty sure if you take a look at the history of this country, you will see things far more messy than what we saw Tuesday. That is a walk in the park comparatively. Our Country was founded on protest. The Revolutionary War was fought due to our protests against England and the rules that came with that.

There were several loud debates and delegates went after one another while drafting the Constitution and as it made its way around the states for ratification. Pretty sure the Boston Tea Party was not a peaceful thing. I am not sure anyone would classify it as polite discourse.

How many times is the State of the Union interrupted by clapping, cheering, booing, etc. Pretty sure debates in Congress get heated. Several members have been heard yelling on the floor... and fights almost break out.

If Tuesday was 1804, we would have seen Commissioner Diana Finegan and Chamber CEO Josh Wooten step outside and duel. That was the way to settle political and personal issues back then. Ask Alexander Hamilton how that worked out.

Side note... Thank you "Got Milk" commercials for never letting me forget who dueled Hamilton that day... Aaron Burr. Can't believe that was 1995, 31 years ago. Ouch!

Point is, throughout our history, citizens have been loud and boisterous when they feel they are not feeling heard. It is not unusual for them to take it straight to the government. That is what we saw at the last BOCC meeting. Citizens showing up, wearing their t-shirts and letting their representatives know how they felt. Yes, they clapped. Yes, they made a bit of noise and were passionate. They are fed up with their local government and showed up to let them know... just as others have done throughout our history when they felt government was not listening to them.

For the record, I am not suggesting we show up every meeting with pitchforks and yell from the crowd, but do not be surprised when people get fed up and do just that.

Maybe, it is time our leaders listen and we may not have those problems...