one occasion a few months ago, yours truly was called "A Rabble-Rouser" in an impromptu conversation with two members of the Mesa City Council.
That's right, A Rabble-Rouser; a somewhat archaic phrase with an origin in the English language going back to 1802.
The 21st Century Thesaurus calls it as a person who stirs up the passions or prejudices of the public and yes both are getting "stirred-up" here in a recipe for participatory democracy where some of the ingredients were simply not available . . . with more than 34,000 views on this BlogSpot, "How Am I Doing?"
Readers please take note: this journalistic and investigative reporting endeavor is not done to promote my own interests - quite a lot of time in the last year has been devoted to promoting the public interest.
Contemporary Examples from the Web for rabble-rouser include this:
"Before Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and a staid statesman, he was a Whig and a rabble-rouser".
When Politicians Run Away David A. Graham February 18, 2011
Unlike most of those elected or appointed to positions inside City Hall and taking seats on the Mesa City Council, your MesaZona blogger comes from a more diverse background having lived in an array of cities and towns with populations as small as 900 people or 5,000 in rural locations to great urban centers with millions of people: Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston and New York City - all with longer histories than Mesa.
What stands out here is that one group has dominated politics and government for over 135 years, for better or for worse depending on your point of view. For example, it was just a couple of years ago that the first Hispanic district representative was elected to the City Council in Mesa's history - an overdue achievement.
You can count the number of women on one hand who've either chosen to campaign for office or gotten elected. It's been male-dominated and mostly vanilla from the start. Things have not changed much inside City Hall although the demographics have shifted across ethnic, color, gender, socioeconomic and religious grounds.
When one group exercises domination in changing times, it's typically called "a monopoly" or "a political machine", or less emotionally-tinged phrases like The Ole' Boys Network or Crony Politics or Business-as-Usual in minority majority control where nepotism, patronage and corruption frequently run rampant and unchecked when the incumbents try to maintain power and shut others out . . . that was blatantly obvious in this streaming video by Mesa Channel 11 during last week's City Council Study Session
Hit the link to watch and go to the Public Comment box. There you see how the opportunity for any member of the public to speak was side-tracked by three individuals all with vested interests in what was on the meeting's agenda:
1. Charlie Gregory, BenU executive, who was invited to speak by Mayor John Giles, said he was grateful and pleased that Benedictine University was included in the funding for the Higher Education Initiative where a specific dollar amount was not previously specified. He stated the university was not moving as fast as planned and there were projected needs for student housing downtown where BenU has been located for four years.
2. Jerry Lewis, who introduced himself as "as a businessman and educator" [saying he's an assistant principal at a charter school] neglected to mention he's an accountant who's had a hand in some dealings with city government, who's also running for election to gain a seat on the City Council for his "hopefully constituents", who according to some sources is one of the mayor's "best friends", and whose re-election campaign for the AZ State legislature [where he lost] was co-chaired by John Giles.
3. Jackson Wright identified himself as representing the Action Neighborhood Alliance and joked about his "family ties" here in Mesa creating laughter all around the room. He works for a family business, Larry John Wright Advertising that's handling some of the election campaigns for city council incumbents as well as family connections inside City Hall.
What stands out here is that one group has dominated politics and government for over 135 years, for better or for worse depending on your point of view. For example, it was just a couple of years ago that the first Hispanic district representative was elected to the City Council in Mesa's history - an overdue achievement.
When one group exercises domination in changing times, it's typically called "a monopoly" or "a political machine", or less emotionally-tinged phrases like The Ole' Boys Network or Crony Politics or Business-as-Usual in minority majority control where nepotism, patronage and corruption frequently run rampant and unchecked when the incumbents try to maintain power and shut others out . . . that was blatantly obvious in this streaming video by Mesa Channel 11 during last week's City Council Study Session
1. Charlie Gregory, BenU executive, who was invited to speak by Mayor John Giles, said he was grateful and pleased that Benedictine University was included in the funding for the Higher Education Initiative where a specific dollar amount was not previously specified. He stated the university was not moving as fast as planned and there were projected needs for student housing downtown where BenU has been located for four years.
2. Jerry Lewis, who introduced himself as "as a businessman and educator" [saying he's an assistant principal at a charter school] neglected to mention he's an accountant who's had a hand in some dealings with city government, who's also running for election to gain a seat on the City Council for his "hopefully constituents", who according to some sources is one of the mayor's "best friends", and whose re-election campaign for the AZ State legislature [where he lost] was co-chaired by John Giles.
3. Jackson Wright identified himself as representing the Action Neighborhood Alliance and joked about his "family ties" here in Mesa creating laughter all around the room. He works for a family business, Larry John Wright Advertising that's handling some of the election campaigns for city council incumbents as well as family connections inside City Hall.
Before Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and a staid statesman, he was a Whig and a rabble-rouser
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