A Broader View Of Dictators

THE "JOURNAL" IS THE BEST
The Wall Street Journal is the best publication I read on a daily basis.  It provides a breadth of national and international coverage and the best commentaries and editorials, period.  Those of you who also subscribe will likely agree with me on this.

STEPHENS ON HUNTINGTON
Today columnist Bret Stephens published a column titled, "What Samuel Huntington Knew", which can be read online HERE if you spend the bucks to subscribe.  Learn about Huntington HERE.

DICTATORS
Of course, I'm not going to attempt to give you the whole story, but it deals with the fall, and subsequent apparent rise, of dictatorial forms of government around the world, using contemporary venues and players as examples.  It's quite excellent and, as you probably suspect, got my attention.

WHAT IF...?
Stephens tells us that Huntington, whom he describes as "the great Harvard political scientist", asked the question in 1991, "What would happen if the American model no longer embodied strength and success, no longer seemed to be the winning model?"  He tells us that the world seemed to be embracing democracy, capitalism, etc.

"THE PEOPLE" WANTED DICTATORS
Then he describes the resurgence of dictators, citing middle eastern and Europeans as an example.  And he folds in Russia, too, and indicates that "the people" seemed to want it that way.  He goes on to describe the ebb and flow of government models and - here's my punch line - includes this paragraph near the end:
"At some point the momentum will shift back. That, too, is inevitable. The dictators will err; their corruption will become excessive; their cynicism will become transparent to their own rank-and-file. A new democratic wave will begin to build."

AH, HA!
I read that paragraph and the light went on.  Then went back and re-read the entire essay again.  As I did so I found myself contemplating parallels to some of the dictatorial behaviors described to some of the circumstances we find ourselves facing here in Costa Mesa.

SIMILAR
No, "our" dictator hasn't killed millions of people, but neither have most of the rulers described in the essay.   He does share many of the authoritarian characteristics of those men, though.

OUR "CHANGE" CANNOT WAIT...
Stephens punch line is that things change, and that it might take five years - or fifty.  I choked on that last part.  Our change needs to happen now - this year - by sending "our" dictator packing and replacing him with those who can actually govern this city with an even hand and not a personal political agenda.

Costa Mesa's Image Trashed

I plunked down on my couch Sunday morning and began working my way through the three local newspapers, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and, of course, the Daily Pilot. I'd already completed my "prep" - going through each one and discarding the advertisement sections - does anyone really read that stuff?

About a third of the way through the Times I picked up the new Opinion section and began thumbing through the pages when an article entitled "The ugliest building in town" caught my eye. This is allegedly written by two guys who write a blog about Los Angeles architecture. They took a poll of folks in that business to determine the ugliest structure in Los Angeles and when I read down the article, which described opinions of many well-known and some not-so-well-known buildings, I came across this comment: "Nominations ran the gamut, from the '80s-style corporate glass towers — exemplified by the Directors Guild of America building on Sunset Boulevard, which was likened to a "Costa Mesa bank building".

I was really ticked off! Now my hometown is being used as a benchmark for bad architecture!

Those of you who read this blog frequently probably saw the comment reader Len Bose posted on my entry entitled, "Mansoor Creates Gang Haven", posted 4/18/07. It read as follows: Yesterday while at a Pizza party with my seven year old, in Huntington Beach, the subject of trains was brought. I asked the six year old “have you ever been over to Fairview Park and seen the Train Station?” Not one but two of the HB mothers over hearing me said “ Its not safe in THAT part of town”.

I really don't like to see Costa Mesa referred to in such disparaging terms. This town is arguably the center of culture and retail in Orange County. The performing arts complex can measure up against any venue in this country and the whole South Coast Metro area, including South Coast Plaza, is a destination for shoppers from around the world.

However, over the past few years, the actions of the Mansoor-led majority on the city council have created a world-wide image of Costa Mesa as a slum and haven for violent illegal aliens. Instead of pumping up the attributes of this city, the mayor and his cronies seem determined to be sure Costa Mesa is viewed by outsiders as a terrible, unsafe place to live, work or visit.

When Mansoor launched his bogus plan to cross-designate every Costa Mesa cop as an immigration screener a couple years ago he created a firestorm of controversy, which saw demonstrators being dragged from the City Council chambers and arrested- an image beamed around the world. When he was embraced by Jim Gilchrist and his rabid supporters and named an honorary Minuteman, Mansoor instantly became a national celebrity, appearing on television to spout his "I just want to enforce the law" tripe. People watching his act around the country got the impression that Costa Mesa was a teeming cesspool of violence!

Personally, I'm sick of Mansoor and his mob denigrating this city. The relentless drumbeat of negativity - orchestrated primarily by The-Brain-Who-Ate-Costa-Mesa over at the CM Press - has become so virulent that it's drowned out any attempts by others to tout the positive aspects of our city. I'm disgusted by Mansoor's transparent attempt to further his own political career at the expense of the reputation and image of our town.

Every time he and his majority ignore the expert opinion of his senior staff on critical issues in this city and use only their own, narrow, bigoted views to establish public policy they do tremendous harm to our city.

By their actions they have initiated an exodus of the very kind of folks most cities hope to attract - young, upwardly-mobile professional men and women looking for a safe place to live and raise their families. If the residents of this city don't wise up and demand that he begin acting like the mayor of a thriving, vibrant city instead of a ego-centric dictator, the legacy Mansoor will leave behind will be a city in ruin.

Dictator Rising

Those of you who are frequent readers of this blog will recall that I've warned that our young jailer/mayor is methodically attempting to turn Costa Mesa into a dictatorship. Some of you scoffed at that claim, accusing me of being too dramatic. Well, tonight's City Council meeting gave you yet another example of why I feel the way I do.

During the Public Comments portion near the beginning of the meeting several parents and residents of our city stood and spoke against what they perceived to be a pending violation of their rights and those of their children. They referred to a daytime curfew that was mentioned last week as part of the Gang Intervention program discussed at the Study Session. I understand their concern, since such a curfew reeks of some authoritarian regimes in the past. I suspect those concerned parents might not have been as worried if the mayor hadn't demonstrated a tendency to play fast and loose with individual rights.

Then, at the end of what turned out to be an abbreviated council meeting, the much-anticipated seating arrangement changes were discussed and the Mayor Mansoor demonstrated for us that he is, in fact, well on the way to becoming a dictator in our city. Despite the guidance provided to the council by former mayor Sandra Genis - who twice stood before them and read some very relevant passages from The Federalist Papers, gave some biblical quotes, and provided some history of previous council procedures - the mayor and his majority voted to force Linda Dixon to swap seats with Wendy Leece beginning at the next meeting. Dixon voted "No", but Katrina Foley abstained, stating that she didn't think this issue was appropriate business for the City Council.

Prior to the vote Dixon read an email, apparently the one mentioned in a late post on Itchingpost.com this evening, in which Leece apparently asked the City Manager to make the seating change. That message provided a cc to the mayor. We join Itchingpost.com in being more than a little curious about the faulty recollection on Leece's part, since she feigned ignorance of how this issue was brought up when interviewed by the Daily Pilot. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one, but since she showed us a willingness to bend the truth during her campaign, I think it's likely she's fibbing again.

The mayor took one more step to consolidate his iron grip on our city when he moved not only to force Dixon to give up her seat to Leece, but also included a proviso directing that steps be taken to codify his authority to choose who sits where without having to consider any view except his own. Actually, this is pretty much how he operates on most issues, so it was no surprise to me.

Those of you who voted for Mansoor and Leece last November based on their position on illegal immigration will soon find that the mayor is more than willing to mess with your rights, too.

Watching the mayor in action over the past few years makes me nervous. This apprehension is only exacerbated by the pervasive rumor that he might be investigating a change to directly elect the position of mayor. That sure sounds like a guy trying to solidify his position as dictator, not at all unlike Uganda's Idi Amin Dada - the Dictator For Life. As each day passes he demonstrates an unwillingness to be accountable to anyone for his actions. Such a direct election scheme would compound that problem.