Columbia in the Past Tense

We don't have a television station. We don't have hard-hitting investigative journalism. We don't have a newspaper that wants to go beyond the surface. And the people in power like it that way.

There are approximately 9,900 residents in the Village of Oakland Mills. 511 households were represented by votes in Saturday's election. Of those, 382 were for my opponent.

You're not going to read this in the newspaper, so I am just going to have to say it bluntly. The story here is not who voted, but who didn't vote. Just look at the numbers.

In order to retain power one must make the business of Columbia look incomprehensible, unpleasant, and irrelevant. In so doing one can prevent greater participation. And, my friends, it's working. Retaining power is the name of the game, and it doesn't matter if you have to lie, intimidate, and manipulate to do it.

But none of us are immortal. The time will come when those in power are gone. Thanks to their unwavering efforts, Columbia will die with them. Because in order to retain control, they will have made Columbia irrelevant.  And the wondrous experiment of Mr. Rouse will be a footnote.

I used to think that Columbia was just for the Pioneers.  Maybe I was right.


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