IF you could take it over, what would you change?

MercyL

Member
A few years ago an an Eastern religious sect moved into a small town. They took the town over when the yearly elections were held.

Once securely entrenched, they enacted laws allowing more of their own practices without outlawing the practices of the original population.

Everything must have worked out well, because I haven't heard anything about that town for over a decade.

If you could manage the same maneuver, what laws would you enact while preserving existing laws?
 
Mercy..what town would that have been? Asking because I lived in Oregon when the Bahgwan Shree Rajneesh from India, and his 2000 followers tried to take over the town of Antelope there. This was over 25 years ago, and they didn't last long.

Things did not end well for them. The mayhem that happened would make a great fiction novel, if only they weren't true. It had all the ingredients of a first rate novel, sex, murder, Rolls Royces, lots of money, politics, cult indoctrination, poisoning, cheating, voter fraud and manipulation, crime, and more.
Here is an interesting five part article on the history of the event:
http://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/index.ssf/2011/04/part_one_it_was_worse_than_we.html

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That Guy...would there be a vote on who the jerks are, or would this be by executive order?:playful:
 
There was a stir when those navel gazer cult 'Orange People' tried it on here too, can remember the gasp horror Current Affairs programs about them but they faded from the scene. Some ended up in jail, but no idea what happened to the rest of them. They were really pushy for a while though.

A nearby town has enough Indians to be running the joint if they wanted to but other than one kerfuffle there's never been any problem. The only time I heard from them was when some officious bumptious old fool on the board of the local RSL club demanded that the Sikhs remove their turbans as the rules stated no headwear in the club.
How ridiculous to equate a turban with a hat. The Sikhs won the argument and fair enough too. I'd rather see a well dressed and dignified man in a turban than one sitting on his 4' ponytail because they're not allowed cut their hair. There's rules and then there's exceptions.

It does point up though that power, however trivial, seems to be a heady dug to some.

As to the hypothetical, 'what would you change'. That presupposes that I would have to do what the people who took over that town did to get the opportunity to change anything.
I don't operate that way, don't want to run the joint. I'm perfectly content to sit back and snipe at those who do want to run things.


So really, the first thing I'd have to do would be to put in place the legislation that prevented people 'like me' getting to the position where they had the authority to pass the legislation. Now there's a dilemma for you.

How many popular revolutions have been initiated by people who "only want the power to stop other people getting into power"?? How many of them turned out well? Ask an Egyptian.

What happened in that town is the dark side of Democracy in action. It's how it works. Once there's more of 'them' than 'us' then they get to set the rules. The only way around that is to dismantle Democracy and then who ya gonna call??

... anyway, that said, I'd make young hoons pull their dacks up higher than their bumcracks, shoot a few drug dealers and rap artists, ban blue rinses, hoodies, doofdoof music, riding noisy trail bikes within 2 miles of town, and appoint TG sheriff to round up the jerks.


The above wouldn't happen here though, our town councils are amalgamated and very rarely cover only one town, more usually many small towns or suburbs are under the same area Council so not so easy for one group to take over.
We don't have sheriffs, and the police force is a Government authority, not elected local officials.
Sorry about that job TG.
 
The above wouldn't happen here though, our town councils are amalgamated and very rarely cover only one town, more usually many small towns or suburbs are under the same area Council so not so easy for one group to take over.

Actually, from a purely strategic viewpoint I would think that many small towns are easier to overtake than one large one. But that's just the Patton in me ...

We don't have sheriffs, and the police force is a Government authority, not elected local officials.

Now THAT is scary, especially if it's equal to OUR Federal shock troops. Over here in my neck of the woods the local cops and sheriffs are pretty much all local yokels, little training and even littler brains. Barney Fife would be a rocket scientist compared to these guys.

The State police on the other hand get a bit more respect - they act more responsibly, you don't hear about them getting drunk and running over nuns as much as the local cops and they just seem to breed them differently - whereas the locals have the usual doughnut-and-coffee physique the Staties tend to look like a bunch of defensive linemen.

... in mirror glasses.

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"Luke, ya' don't mess with The Man with No Eyes!" :D
 
Actually, from a purely strategic viewpoint I would think that many small towns are easier to overtake than one large one. But that's just the Patton in me ...

The main danger from the small towns around here would be from the Guerilla forces of the Grey Army charging down the hill on Gophers and walking frames wielding walking sticks.

The Council covering this area is responsible for a mix ranging from coastal tourist and retiree reliant villages to inland agricultural towns all adminstered from Coffs Hbr which is a fairly densely populated 'working' class, light industrial, retail, and 'office' town, so it's a good spread of interests to balance out, and hard for any single focus group to get a firm hold on. As local councils go they do a pretty good job. My hamlet is right at the very edge of their area and furthest away but they still keep the parks mowed and the streets fixed, so no complaints.

We don't want any more elected officials to bother about thanks anyway. Politicians need culling not encouraging. Sure don't need 'the man' and his deputy Bubba to keep us in order. Perish the thought.
 
Sounds like a pretty complicated system, all in all. What we do here is put two candidates - say, running for Mayor - into an empty warehouse with 100 random people that are snatched from the street. After one hour, whoever has successfully bribed the most people to vote for them wins.

Hey, it's certainly better than our old system - dueling pistols at ten paces. Who said progress doesn't happen?
 
During my reign of terror there would be:

No littering: if caught littering you are sent to jail with no hope of parole.

No cats: unless they never leave your house, so I never find cat crap in my flower beds or in my gravel under our travel trailer. Damn cats poop right on top of crushed rock.

Annoying neighbor guys: They would immediately be sent off world someplace to go annoy some Alien Race.

Leash Laws: Yes! they are really meant for you too, ya Jack-wagon. Oh also anybody caught not picking their dog's poop up when you are out walking around My Town, well all I can say is don't let me catch you not doing it. You'll be sitting with the litter bugs until Hell freezes over.

Really I wouldn't demand much, I don't think so anyway.
 
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