Today I awoke at 7:30am to a hydraulic hammer pounding on a rock bed. I really really dislike Kahi Welo, the housing development next door to me.
I bear no ill will to the construction workers, whom I’m sure are nice people. But I’m pretty sure their Community Noise Permit disallows use of this sort of equipment before 9am, and their continued violations are a real aggravation.
Some day in the future this sort of thing will be much more tightly regulated. Right now our society is overly tolerant of the ills associated with new construction because it’s so addicted to the benefits of new construction.
The political system here in Hawaii is virtually run by the development corporations and construction unions. Any democracy is bound to be taken over by these sorts of villains when the voters and even the news media are as apathetic as Hawaii’s are. The truth is that people like the sound of Democracy, a system in which the governed take part in their own government, but they’re far too busy with their lives to take part in their own government unless someone pays them to do so. And they don’t want to be seen making a fuss in public. We’re lucky if people even get off their asses to vote in elections. At least this is the case until the situation begins to hurt their daily lives in tangible ways. Then suddenly they become Benjamin Franklins and Thomas Jeffersons and Paul Reveres.
Apathy is the enemy of democracy. Even if a people are ill-informed, reactionary, gullible, and untrained in critical thinking, a democracy can still succeed, but when they are apathetic, self-government withers and dies. Without changing a single letter in the constitution, diabolical forces take possession of the “democracy.” All they need is money. Money buys candidates, campaign staff, ads, and, ultimately, elections.
To me it seems like most members of the legislative bodies here on Oahu aren’t really interested in representing citizens. They represent the people with money who paid for their campaigns, and who will give them high paying jobs in the private sector when they leave “public service.”
The Kapolei Neighborhood Board may be an exception. There is a handful of genuinely good people on that Board. I don’t know if I agree with them on all issues. I’m a liberal Democrat and I know not all of them are. As politicians some of them are a little rough around the edges. But I like them because they have that all important quality: they genuinely care.
I’m rambling. Basically what I’m trying to say is that I was awoken this morning by construction noise, and therefore Satan must secretly be in control of our society. Err… yeah. 🙂
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