George Rebane

Did you ever stand on the bank of a mighty river like the Missouri and contemplate its majestic and massive flow?  There it appears mighty and unstoppable in its progress to the ocean where it is swallowed up without a trace.  And then your thoughts turn to how such a behemoth starts from a hundred sources somewhere in faraway mountains. 

If you trace one of its tributaries up to the very trickle that emerges out of some crevice on a scenic mountainside, you can stay or divert that trickle with one hand.  It is these numberless trickles which unite into the mighty flow that carves the broad valleys that go on for hundreds or even thousands of miles.  And being at the start of something that big has a special feel to it, you are witnessing the birth of what will eventually become an earth changing force.

Washington DC is also at the mouth of such a mighty and unstoppable river of cash known as ‘set asides’.  This river springs from unknown sources through the working of little known forces dispersed all across the width and breadth of our land.  We also call this mighty flow of appropriated cash by its simple working name ‘pork’.  And we know that when pork passes the Potomac, it also disappears, dispersing into the ocean of local projects, uncountable, yet each one carefully fashioned or chosen to provide succor to its elected sponsor.

Standing on the steps of the Capitol, we may seek to replicate our quest for origins and ask whether we could trace the flow of pork to its very source.  This will be a harder task than tromping up some hillside following an ever narrowing creek, for we know that the headwaters of pork are also countless, unmarked, and work in quiet spurts that are hard to detect and harder to time their unannounced moments.  In plain talk, you have to be lucky to be there at the precise instant to actually witness that first little spurt, not apparent to all, that starts the flow which builds into the mighty, constant, and unstoppable flood of pork.

Well folks, yesterday afternoon I was lucky enough to bear such witness.  I may have been the only one paying enough attention to detect the little sliver of fatback that popped up right there in the middle of a town hall meeting in Grass Valley.

Let me back up.  The US Department of Agriculture has marching orders from the Administration to go around the country and see what’s required to create jobs, green ones if possible.  It is doing this by teaming up with local ag-oriented agencies and outfits to hold workgroups or town hall meetings where interested parties can attend and offer up ideas along with critiques about local job creation.  Yesterday afternoon such a meeting was held at the GV Veterans Hall.

Since I’m interested in economic development, I decided to attend.  So there I sat with equally interested Russ Steele and Gil Mathew (ERC) as we listened to a polyglot of people from different backgrounds and occupations.  All were there to see how they could be stimulated in their pocketbook, and get some sustainable enterprises going in the county.  Since I didn’t hear the word ‘profit’ pass anyone’s lips, it appeared that most of the folks were comfortable with the liberal definition of sustainable – jobs lasting as long as government money lasts.

And then it happened.  One of the worthies with a notable liberal tilt shared his irritation with our ideologically incorrect congressman.  He said it straight and simple, our man in Congress is letting his ideology get in the way of scooping up some of that pork in Washington and sending it down our way.  In his eyes it was not only wrong but reprehensible that such a thing as a person’s socio-political ideology would stand in the way of his getting in there and getting our share.  An ideology is a collection of coherent principles, and everyone knows that principles and pork don’t mix.  When it comes to pork, the motto is ‘I got mine’.  There was more to be said about that, and more would be said and done at a later time and place.  No dissent was heard from that crowd.

So there it was, one little spurt at an unexpected time and place that will now join many such others and gather into local groundswells.  These would then be communicated to the appropriate electeds or their field representatives.  And as the groundswells unite into louder petitions, they all start to wear a mantle with large letters spelling – ‘required for re-election’.  Well, you can see how such tributaries begin forming up from all the thousands of local jurisdictions, each one out to grab their own share of pork for the absolutely necessary projects that create sustainable jobs.

And to think that I was there to witness that little spurt, right at the grass roots level, and right in our town.  It all lasted about thirty seconds, and you had to pay attention or you would have missed it.  This is something to write home about and tell my kids.

(A perhaps less revelatory yet more comprehensive report on the meeting can be found on NC Media Watch.)