THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508040222
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
I suppose, if I thought I'd been done wrong by the neighboring city, I'd be at least skeptical - but most likely outright cynical - about anything relating to it.
And since I'm fully convinced of having been done wrong by an automobile manufacturer, I know I'm skeptical of anything anyone in that industry tells me.
Indeed, I turn outright cynical when a ``service representative'' calls to tell me that, in addition to the motor belt I came in to have replaced, there's another belt that looks suspicious to him. And, just to be safe, he'd recommend its replacement too.
As unlike as government and auto-industry mistrust may seem, there is a troubling thread. Each has created its owns problems, in the process depriving citizens of a very special privilege called security.
The other day, a mechanic wrote to Dear Abby to enlist her help. Practically every customer who entered his shop, he acknowledged, came in fully loaded with doubt - knowing, at least in his heart, that it wasn't a matter of whether he would be ripped off, just how badly.
Yes, the repairman said, there are mechanics out there looking for ways to soak consumers. But for the most part, he held, mechanics just do their jobs the best they can, wanting only a fair return, and sometimes bearing news that none of us wants to hear: things are worse than we thought, or they just can't be fixed.
I know the letter-writing repairman is right, and my cynicism so bothers me that I actually told a ``service representative'' that I was sorry when he seemed only to validate my distrust. This after he called to tell me that the second belt would cost enough to offset the savings I anticipated on the first one, based on a coupon promotion.
If only I'd known: less than two weeks later, another coupon from another source offered the first belt at less than half what I'd paid. But the cynic in me asks: Wonder, though, how many other belts would have been found faulty, or what else would have been found wrong to have brought up the total?
Now, back to municipal government. Tuesday evening, while attending a meeting of CAR - Citizens Against the Racetrack - I was struck by the cynicism voiced for Suffolk government specifically and officialdom in general.
At every turn, it seemed, someone was saying something to the effect of put nothing past the City Council; don't take what the city says to be what it means; always look for something else; and don't be surprised by the message: we see you, we acknowledge you, we ignore you.
If that perception doesn't nag at anyone in government, it should. Look, this group opposes the race track; the Suffolk City Council approved it, and the group has challenged the decision in court.
That's one issue, but the deep conviction that government is no longer of, for and by the people goes far beyond the oval race track or the surrounding industrial park. It puts people on the defensive against the very body that's supposed to be on the lookout for their best interests.
I don't buy all of CAR's arguments, any more than I take, unchallenged, the word of a ``service rep'' who seems more intent on enriching his till than on making my car safe and/or comfortable. Yet I'm troubled that these citizens feel that they've been ill-treated by governnment, not just because they didn't get the vote they wanted but because they didn't get the respect they deserved.
Little, it seems to me, could more cause citizens to move from healthy skepticism to bitter cynicism. And what good comes of that?
The transition it seems to me, shouldn't be taken lightly. MEMO: Comment? Call 934-7553.
by CNB