If one of those pollsters were to ask me today how I planned to vote
on the Greenlight initiative, or Measure S, I would probably show up in
the "undecided" column. And I suspect there are a lot of other local
residents who would show up there with me.
For many weeks now, I've been following the Greenlight debate at
dinner parties, as well as in the news pages and letters column of the
Pilot, without reaching any kind of conclusion. It rather reminds me of a
magazine piece I did many years ago in which I interviewed Edward Teller
and Linus Pauling separately and at considerable length over the issue of
atomic testing in the atmosphere.
Pauling said it would poison all of us. Teller said it wouldn't cause
any harm at all, and, besides, it was essential to our national defense.
At the end of the second day, as I was packing up my tape recorder
after hanging out with Pauling, I said to him: "Where am I supposed to
come down? I've just spent two days with two Nobel Prize winners who have
taken exactly opposite positions on a scientific matter of critical
importance to the citizens of this country. So who do I believe?"
And Pauling smiled his elfin smile and said: "Who did you like the
best?"
Well, Pauling's answer wasn't altogether flippant -- and is about the
only certain yardstick I've been able to apply so far to Greenlight.
There's not much question in my mind that the Greenlight people are a
lot more likable than the heavy hitters who want to build out Newport
Beach and seem to have a hand on the collective shoulder of the City
Council. The patronizing arrogance that I see the council members showing
toward the passionate advocates of Greenlight is almost enough to push me
over.
But not quite. Not yet.
I'm deeply wary of town-meeting government. It worked reasonably well
in the small towns of Colonial America, where landowning men would gather
to debate issues and make collective decisions.
But government was simpler in those days, and as it became more
complex, it became clear that it was both awkward and expensive for every
issue of import to be voted on by the public. Thus representative
government became the norm at every level.
Greenlight, it seems to me, would be a kind of throwback to the town
meeting. The argument on behalf of Greenlight that only 15 special
elections would have been required over the last decade seems to me an
argument against it. That's a lot of expensive, time-consuming special
elections.
