A City Council Member asked about some public education we did in the past about informing the public that we have recently lowered the tax mills by 3 mills after we retired some debt. Where we did have the information out there, his point is well taken that we have to do a better job educating people about taxes, fees and other municipal cost.
I guess to kind of put things in perspective, some things that are normally taken for granted are not really all that common any more. I’ve recently come across a few articles on the lack of knowedge of the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press and right of assembly).
There was a survey that basically stated that Americans know “The Simpsons” cartoon family better than they know the First Amendment. That’s the depressing finding of a study by Chicago’s McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum. The new museum is dedicated to building public understanding of the First Amendment.
Their survey shows :
- More than half of the people can name at least two members of the Simpson cartoon family. (Not me, the only Simpson I can name is O.J. )
- More than 1 in 5 of Americans could name all five Simpson family members — Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. But only 1 in 1,000 can name all five First Amendment freedoms.
- More people could name the three “American Idol” judges than could name 3 of the 5 First Amendment rights.
So I think we have got our work cut out for us, not only in the City of Davison, but also amongst our fellow Americans.