Archive: Opinions

The Lansing Community Library-It's a Question of Patriotism

A question of Patriotism has emerged upon the wintry and peaceful landscape of Lansing. A group of individuals have petitioned the school board to abolish tax payer funding for the newly established Lansing Community Library. Abolishing taxes is nothing new to our country. Politicians promise to reduce our taxes every time election year comes around. Our earliest recorded history as a colony demonstrates this act of defiance. You may recall that the colonists were fed up with England's excessive taxes on very thing from newspapers to the humble cup of tea. With great fervor and civic pride, they protested such unjust taxation and eventually England repealed them.

 

Now another group wishes to abolish a tax. The one in question is the Lansing Library tax. So what is wrong with that? During the economic crisis with industries laying off or closing down and with banks and investment firms teetering on the brink of ruin, it appears fiscally prudent to find ways to ease our tax burden. So why not start with repealing the library tax?

 

Well, for one, it would be an unpatriotic act. Yes, it would go against the very heart and soul of our democracy, the Constitution of the United States- that very same document which every elected official, government worker, and military person swears to protect and defend.

 

How, you may ask, can repealing the Lansing Library tax be viewed as unpatriotic? The answer is simple. Read the Preamble of the Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The text clearly defines our responsibilities as both a nation and as citizens, and a library is an American institution dedicated to promote the general welfare of its citizenry. It stands as an American icon of liberty, equality, and justice for all.

 

Towns and villages across our great nation boast of libraries dating back to the early 1800's. Some of these were established through the generosity of wealthy entrepreneurs, but many were founded by hardworking farmers and factory workers who knew the enduring value of a well built and well funded library. Generation after generation used the library to search for answers, discuss points of view on a host of topics, and simply have the freedom to read the printed word. These libraries stand as symbols of community pride.

 

Today, that same feeling of pride and patriotism is alive and well in Lansing. Both rich and poor alike have funded and benefited from the library. The doors are open to everyone. Those with visual handicaps can borrow large print books or books-on-tape. Those who have a physical disability need not worry about stairs as the elevator can take them safely to their destination. Immigrants from foreign lands can search for resources that will help them toward earning their citizenship thereby adding to the overall well-being of our great land.

 

For those who find themselves unemployed or laid-off, hope of future employment opportunities await them when they search for jobs or training on-line. Free access to library computers and other resources can potentially ease the current economic crisis by putting the unemployed back to work. The library is a true investment since each person gives a small portion of their hard earned money and, in turn, the community benefits in ways hardly imaginable.

 

In an ideal democracy, our taxes are spent to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. A library, one of America's oldest institutions, promotes the general welfare of this great nation by offering the tools and basic raw materials for each and every one of use to learn, discover, and reinvest in our community. The tax payer funding of the Lansing Library expresses patriotism in its most basic understanding-it is of the people, by the people and for the people.

 

Finally, the library board and staff have demonstrated a fiscal responsibility that could serve as a model for other tax payer funded institutions. They have shown restraint and excellent judgment in the realms of business and finance. The current petition to repeal taxpayer funding of the Lansing Community Library cannot be justified. Those who signed it should withdraw their petition and redirect their efforts to other areas in need of tax payer oversight.

 

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