— by Margie Doyle —

Lady Liberty walks a tightrope

Lady Liberty walks a tightrope

As the publisher, editor and journalist of a community news service, I grow every day in my appreciation of independence. I get a charge when people respond to my values of integrity, responsibility and government, as expressed in articles, opinions and editorials in Orcas Issues.
I also get a charge out of divergent and contrary opinions for making me think and test my perceptions against differing viewpoints.

I love bringing historical perspective to the situations we face on Orcas, be it Madrona Point, the Charter Commission, ownership/development of Rosario, our three theaters (Grange, Seaview and Orcas Center) the Eastsound swale, and medical practices.

I love deciding what I think is important to “cover” in a professional ‘voice of the community’

I love including poetry by local poets in celebration of poetry month, and our polls, sometimes quirky, sometimes dead serious. I love it when someone posts that they’ve lost their tools off their truck, and someone else brings them in to the local library to pick them up. I love that when the Fire Department or Orcas Family Connections hear of a neighbor in need, they know the people they can call on for reinforcement.

Independence, as it pertains to government, takes on a special meaning this July 4.

I think what I appreciate most about running a community news service is the conversations I have with myself and with others about the shared values of community life, and the performance of local government.

When I lived in Kodiak, Alaska, I loved that everybody went to church together and everybody danced together. Regardless of wealth, appearance or age. I think Orcas is a lot like that, and I treasure what smallness and closeness and independence bring us.

I like it when the power goes out – even the internet – or the ferries don’t run, because it reminds us of what it is like to be self-reliant and basic.

Independence is a contradiction – the more you govern yourself, the less you need government to govern you. Interdependence guarantees independence, while segregation and rejection bring failure, impoverishment and hostilities.

As I think about the revolution that gave 13 little colonies of Great Britain their independence as the United States of America, I philosophize about the sentiments that brought us to revolution and made independence an imperative for the American way of life.

Being represented in government, having a say in the laws that govern us, was one of those values. Having a say in how our money was spent was another: no taxation without representation.

We weren’t exceptional; remember we institutionalized slavery and kept it legal long after other civilized countries, like the England we rebelled against, outlawed it. And, oh, yes, women were considered the property of their husband and didn’t have the vote until 1920. Thank you League of Women Voters, who still work to represent and speak for American values.

So independence depends on the preservation and integrity of two basic systems to represent a republic, or a democracy, or liberty —true representation and fair taxing.

In the 70s the progressive bible was Small is Beautiful, and I’m a convert. Because small brings immediacy and responsiveness and directness, whereas big brings layers of complexity and authority and questioning.

Better to have 13 well-established colonies than one big United States. Better to have state militias arm themselves when danger is immediate than a standing army that can be turned against the people. Better to have two or three nuts or village idiots than one repressive Big Brother whom you have to agree with.

That’s what independence means to me.

But it depends upon self regulation, self discipline and individual exercise of the duties of government to guarantee to safeguard the rights of the governed. That’s why I’m so passionate about involvement in local, civic government.
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Better to have discussions, debates and compromises, than rebellions and war. I’ve found that small and local gives both more independence and more responsiveness than big and multi-layered. And yet, we’re part of a much much bigger world especially in regards to our laws, our representation and our taxes.

Here on Orcas, we’re able to “fly below the radar” in many circumstances; yet when we are detected on the radar it can become personal and painful if we’ve violated the letter of someone’s law; here on Orcas we have the pace of life that protects mental health and social inclusion; here on Orcas, the drawbacks of modern civilization (freeways, high-rise buildings) are outweighed by the satisfaction of walkable villages, personal entrepreneurship and owner-builder properties.

As we grow and develop and change, we need to be vigilant, to be disciplined and to be considerate of our neighbors and our diversity. Rugged individualism can be taken too far, as can communal sharing. If you live close enough to a neighbor who looks in on you when you’re laid up, then you ought not complain if their kid plays basketball and interrupts your peace and quiet.

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