RICo residents living under curse of bad government

JOHN RUTLEDGE had another hard-hitting letter in the December 1 Dispatch/Argus. ..... marks paragraph breaks. "The recent decision to substantially raise property taxes in Rock Island County emphasizes the fact that we in this county are living under a triple curse of bad government. ..... Our federal, state and county governments are bloated, floundering, over-spent, unfocused and oblivious to the wants and needs of citizens, particularly the 50 percent of us who pay taxes. ..... Any group of fools can run a government by continually raising taxes. It takes intelligent and dedicated officials to recognize where waste and unnecessary outlays are in budgets, and have the guts to make appropriate adjustments, honoring their responsibilities to the taxpayers. Anyone with an IQ higher than his shoe size will agree that Rock Island County (population 150,000) should not have a larger governing board than Cook County (population 5 million. Board members: R.I. County 25 vs. Cook County 17.) ..... Almost all politicians were elected by us, so we are getting what we deserve. Let's be more selective in the future."