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March 31, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: It was a cold day in January when he was driving south on the Big 81. He kept looking into his rearview mirror, not to spot a state cop or a deputy sheriff who could make the day even colder. It was to better know the place he left behind. Someone once said that you don’t really know a place until you have left it and looked back; then you see it for the first time.
The sign he was looking for came into view. It read: “Lexington — Next Three Exits.” He took them all. And that has made all the difference of the past 30 years.
Why do we seek differences? After all, differences tend to be wasteful. Look at the five governments in the Rockbridge area: one county; two towns; two cities. Why not a single government? It could save local taxpayers a buck or two. And certainly a consolidated government with one school system could provide better services.
That’s how this retired government guy once thought, one who played with numbers with lots of zeros, but never knowing the people behind the numbers. Now he realizes that it is our local differences that make our great country tick. America’s greatest freedom may simply be the freedom to settle wherever we wish. Sure, local governments have their fights, but no one gets killed. And we know how to share a good laugh. Like when the county supervisors presented a retiring Lexington city manager with a passport visa allowing him to enter Rockbridge County.
Would you rather be governed by those living in your community or by a distant bureaucrat? It’s good that Goshen and Glasgow have their own laws. As for our two cities, Buena Vista and Lexington, let’s hope they stay as independent as their citizens wish. One size that fits all doesn’t fit democracy. DAVID REYNOLDS Rockbridge County
