Horsing Around for the 4th

Why not let some fireworks fly as we head into the July 4th weekend?!

Our nation's founders, over 200 years ago, probably had somewhat higher ideals in mind when they sat down to form this country.

This week has shown the good, bad and ugly side of politics, and I'm not just referring to the Prince of Hilton Head peccadilloes, Governor Sanford.

As people in dire straits and those who help them--domestic violence shelters, mental health institutions, homeless shelters, etc.--shut their doors due to budget cuts, life goes on for those in less-dire straits....

For example, in idyllic-wanna-be Kendall County, on the fringe of the collar counties surrounding Chicago, you have the County, thanks to approval by taxpayers, plopping down $2.4 mill for a state-of-the-art horse farm, er, equestrian complex.

Bear with me a moment...they're proud of their commitment to holistic pasture management which means

Rather than spraying the fields with pesticides or insecticides...flora that is unhealthy for the horses will be removed manually.

This complex was paid for by a $45 million county tax referendum. Now this is where it gets weird for me...on one hand we say government doesn't have money. In the case of Kendall County, where about 104k people call home, double the number from 2000, poverty isn't much of an issue--not a visible one anyhow--they come up with $45million. Life is good there, if you are a horse or horse-lover.

They send their homeless people up river to Hesed House in Aurora, where I ran the emergency homeless shelter for over a dozen years. Hesed's shelter staff and residents are in a panic about what the potential budget meltdown might mean. No domestic violence shelter, scant mental health services, and little in the way of crisis intervention/assistance, but a great place for horses to hang out.

Kendall County probably doesn't care much about the budget battle, or much about homelessness. They don't have any...unless you count the people doubled-up with family/friends, staying in the fleabag motels on the outskirts of town, or "camping" in the woods of the forest preserves, um, maybe near the horse barn. Gee, maybe they will hire workers to hand-pick the toxic weeds.

Across the country, stories spew about state budget crises. Billions of dollars of gaps. No money for human services...It's a song as old as government, except maybe Day 1, but I wasn't around then.

I say, give me the ruler-for-a-day power and I'll have homeless people living in style at the horse barn where they actually seem to care about health issues.

Seems to me we should find a use for all the horse manure produced by facetious politicians. Hypocritical pols can shovel it. And maybe budget standoffs should be settled by a horse race, winners eating salads of hand-picked flora.

photos by the author