Commentary by Samuel Strait The County's 5-0 Club, better known as the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, met in another of the bi-monthly meetings to behave as expected, pass everything unanimously without a single dissenting vote. Seems that's what's expected by the County's bureaucracy when the board consists of five tamed lap dogs. Not a single question was uttered over the course of the rather brief hour long meeting that had any hint that the "five" were much more than programmed to speak the word "yes" when prompted by the secretary of the board. So much for the concept of a "Representative Republic". The bureaucratic hires have that one covered. Along with the usual new hires and proposed new positions on the agenda for the Department of Health and Human Services, six in all, the remainder of the business consisted of money for contracted services that our bloated local bureaucracy is unable to cope with. Of course we have the usual plea for understanding, per Supervisor Starkey, " if we don't load up on unnecessary services we are accused of providing too little, and if we do load up on services, we are accused of government overreach. Clearly the Board has chosen the former, as for years the County's government has loaded up on services, yet the litany of complaints have not subsided. Perhaps it is time to listen to those that say the County is wallowing in government overreach and see what happens. It is interesting to note that many on the current board are either long term government employees, or have spent an inordinate amount of time as elected officials. Supervisor Howard and Supervisor Starkey are two sides of that coin. Promoting their time in service and the need for that "experience" seems to make them both think that somehow that puts them in a better position to understand the vagaries of government activities. Sad to say, but it appears to make them less likely to arrive at any decision making that is not packaged and tied up in a red bow waiting to be sent off with a rubber stamp. The public ignored, and bureaucratic life goes on unimpeded. Occasionally the wand of the County's Counsels is waved over the ensuing mess as if to give it some kind of religious like blessing, before speeding off to the next item on the agenda. Government incomprehensible, regularly given the official "this is the way things are done" mantra, after all we can't be expected to behave as if this is the real world now, can we? Money by the bushel to be handed to the intermediaries who are hired at the drop of a hat to make pronouncements as to the legitimacy of the path forward, likely with the helping hand of a small legion of local officials who for some unknown reason can not give that complete sense of security to the board when they are obligated to raise the stamp graced with the word "yes". Such a pathetic form our government has degenerated over the course of two hundred and fifty years or so, from the state it had originally been spelled out to include. Small government requiring little in the way of taxes to support the few things it was meant to treat. Likely our current County's government will have dwarfed the entire composition of the original federal government. It would be an interesting comparison. No need to bore anyone to death over the contents of today's Board meeting, as paint drying on a wall was likely to be much more interesting. As I have concluded after watching many a meeting, there is the question that crops up routinely, "Why have a Board in the first place when they serve no better purpose than to be ceremonial?" The several hundred thousands per year could be much more productively spent. Tragically I grew up in a world where a person's character had to be tested for signs of maturity and the ability to solve the many problems faced in the world without the hot breath of government whispering advice in one's ear. While I expect many of those characteristics are still embedded in the persona of many Americans, not so much in the character of many American politicians. Our 5-0 Club most certainly could use a few lessons in "How to keep government out of most citizens lives". Faint hope as we are dealing with thirty years of government service on one hand and two plus terms of Sacramento hob nobbing on the other.