There has been a lot of talk about authoritarianism lately.
Just this past weekend, tens of thousands of people flooded the streets in cities and towns to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, declaring that America should have “no kings.”
While it might be funny that a president who has worked diligently toward shrinking the size of government has earned a reputation as a would-be dictator, it is neither absurd nor out of bounds for American citizens to be hypersensitive to authoritarianism, even if it is only perceived.
It might be equally humorous that most of the “no kings” protestors support a political party that just last summer opted to not hold a primary when its candidate for president dropped out of the race, choosing instead to anoint a successor.
America’s founding fathers saw the propensity for despotism.
People may be ruled absolutely by communist, fascist, Republican, Democratic or even libertarian ideology.
It’s human nature for people to want to thrust their beliefs and ideas onto the masses, and it is certainly easier for those in positions of authority to push their agendas if they rule by fiat instead of by consent.
This is true at the federal level, in the state legislatures and even in local county and city board rooms.
Just this past Monday, the county board of supervisors encountered such a situation when Board President Gloria Dickerson repeatedly attempted to silence District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald.
Dickerson and Donald have been feuding for years.
Their disagreements, at times, have crossed the professional lines, ending in shouting matches and even Dickerson attempting to have Donald removed from the board room.
On Monday, Dickerson defended her actions by stating that recent statewide training for supervisors revealed that as board president, she is in charge of recognizing when people speak.
Dickerson insisted that as long as she declines to recognize Donald, that he is not allowed to speak.
We find it difficult to believe that anyone training supervisors on meeting decorum would give the presider the ultimate power of censure.
It is more likely that Dickerson indeed has the power to recognize people when they want to speak, but she likewise probably cannot deny a fellow elected official an opportunity to discuss or even debate an issue.
That kind of power would be absolute, authoritarian and dangerous. It would disenfranchise the constituents of the elected official she may choose to silence at any time.
The statute suggests that the board president is there to keep order and to make sure that the board stays on topic and operates within the rules of order they have adopted.
The only problem for Sunflower County is that they don’t really seem to have any adopted rules of order.
The City of Indianola, like many other boards, operates under Robert’s Rules of Order.
If the board of supervisors does operate under such parliamentary procedures, we have not heard about it and have seen scant evidence of it in meetings in recent years.
In the event that the board does have adopted standards, it would be well-served to renew its vows with those rules and start adhering to them.
Otherwise, meetings will continue to devolve into shouting matches, and unhealthy political blockades will rule over common sense.
Parliamentary procedure helps to keep order, and also serves to make sure that all elected officials are recognized equitably and therefore may better serve their constituents.
Without it, the side with the gavel may act like a king, or a queen.
In the spirit of last week’s protests, let’s commit to “no kings” in Sunflower County.
