To the Editor,

While reading a piece on China’s compounding woes I was struck by how maniacal their preoccupation was with fiscal wellness as the measuring stick of good government. This evoked a strong personal response as I naturally thought of the casualties of such linear thought.

As I switched to more local fare this passion swelled again as I read how local incumbents ran on the county’s good financial footing. This is a county that’s riddled with poverty, addiction, and crime. Top billing in two if not all categories in the state. The only dissent I read was an astute fact-finder that challenged the commissioners on their compensation packages. Think Greece pre-austerity measures.

Listen, I do not begrudge anyone a decent living or delight in divisive rhetoric. I just truly believe our perspective to be stale and our commissioners engaged in willful blindness and deliberate in difference. Human capital is squandered cavalierly in order to sustain this illusion of prosperity.

Jonathan Allen

Lumberton