Needed for decisions

The long election season is wearying, but it eventually brings to the fore significant issues that voters should examine carefully. One such issue is: What should be the role and character of the private, economic sector and the public, governmental sector? Is one sector more important, valuable and even moral than the other? The answer to these questions seems clear. Neither sector should be dominant or unquestioned without oversight, checks and balances. Too much power corrupts. Both sectors are human, imperfect and not God — thus, not ultimately worthy. Both should be “under God.”

Both sectors badly need each other. It is easy to see this as we look at the local scene. Local businesses need law and order, good infrastructure and a strong community. Local governments need a healthy economy and healthy businesses. The two sectors are interdependent, and that is the key. Some national leaders and many voters don’t seem to acknowledge this.

Voters should also think about the nature of these two sectors. The private sector probably does pay its leaders more than the public sector does, and the public sector many believe pays its workers more than the private sector. This has caused divisiveness between the sectors and extreme positions which seem to deny their interdependence. Perhaps it would help if the private sector would lower its top salaries and raise its bottom salaries.

Probably the private sector with its stress on entrepreneurship takes more risks with the resulting benefits of growth and new ideas but with the dangers of instability. The public sector seems to do a better job of promoting stability and security with the danger of stagnation. Perhaps it would help if the public sector adopted a more entrepreneurial spirit.

Whatever the case, the interdependence of human individuals and institutions has always been the underlying condition of our human existence and especially in the future will be so. Such an attitude is nonpartisan. Such an awareness is essential for all of us as voters deciding our future.

Harris Webster

Montpelier