How ironic that a new restaurant in Sioux Falls is opening soon Downtown called Bread and Circus, the term is synonymous with the down fall of Rome;
The expression “bread and circuses“ captures a certain cynical political view that the masses can be kept happy with fast food (think Cartman’s “Cheesy Poofs†on South Park) and faster entertainment (NASCAR races, NFL games, and the like). In the Roman Empire, it was bread and chariot races and gladiatorial games that filled the belly and distracted the mind, allowing emperors to rule as they saw fit.
Don’t laugh (maybe cry) but Sioux Falls has many similarities to Rome before it fell.
We have an emperor with complete power afforded to him by the city charter. If he doesn’t like what the city council does, he simply vetoes them.
We have accumulated much debt building play palaces to distract the real issues going on in Sioux Falls (increased crime, corrupt city administrators, gap between rich and poor, a housing glut, decreased tax revenue and disappearing open government).
Like Rome, we rode the high horse for a long time, but in order for the elites to play their games behind closed or even open doors, the public had to be distracted, but will those distractions be enough or will citizens start opening their eyes?
In a little under a year we will be having a municipal election that coronates a new mayor and up to 2-4 new city councilors, can we save this little empire before it is too late?
I think we can, but we are going to have to start paying attention, we are going to have to encourage people of integrity to run for office, we are going to have to do a complete audit of the past administration and we are going to hold those accountable who put us down this path.
It’s going to be messy and very bloody, but at the end of the day, I think Sioux Falls can prevail and most importantly learn from our greed and gluttony we have enjoyed for the past 20 years.
And lastly, remember to laugh, because if you can’t laugh at politicians you only end up hating them, and I think we have enough of that going on DC, we don’t need it here.