The Illegitimate Government of the City of St. Augustine, Florida

The "five crises of nation-building" are identity, legitimacy, penetration, participation and distribution.We face those five crises in Iraq.We face them in America.We even face them here in St. Augustine, the only city I can think of (other than NYC and Miami) that thinks it has a foreign policy. St. Augustine is insecure as to its identity. Its government lacks legitimacy. Its government cannot penetrate (cannot make its will be done when developers are concerned, even on a 3000-4000 year old archeological site, with work contracted out to private archeologists). Its government does not welcome participation but discourages it, even ordering a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) upon filing of Dr. Hines' open records lawsuit, seeking to discourage such litigation by citizens. The benefits of citizenship are poorly distributed, with city burghers unwilling to discuss a Living Wage ordinance.Next time anyone condemns a Third World country like Iraq for lacking progress, remember the City of St. Augustine. Founded in 1565 (the same year that Ivan the Terrible founded the forerunner of the KGB), St. Augustine must be more democratic. Let's clean up the City of St. Augustine, Florida.