FAUSTIAN DEALS

     And before anyone goes nuts, this is not a reference to Fausto in UCO other than the same connection that all the people in this posting have. So first, what is a Faustian deal? Throughout history there have been rumors and accusations made about people making deals with the devil, selling their souls for what benefit they wanted. They conjured up the devil, or went to meet him at the crossroads nearby or even met a representative such as Lola in Damn Yankees!
     Personally, I have no truck with the Devil. I do not believe there is an actual figure as such and the real devil is inside us, when we lose our moral compass and sell our soul for petty benefits or even on a larger scale. When we give in to our baser instincts, that is when we make a Faustian deal, derived from the name Faust, another name for the Devil.
     Unfortunately, I believe that many of the people now elected or volunteering for UCO, and a small group getting smaller as more fall by the wayside or are thrown to the wayside, have made these deals. They have found their own devil and made the deals. And what are the results of these deals? Why did they make them? What have they lost by doing so?
     First and foremost, these dealmakers have lost much of their soul. For the "status" of being in UCO, for being able to say "I am a ----- in UCO" they have sold out, sold out on their duties to their fellow residents, sold out the goodness of their souls and for what? For the chance to say I am head of this or I have established this little new fiefdom, or I know David Israel or Ed Black? Feh!
     And who is the Devil in this picture? Make your choice and name your name. Your opinion, I guess. I know mine and it is an obvious name when we see all the deals made for this one or that to suddenly have  a special job in UCO or the sudden demise of yet another volunteer as he/she is thrown out, or the public berating of others and why they stand for this I do not know nor fathom, unless it be for the fact that they have  a job they do not wish to lose.
     Some have sold out the last itty bitty bit of their integrity and for an example just look to Joy Vestal. Did Ed Black ever have any soul to sell out - big question on that one. And where is David's soul? Another big question. We can go through every name on staff, every officer, every Board member and you make your choice after thinking carefully and judging after you evaluate exactly just what these soul sellers, these sell outs have actually accomplished for us.
     Bad roads. Poor perimeter walkways. Sketchy swale upkeep. New temporary ponds and lakes. Donald Kelly. Homeless. Suppression of rights. Poor accounting principles. Poor future planning or none at all. Selfishness versus altruism. Incompetence. Opaque governing. Exclusion of others and those not in their "innie'' gropup. And the list can go on and on.
     People, are we going to make a Faustian deal because we are too lackadaisical or too apathetic to watch out for own good? Are we going to stand by and see the Village go down the tubes? Are we going to stand by and see our fees go ever higher and higher and for basically nothing? Are we going to keep paying the expenses of the Levys and fix their property even as we pay rent for it and have barely a say in how it functions as every year there are more and more rules and restrictions placed upon us?
     The answer must be a resounding NO and we must yell - Devil, get thee gone!  
   Term limits. Term limits.

     I know that there have been some strong postings lately, but folks, time is coming when we have to put forth delegates, candidates, and vote anew. If we do not, then we have only ourselves to blame and no right to complain. October is coming and soon after that March comes in like a lion and we need to vote. We need to make sure the election process is clean, transparent, honest and if we sit on our thumbs - well, you look into the future and see it as it will be.