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Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down with my US Congressman, Russell Fry, to discuss issues and concerns facing my little town.  Among the attendees was the mayor and another councilmember, as well as two of the Congressmen’s employees in the district.  It was a rare opportunity to sit face-to-face—and I literally sat right across from Congressman Fry—for an hour with a member of Congress to talk about problems and possibilities.  It was not a “town hall” or a campaign event or the like, so it was about as unfiltered and direct as a business meeting with a professional acquaintance.

There was definitely some politicking going on, to be sure, but it was of the subtle, “we’re-here-to-help” type.  On our end, we wanted to present some of the critical needs of the town in the hopes of getting some guidance on obtaining additional grant funds—and, of course, with the hope that our congressman might someday steer some succulent pork our way.  I dislike the sort of rentier system that seems to drive politics in the United States, but with an all-powerful federal government and hamstrung State governments, little municipal governments have to beg like any other interest group, hat in hand.

That said, it was a productive conversation.  The gist of Congressman Fry’s advice to us was “apply for grants, and let us know when you are doing so; we can offer support.”  Naturally, we already apply for any grant we can, but as he pointed out, small towns like ours don’t have a built-in “professional class” of grant writers and government apparatchiks who can constantly lead us to pools of federal dollars, at which we can subsequently engorge ourselves.

That was the relatively “unsexy” but, arguably, most important part of the meeting, at least as far as the Town of Lamar, South Carolina is concerned.  We pointed out our desire to pump and sell our own water again, and to several water and sewage projects that we need to address now.  I also pointed out that all the ARPA funds from a few years back essentially just created massive inflation in the construction industry, as contractors realized they could put forward bloated bids.  As such, even with that federal funny money slushing around in our coffers, the availability of said money simply priced most projects out of our reach.

Thus, the catch-22 of government:  small towns, sadly, depend upon the largesse of the State and federal governments to survive and perform their most basic functions, but that very same largesse inflates projects beyond the towns’ ability to pay.  It’s a vicious, inflationary cycle, that is further exacerbated by, well, general inflation.

But what about the sexy part of the meeting?  What about when I started to grill my congressman on Ukraine, the J-6 political prisoners, and more?

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