We live in a society which is leaning toward an ever-increasing governmental role in the lives of common people. Nitpicking liability issues, endless litigation and paranoid security fears all seem to have dropped us into a modern vortex of ever more invasive legislation, government regulation and meddlesome bureaucracy. The result is our complete entanglement in a dense web of laws and regulations, so complex and convoluted that, in practice, they usually defy all common sense.

In previous generations, the element of limited, common-sense governance was a proud hallmark of the American system; but those days are fading fast. Nowadays common sense in government has become very rare indeed. It has not been seen for a long time in Washington, DC. It has become very rare indeed in Carson City. But every once in a while, one can still witness a residual glimmer of it way down deep at the local levels. When simple people are empowered to apply common sense to find an innovative solution to a unique, local problem; that is where those old embers of American common sense governance are still glowing warmly. And when an occasion comes along to see this rare occurence in action, it is actually quite refreshing. Last week we were lucky enough to see a couple of these rare glimmers of common-sense governance right here close to home.

The Moapa Valley Water District (MVWD) Board navigated a handful of possible pitfalls at its meeting last week and emerged with some unique solutions. The district had long been bound by a vexing set of complex policies and procedures, made at a prior time under vastly different circumstances. These practices were not particularly friendly toward the ratepayers. Indeed such policies are seldom harmonious with small town values and rarely originate out of common sense. As such, they had long ago sent the district down that old one-size-fits-all path to policymaking that is the first symptom of an eventual bureaucratic quagmire.

Recognizing this, the Board fearlessly threw off the shackles of these old policies and looked outside the box for unique, local solutions. Without concerning themselves unduly about how things had always been done; or how things are commonly done elsewhere; the board focused on these distinctly local problems and on finding the simplest solutions. Some remarkable and innovative ideas resulted from this difficult process. The MVWD board members and staff should be commended for their uncommon boldness in doggedly returning to simple, common sense governance.

When seeking the rare glimmers of common-sense in government one wouldn’t normally think to look towards the labyrinthine Clark County government center. But last week, one hopeful example twinkled briefly from the County Commission chambers like a star in an otherwise darkened sky. For a moment on Wednesday, the commissioners successfully tore themselves free of the thick web of the urban-oriented county code and passed a new ordinance that actually made some sense to the outlying areas.

In reality it wasn’t much. The new ordinance didn’t do much more than wrestle the voluminous county code into harmony with the simple reality of what has been happening on the ground in rural areas for generations. Still it should be counted as a modest triumph in the column of common-sense governance.

The debate and discussion about this new ordinance was long and tedious. At many points, it threatened to leave the solid tracks of common sense and wander off into the trivial undergrowth of the dense urban jungle. But at many of those points, our own Commissioner Tom Collins should be credited for speaking up knowledgeably and sensibly for the unique needs of rural Clark County residents.

In our modern world, instances like those witnessed last week at the MVWD Board meeting and in County Commission chambers are too few and far between. May we all live to see more simple wisdom and common sense spoken in the halls of our government bodies whether they be on the local, state or, dare we say it, even the national level.