Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
From 1776, Thomas Paine’s words give a glimpse into the mindset of our founders: “We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now.” Around 1830, French aristocrat, Alexis de Tocqueville visited our young nation investigating the functioning of America’s radical experiment. That American system of townships impressed him above all. In his own words; “in the United States the county and the township are always based upon the same principle: namely that everyone is the best judge of what concerns himself alone, and the most proper person to supply his own wants.” He saw this as the bulwark and key to the unprecedented success of the young nation.
In 1978, a small group of concerned West Knox County citizens banded together feeling that Knox County government had grown too large, cumbersome, unresponsive and distant from them to adequately serve their needs. And foreseeing their imminent annexation by the City of Knoxville, they chose to do a quintessentially American thing; organize themselves into an independent self-governing township. Within 30 years the Town of Farragut had become the envy of the state operating on the principles first observed by de Tocqueville; lean, efficient, responsive, small government manned almost entirely by citizens directly elected and volunteers for various committees chosen from among their peers, vigilant in their loyalty.
