The city of Bell, California has been in the news lately due to exorbitant salaries that city officials voted to give themselves. Most of those using Bell as an example of failed policies have failed to note that they themselves support failed policies, and those failed policies have played a role in Bell's situation. Two examples will be provided below, and the reader is encouraged to add more in comments.

Various libertarians and fellow travelers have used Bell as an example of why the salaries of public officials should be limited and of why their pensions should be kept in check. However, they've consistently failed to note the role that what they support has played in Bell's issues.

The issue is obvious to readers of this site: immigration. Bell lies in southeast Los Angeles, and the cities in that area are largely Hispanic with a large illegal alien population. Bell certainly isn't mostly populated by illegal aliens, however the presence of so many foreign citizens in that and surrounding cities is not exactly helping them by, among other things, reducing civic participation and a greater willingness to ignore public corruption. The fact that the residents of that city rose up is because many in that city are established citizens, but it's hard to imagine such a situation being allowed to develop in most other U.S. cities.

For a starting point on the issues in that area, see The "Mexican border town" in Los Angeles: Cudahy from the far-left LA Weekly. Even the Los Angeles Times has done articles on the problems in that area. See also Mexican flag raised over Maywood, CA, this about a corruption scandal in South Gate and many others. Anyone who's familiar with the area would realize the role that immigration has played, yet the libertarian types discussing this issue have concentrated instead on the symptoms of the policies they support. In some cases that might be simple ignorance, in other cases they might be attempting to deceive their readers.

Your assignment: look for other examples and leave them in comments. I'll then promote them into this post and let those in question know that we know what they're doing.

1. 7/23/10: "Left Coast Rebel" offered "Must Read Column at the Daily Caller: Left Coast Rebel Rings a Bell and Pages Chris Christie" (leftcoastrebel.com/2010/07/
must-read-column-at-daily-caller-left.html) about a piece he wrote for that publication. He didn't raise the issue of immigration in his post; see the LonewackoDotCom comments.

2. Adam Summers of the Reason Foundation (affiliated with Reason Magazine) offers "Lessons from the Bell, California Fiasco/High government salaries means soaring pension costs that taxpayers cannot afford" (reason.com/archives/2010/08/24/
lessons-from-the-bell-californ). Needless to say, he says nothing about immigration matters.

Please find other examples and leave them in comments.