Idea Shows Monumental Lapse in Judgment

The few times I’ve talked to Mark Leyes, I was impressed. Good thinker, straightforward, articulate. Maybe that’s why Garden Grove voters elected him to the City Council.

It’s a good thing he’s not a comedian, where timing is everything. He’s come up with a brainstorm that may reflect the worst timing since Bonnie needed a lift and Clyde drove by.

The story actually starts a few years ago with Los Angeles publicist Michael (“I don’t mention my clients”) Levine, who got the idea for a “Statue of Responsibility” to serve as a sister monument, if you will, to the Statue of Liberty. Levine’s thesis is that Americans are losing their sense of personal responsibility and need a reminder that freedom without responsibility is doomed.

This idea is not crackpot, even though listening to Levine describe it makes you wonder if he is. “This is not just a good idea,” he says. “This is as critical as oxygen to life. If we do not begin as a society notating the absolute imperative nature of personal responsibility, we are dead. End of issue.”

Levine says he envisions something “that’s analogous--not necessarily visually, but as a symbol--analogous to the Statue of Liberty. I see something quite grand or impressive. Where it’s going to be, what ZIP code it’s in, is absolutely tertiary--not even ancillary--to the concept that the idea must be formulated.”

That kind of phraseology will leave lots of people scratching their heads, but I like the idea. Levine would like to have the monument somewhere in California, which I also like, and my suggestion would be off the coast, thereby serving as a transcontinental bookend with Sister Liberty in New York Harbor.

So give Levine credit for a vision that should be realized.

That’s where Leyes enters the picture.

He wants the Statue of Responsibility in Garden Grove.

Surely he jests.

We all know that civic pride can cloud judgment, but if Leyes had any respect for Levine’s idea, he should have slept on this. Unfortunately, he’s already persuaded his other four council members to pass a resolution suggesting Garden Grove as the site. How could they refuse? Who’s going to vote against responsibility?

There’s nothing wrong with Garden Grove. It’s not exactly New York City or Los Angeles as a tourist stop, but the city itself is fine and wouldn’t discredit the monument.

The problem--and I wince as I say this--is Orange County. Or, more precisely, Orange County at this particular moment in its history. Do you think the rest of the country would associate the statue with Garden Grove, or with Orange County?

In the same week that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has blasted county government for mismanagement and fraud related to the bankruptcy, the timing is a little off in proposing Orange County as a site to commemorate personal responsibility. Have I missed something or is that the single most absent commodity around here over the last 12 months? Offhand, I can think of about 57 other California counties that might have a better claim on the monument.

Imagine the unveiling of the Statue of Responsibility in Orange County. Just invoking the words “personal responsibility” on local turf would draw snickers. By the time they read the inscription on the statue, everyone in the audience would be howling. The networks, not to mention Comedy Central, would send teams of reporters to cover the event. We’d never live it down.

When I talked to him Thursday, Levine was respectful of Orange County as a possible site. “Based on the cursory knowledge I have, Orange County did act irresponsibly,” he said, but quickly added that he didn’t mean everyone in Orange County. What matters, he said, is that “we as a society have been acting irresponsibly ever since the ‘60s.” Noting that the federal budget hasn’t been balanced since 1969, Levine added, “Orange County is not to blame. This has been the product of three decades of free-lunch mentality.”

OK, fine, but let’s not become a national punch line. Why not take our bankruptcy medicine and slink out of public view for a while?

Even fellow Californians see Orange County as a municipal version of O.J. Simpson--rich, arrogant and unrepentant. Erecting an Orange County monument to personal responsibility would be seen as mocking the idea, just like O.J. pledging to look for the real killers.

Leyes and his council mates have their hearts in the right place, but let’s hope they don’t push this idea.

Besides, Orange County already has its monument: It’s called Fashion Island.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.