The Town of Mills River is letting the peeps decide whether they want their local taxes to pay for enhanced police service or garbage collection. Interested parties may respond in person, by phone, or via an internet survey; and they’re on the honor system for correctly answering the question about whether or not they pay Mills River taxes. It’s nice that government is neither deciding unilaterally nor putting the question to an expensive referendum. However, if there isn’t all that much unified outcry for government services, one might wonder why the government has to exist at all. In the case of Mills River, though, the objective may be to acquire sufficient mandatory services to justify the existence of a body politic empowered to dish out corporate welfare.