“You’re not the boss of me!”

This declaration sums up the latest temper tantrum thrown Friday by Butler County Commissioner Jim Eckstein. He repeatedly and painfully demonstrates that he hasn’t learned anything about the art and persuasion of effective minority politics.

The commissioners are poised to vote Wednesday to silence themselves — to cut out their personal allotment of 10 minutes apiece for speaking during their business meetings. The move comes as the practice has deteriorated to character attacks and allegations by Eckstein against fellow commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton, who comprise the board’s Republican majority, and other county officials.

Predictably, Eckstein is opposed.

When reminded of the occasion when he publicly called his cohorts “lower than pond scum,” Eckstein got defensive. He said he was responding to previous false allegations against him — although, when pressed, he offered no evidence of false allegations.

Instead, he went the route of the rebellious teen:

• He accused the other commissioners of taking away his right to free speech — pure silliness in a nation that lets this same commissioner post scurrilous allegations on hand-painted signs, attached Sanford-and-Son-style, to his pickup truck and park it at the county government center.

• He compared himself to founding statesman Ben Franklin — never mind Franklin’s awareness that “Poor Richard” remained poor if his works weren’t palatable enough for the public to buy them. And for that matter, could you imagine Franklin acting like Eckstein in his era?

• Eckstein said it’s unfair to eliminate his speaking time and yet to give individuals of the public three minutes for comment and let them stray to subjects as off-topic as monarch butterflies. It’s unfortunate for Eckstein that the butterfly speaker was a committeeman of his own minority Democratic Party — part of the political machine that got Eckstein elected in the first place.

In short, Eckstein is casting himself in the role of whiny adolescent and his opponents as exasperated parents running out of privileges to take away to curb his disruptive behavior or as punishment.

It’s easier to act like a frustrated adolescent than a mature public servant. But it doesn’t get anything accomplished.

When McCarrier and Pinkerton abolish their 10-minute report periods on Wednesday, it isn’t because they want to. But what else can they do to return some civility to meetings too often dominated by rambling rants?