I am proud to be a liberal Democrat. I've been one all my life. I cut my political teeth campaigning for Eugene McCarthy in 1968, I voted for Dukakis and I class Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton among our greatest Presidents.
I also love this community. I have from the moment I moved here. It's a great place to live. But I'll have to tell you that the local issues in our community don't seem to me to have much to do with the issues that divide our two great national political parties.
All of us Pickeringtonians, Democrats and Republicans alike, want to live in a great community, with well-maintained, uncongested and well-plowed roads; good schools with equal educational opportunities for all of our kids; well-maintained parks and greenspaces, perhaps laced together by hiking paths along the many lovely streams with which we have been blessed; a small-town and even rural atmosphere, with a continuing sense of its own history; safe and quiet neighborhoods; reliable and reasonably priced water, sewer and other public utilities; residential and commercial development that will not threaten, overburden or outstrip any of the foregoing; and fairly apportioned taxes that are kept at the lowest level possible.
These are not partisan values. They are common sense. Thus I have felt comfortable working with, and even vigorously supporting, candidates for local office who considered themselves conservative Republicans. I've even attended meetings of the now notorious Republican Club of Northwest Fairfield County, and felt that I was among good friends.
On the other hand, I have been completely exasperated by the conduct of local officials who, like me, considered themselves liberal Democrats. I cannot stand to see even a penny of our tax money wasted, whether by the city, the township or our school district. I cannot abide elected officials who seem to place the interests of builders and developers ahead of the interests of this community.
But those are sentiments that we all share, regardless of political party. And those are vices, unfortunately, to which both parties are susceptible. That, no doubt, is one reason why local elections in this state, technically at least, are nonpartisan.
We need an organization that will bring together all us who are interested in the well-being of this community, regardless of political party. That, indeed, was the original intent of the folks who established this organization.
We need to revitalize that intent. PATA needs to go live. At minimum, we all need to come together in person to discuss local issues, at least once in awhile. We need to get to know each other. We need to take part in this community as an organization. Perhaps there will even come a time when we can endorse candidates.
What do you folks think?
By Yosemite Pam
I also love this community. I have from the moment I moved here. It's a great place to live. But I'll have to tell you that the local issues in our community don't seem to me to have much to do with the issues that divide our two great national political parties.
All of us Pickeringtonians, Democrats and Republicans alike, want to live in a great community, with well-maintained, uncongested and well-plowed roads; good schools with equal educational opportunities for all of our kids; well-maintained parks and greenspaces, perhaps laced together by hiking paths along the many lovely streams with which we have been blessed; a small-town and even rural atmosphere, with a continuing sense of its own history; safe and quiet neighborhoods; reliable and reasonably priced water, sewer and other public utilities; residential and commercial development that will not threaten, overburden or outstrip any of the foregoing; and fairly apportioned taxes that are kept at the lowest level possible.
These are not partisan values. They are common sense. Thus I have felt comfortable working with, and even vigorously supporting, candidates for local office who considered themselves conservative Republicans. I've even attended meetings of the now notorious Republican Club of Northwest Fairfield County, and felt that I was among good friends.
On the other hand, I have been completely exasperated by the conduct of local officials who, like me, considered themselves liberal Democrats. I cannot stand to see even a penny of our tax money wasted, whether by the city, the township or our school district. I cannot abide elected officials who seem to place the interests of builders and developers ahead of the interests of this community.
But those are sentiments that we all share, regardless of political party. And those are vices, unfortunately, to which both parties are susceptible. That, no doubt, is one reason why local elections in this state, technically at least, are nonpartisan.
We need an organization that will bring together all us who are interested in the well-being of this community, regardless of political party. That, indeed, was the original intent of the folks who established this organization.
We need to revitalize that intent. PATA needs to go live. At minimum, we all need to come together in person to discuss local issues, at least once in awhile. We need to get to know each other. We need to take part in this community as an organization. Perhaps there will even come a time when we can endorse candidates.
What do you folks think?
By Yosemite Pam
