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Sussex County is bereft of republican leadership. Taken over by the tea party then abandoned, there is no structure that supports or represents Republican values still left standing. The Republican Party in Delaware is in freefall.
There are scattered remnants still trying to get on the ballot, but electing one of these would be like a random hand dunked into a pond trying to catch a frog. One could get lucky.
In the absence of Republican leadership, into which void the blog Delaware Politics dares enter, words like philosophy, and phrases like “think like us” get tossed. Those phrases sometimes sound nice but certainly don’t bring any money to the bank.
What does bring money to the bank is a strong political party that is on your side. What does bring money to the bank is someone in Dover to whom the party in power is beholden to, who says “I need this”.
Jane Hovington is in the unique place to get more done for District 19 than has been done in that District any time since the passing of Thruman Adams. Because she is part of the ruling party, instead of the party of opposition, her vote carries strong weight. She is also because of her conservative district in the very unique position of being one who can build the necessary bridge between Democrats and Republicans. If Ernie Lopez in the neighboring district, needs a favor, Jane Hovington is the one who can get it done.
Her opponent may be a nice man. But he is in no position to accomplish anything for Senate District 19.. As possibly the only Republican in the General Assembly, he is doomed to get ignored. One has only to look to the 41 representative district out of Millsboro, to see a lot more happens there now that their representative who used to be a minority Republican, is now, in the majority as a Democrat. Same man: no clout as a Republican, bringing home the bacon as a Democrat. It is…. all about the party.
“I, Brian Pettyjohn, need this road fixed in my district. It’s potholes are swallowing up chicken trucks, they are so deep.”
“Uhh, who are you again?”
Now from Democrat Senator Jane Hovington: “If you want me onboard i will need these highways fixed by April 22. ”
“I don’t see why that can’t be done.”
District 19 is the heart of Sussex County. Not the play area of the east but the hard working, farming area of the West. Life moves forward on a very thin margin between success or failure. The citizens of District 19, a very beautiful district from Georgetown to the Maryland border, need the best representative they can find.
One hailing from the party of Thuman Adams is far superior than someone who was thrown into the race helter skelter at the last minute by pontificating people, more worried about philosophy, and “their” anti democratic beliefs, than whether you as a citizen can make it or get chewed up. Brian Pettyjohn is “their” candidate.
You deserve better. Jane Hovington, has done very well in answering questions posed by those living in the district. She is in a far better position as a member of the party of Thurman Adams, to make life better for Senate district 19, than a fly-by-night guy thrown into the race at the last minute, whose only support is by the clique of gadflies hovering around the blog, Delaware Politics…
This is about the 19th Senate.. Brian Pettyjohn is on the ballot as opposed to being a write in. I’m glad this choice was made. If there are any costs involved in resetting the ballots I’m sure the Republican Party will be delighted to pay.
Often in elections we get too focused. Most of us have a preference one way or another. Just like sometimes we get excited in football when an opposing player gets injured and can’t play, that same feeling carries over into politics too.
We forget it is about the people. Just like we forget it is about the game of football, we lose focus….
This decision is being hailed as a partisan one by Pettyjohn’s supporters. I doubt that because I know the election office takes great pride in being non partisan. That is what they are and do. Second, I know the head officer although officially uncommitted, leans toward the same party as filed the petition. She knew that if she’d made such an exception, there would be far more of a taint than if she followed the rules.
The rules say the ballot was closed. Courts are allow to rearrange the rules, which is exactly why we have them. Not everything fits inside a nice neat little box. Sometimes like when a 3rd grader gets expelled for having his grandmother thoughtfully send a knife to cut the cake she baked for his class, we need real human being to decide if and when exceptions should be made, and if so, how to do it and still keep the law intact….
No one, especially any Republican, should fault Ms Manlove for following the rules. It was really the only ethical choice she had.
The voters in the Senate 19 now have a clear choice without any shenanigans to get in the way. It would be tough for Ms. Hovington to serve her district, if that right to do so was always under a cloud….
Confusion is the enemy of all. The court fortunately made the right decision … Which is why, and many of you may not know this, is exactly why Delaware is considered to have the best court system in the United States of America.
(If any outside state’s attorney wants to challenge me on this, I’ll accept that challenge, AFTER you pass our bar with a score 160 or higher.. .)..
Right click to open full image… Pictograph Courtesy of Viral..
So, can someone tell me again, why we shouldn’t tax the rich, and instead, balance the budget on the backs of everyone else?…….
I seem to be missing that little detail where that all makes sense……
Today the White House issued this Executive Order.
“Should the debt ceiling not be lifted in time by May 16, in order to prevent the Treasury from running out of funds, I am hereby using the emergency powers given to the Chief Executive by the Constitution, to temporarily suspend the Bush Tax Cuts until: 1) either we can legally borrow the funds to continue paying on our commitments, or 2) we bring our debt down to the 2008 level by having much more tax revenue pour in.
This is in effect, immediately, and I have instructed the IRS to recalculate all 2010 tax forms over the level of $2 million dollars, and asses those individuals and companies, for the differences.
We must take this action because Republicans want to pay politics with your lives. As Chief Executive, I am responsible to you, not them. I won’t let that happen.
With these tax cuts out of the way, and with our austerity programs already in effect, that windfall of profit the Treasury will receive, will be entirely funneled towards the paying off our debt.
This policy will continue until Republicans can act reasonably and in a productive fashion.
Barack Obama.
….. and now Steve Newton of Delaware Libertarian is bowing out….
Forgive me for getting some out of order, but his name now goes up on the wall next to those of Dana Garrett, Mike Matthews, Jason Scott, Shirley Vandever, Dave Burris.
All gone, leaving only these few greats are still left: Nancy, Tommywonk, Kilroy, LiberalGeek, Pandora, David Anderson, & Hube.
The era over which these giants roamed was between the elections of 06 and 08. Some started earlier, but these few individuals were the only source of information during that time stamp.
Today, the News Journal has lost its paternalistic viewpoint touting the union of construction labor and developers formerly known as the Delaware Way, and is actually reporting news ahead of bloggers for a change. Likewise today, WDEL has both on its morning show with Al Mascitti and afternoon show with Rick Jensen, steered discussion away from the likes of (who?) Sean Hannity… and Al Loudell has kept us abreast of local politics in ways unheard of before bloggers began typing in their briefs…
So in a way, since these bloggers were successful back then, today they are not as vital as they once were… Many saw their blogs as the only way to get the truth past the News Journal censors, those higher ups who would not publish any truth that showed an elected official in bad light….
Those studying this phenomena will see that there was much agreement between bloggers on both sides of the aisle… It was very rare for this group to be divisive over the prime issues of this state’s business.. All of them were for Atkins removal. All of them were for beginning offshore wind in Delaware, … All of them were for the slowdown of work force housing… all of them were for the betterment of Delaware’s educational opportunities…
Of course we quibbled on who would become the next president, but that is to be expected… No family lives without arguing at least once…
There were rises and falls among each giant’s influence… But at the core of each individual was the feeling that each had a unique insight into the current problem staring us down, and wrote about it with an urgency that turned out usually to be correct… And usually, if agreement was not forthcoming by the first comment, by the end of the comment thread, some form of agreement among the blogger’s roundtable, was visible…
As politicians came to realize the News Journal wasn’t changing, they began contributing to these giant’s pages, giving substance in ways unheard of among those writing for the Community Board of the News Journal… Reading the blogs gave us a real time insight into the workings of our state government in Dover……
But it was the wind controversy that elevated the giants to their current stature… Only the blogs could get the message out that Delmarva was incredibly concerned about losing control of their monopoly, and that wind power for Delaware would by offering competition, lower our energy prices. And they did, so well, that the entire legislature at the end of their 2007 session, voted unanimously to approve of the landmark agreement between Bluewater Wind and Delmarva Power….
Some of us think that they, shaking in their boots, didn’t dare vote otherwise… For bloggers have long memories as well as does the public….
But these giants among men, did more than just push wind. They publicized the eminent domain controversy. They scoured local politics. They broke the work force housing pact apart. They clamored against Atkins, forcing him to resign. They dogged the SEU. They picked apart candidates so much that those who had flaws, couldn’t win. Dana Garrett could be heard almost weekly on WVUD.. Tommy Noyes, for a while was a weekly guest on Al Loudell’s award winning newscast. They OOGAcised the fight for open government, forcing one flustered legislator to call out for a prayer dedicated to just for the bloggers, asking for their salvation of their souls… Apparently those prayers were answered; for by their souls we have open government today….
But amongst the best, the very concept of government was debated back and forth, no doubt as it once was during the beginning of this nation during its infancy… Torture, domestic spying, gun ownership, thieving Vice Presidents, all had their day in court upon these pages….
And today, there are new names who in the years ahead might be considered to be the giants of this contemporary time zone..
Deldem, RSmitty, El “S”, Donviti, Cassandra, all came into prominence after the defining moment of passing the wind act…. As well as Sussex Green, Red Water Lily, Mourning Constitution,… all of which became big as the 2008 election season came upon us….
And from the ranks of commentators came a Sussex County Councilwomen, a candidate for a House seat, as well as a last minute candidate who took on Mr. Pam Scott, and began nailing his shoes to the floor…. Miro had a contender for once; that commentator speaks up often…
Steve Newton will be missed.
With his passing is the last of the great thinkers… Today, we have bullets fed to us… But Steve took on all other blogs, all other commentators and wrote posts about them… Steve looked at everything with fresh eyes…. Giants can do that, since they see things from way up…….
I won’t go in to praising Steve… for I’m here to call attention to the passing of a era. Perhaps those times when benevolent giants roamed our state, will be considered by us dying men and women, to be the glory times we hark back to, the second we close our eyes for their last time…..
For when you look back as what we’ve done, the word “giants” is not really a bad moniker….
Sussex Green drops a bombshell…
Despite what Meatball says, there is something sick in Sussex County and it rhymes with taker….
Here in essence is the argument for open government… This type of stuff goes on all the time and those of us jaded by its constant misuse, forget that is really antithetic to representative government… Which is why we need citizen watchdogs… and Sussex County has one now….
This must be read… Not only by residents of Sussex County who have to put up with the antics of a family who thinks they can rule with impunity, but by every man, women, and child of the future, so they know exactly how these things are done, and can intercept their implementation before similar actions are finalized.
Here are several examples of the travesty those communists who represent the fine folks of Sussex County have levied against their own kind….
Instead, the list of parcels and areas being considered for inclusion on the future land use map were presented to the P&Z Commission as Old Business at a meeting on April 30, 2008. The parcels and areas were discussed by the P&Z Commission, approved or rejected, and that was that. There was no public hearing on any of them. Then, when the Comp Plan was finally approved (June 24, 2008) all those amendments, which had been approved at the April 30, 2008 meeting were incorporated into the land use map and became part of the ordinance that authorized the Comp Plan.
The Wilson Baker parcels case illustrates this. Baker got a conditional use (c/u) for the smaller parcel in 2005. He either owned or quickly acquired the larger adjoining parcel of AR-1 soon after being granted the c/u on the smaller parcel. He established a propane, kerosene, and diesel fuel business on the smaller parcel under the c/u requirements. However, he wanted to sell both parcels and that proved a bit too complicated because of the c/u, or so his representative testified at the recent change of zoning hearings before the P&Z Commission and County Council. As a result, he apparently decided that getting both parcels rezoned to heavy industry (HI-1) from their current AR-1 would be the most profitable option.
The P&Z Commission scheduled the Wilson Baker parcels for the June 18, 2008 meeting under the agenda heading “Additional Old Business”. The one item under that heading is “Comprehensive Land Use Plan”. The minutes state that Mr. Lank “advised the Commission that a request had been received for inclusion into the Town Center Area around the Town of Milton; that the request came from Baker Petroleum of Wilson Baker, Inc. for the inclusion of their properties; that they are intending to apply for industrial zoning and to create a railroad spur for access to rail service; that the site has been reviewed through the PLUS process” (P&Z Commission Minutes, June 18, 2008, Page 8). The P&Z Commission decided to incorporate the request of Baker Petroleum into the Future Land Use Map by consensus. There was no public hearing
.
On June 24, 2008, the County Council voted to adopt the ordinance establishing the 2007 Comp Plan Update, with amendments. There was no public hearing
.
The entire sketch of how this parcel was rezoned was not done in secret.. It is available on reruns of the Dukes of Hazard television series that was shot during the 1980s.. The faces may look a little different, but the characters who play them are the same…….
Courtesy of Department of Defense
“By the first light of the third day, look to the East!”
Everyone knows that living starts on the weekend… That makes Monday the third day… It is my sincere hope to return this feature back to its original time-slot so those starting their week, have something worthy to follow… Of course that leaves “Around the Horn” to synopsize on Friday, so between the two of us, we have full weekly coverage….
I apologize to Deldem of Delaware Liberal if this first return edition bashes up against his on vacation version of what went down this week…
So what happened this weekend?
Shirley opens with a story of what being an American is all about. The teary eye part made me proud that America still recognizes its heroes, and goes out of their way to make sure they know it… All of us can learn a lesson from this post…. When was the last time you went out of your way to make a member of our armed services feel welcomed?
She carries another idea that I will be stealing shortly.. It’s from down under. and it certainly is worthy of the read, if you haven’t caught it earlier…. it’s just another way of self expression…. 🙂
Aside from seven videos of varying topics, one an hour and twenty-six minutes long, and four quotes, the memorable posts on Delaware Liberals this weekend are the following… (We only covered the full first two pages, lol)… Their best was this one, The Morning After….. which describes the cuts to the state budget… “The Morning After” in this case does not refer to contraception, but is instead, related to the budgetary announcement made by Jack Markell on Thursday…. It begins with….
March 19, 2009 will forever be remembered as the date that Delaware’s Gilded Age officially ended. An age that was literally ‘built on a house of (credit) cards’ is no more.
The interesting point is that ultimately, it is the responsibility of the wealthy to carry the weight of the rest of us. Pandora follows the same theme with “What’s In The Water At CNBC”: apparently someone argued on that show that Wall Street couldn’t be run by anyone making under $250,000…… the unsaid premise is that the wealthy, who are overpaid for their results, need to make sacrifices so those making less, do not have to…
However the most uplifting piece of the entire weekend, was on this blog and had nothing to do with the economy… or the wealthy… It is about race, and in a spirited fashion on the weekend that Battlestar Galactica ended its 6 year run, Cassandra puts this vignette forward… I’m impressed she saw it, since she admits she doesn’t watch the best show on television this decade. Next to Obama’s Philadelphia campaign speech on the reality of “race”, this is as good as it gets….
This blog has taken on new life with the economic crises swirling around us… In an amazing piece, Steve Newton (in real time) breaks down the implication of Markell’s budget cuts and other attempts to balance the budget, and illustrates how those cuts will affect our employees… I can proudly say, it as good, or better than that other Delaware blogger who is prone to such analysis…… Again the same theme comes out…..
But the reality doesn’t work that way. If you eliminate one unnecessary management position making $120K, then you have saved enough money to keep thirty employees at the $40K and below level from having to take a hit.
Again the message is simple: Cut off the top to save those on the bottom, holding everything up… The shocking truth of what happens when citizens are preoccupied with other matters than their government, showed up in this comment…. “a vacant position in my agency, one that had been vacant for 1 1/2 years got filled by someone on Minner’s staff. Let me reiterate. WE DID WITHOUT THIS POSITION FOR 1 1/2 YEARS. AND NOW WE FILL IT? Luckily it is not a merit position, so it’s possible that the position gets vacated anyhow. But this is one of those 120k positions. “
Again the message: cut the top to save the bottom….
Delaware Politics begins with their take on Markell’s budget… One noticeable trend has been the life recently pumped back into conservative blogs. I have not yet commented upon it, but…. they were pretty shoddy all election season and up until the inauguration…. But with the Democrats now in the driver’s seats, the conversation among the back seat drivers, has again become interesting to listen to… At least one can feel they are getting pumped up, perhaps stealing the energy leaking away from those liberal blogs, who are now getting tired, and starting to wind down in their ardor and intensity…
Dave Burris does his take on Markell’s budget… Most notably he notices the lack of cuts in services…
“But when the rubber hit the road, not only did they fail to cut an agency, they didn’t cut ANYTHING. That is a massive failure to lead. We got such a large deficit (I don’t believe the numbers, but maybe you do) because we grew our government at a rate of 2.5 times inflation during the Queen Worthless administration. If we don’t address that, we will continue to have this problem as more and more of the economy is eaten up by the government.”
I noticed there was no mention that the failure of the Bush economy has drastically reduced ALL sources of revenue pouring into state coffers on which our government used to thrive during the last 8 years… But he does agree with Markell on across the board cuts: “I agree with the administration that cutting pay across-the-board is better than across-the-board layoffs in this environment, because layoffs would cost the state unemployment money,”
Interestingly, being conservative in a time of crises, leads to some silly conclusions… This one for example: “the gain from the Gross Receipts Tax increase is a pittance compared to what the state would get if they would just get out of the way and let these small business owners grow the economy”. Really? Currently we have 7.5 % unemployed, and our largest employer, the state, is taking an 8% across the board pay cut? And paying more for medical? And more in taxes? Where is all that money going to come from to allow these small businesses to grow the economy? You can give them a zero tax rate, but it no one spends in their business, they don’t pay taxes anyway… Nope, you need to make people spend, before any type of business aid makes sense…. Small businesses aren’t going to grow… They are just trying to hang on and stay solvent! Screw growth!!!!! lol.
In another attempt at silliness the lovely Marie Evans is proposing the Greenville Casino… The land is available… Three casinos, she points out in a state 96 miles long, with some creative placing, puts one every 16 miles…( as I said: creative placing… lol).. Unfortunately since Greenville is too close to the northern edge, were one to go in up there, her 16 mile theory would be impossible…
Likewise the Special Olympians apology to our and their president, does crack a faint smile….
And I’m outraged, outraged that there is no mention of the Democratic Party in each of these instances.
And the DSEA? They also are outraged, outraged that while arguing for higher taxes on all other people, under Markell’s budget…. THEY WILL HAVE TO PAY HIGHER TAXES TOO… OUTRAGEOUS!!! lol….
Welcome back to the fight guys!
Dana carries the AFSCME demostration over the cutbacks… They want the rainy day fund tapped out so they have their jobs… The only question, besides that is must be repayed every year., is that once spent, then what gets done next year…
Nancy covers the controversy over whether pensions should be capped at higher rates, than those just years away from retirement….
Mike Matthews has a job interview today… GOOD LUCK from all of Delaware’s Blogosphere…
The same theme brought to you by Markell’s budget cuts appears in Byron Short is Wrong (IMO)
In short, the most disappointing thing about Gov. Markell’s proposal is he’s shifting too much burden on the poor, lower-middle class and, in reality, isn’t asking much of those state employees (cabinet heads, directors, etc.) who could stand a tightening of the belt. Or a complete axing of their positions.
Knock something off the top, to save the foundations supporting the bottom…. Where have I heard that before?…
Already two proposals are in state legislature that work to mitigate the effects of the cuts… One doesn’t allow retirees to have the lower wages be used as a determinant of their pension size, and the other, gives two state employee’s married to each other, less cuts than two single state employees sharing an apartment, would get… These bring up questions of fairness.. One can sense in both these proposals that these employees are “entitled” to earning more money.. It’s a valid point.. They are lucky to have jobs… and if they get a “by” or a “pass”, who is it then who gets hit with the charge for allowing them not to carry the load everyone else is being dealt… If they really wanted to have done something constructive… they could have worked for Kerry…. But nooooo, they didn’t.. and now they are paying the price…. We all are.
Where have we heard that sentiment before? I don’t know… but it sounds vaguely familiar…
And some wise words to AFSCME union wannabe’s who wish to increase their power within their organization… “Suck it up and be thankful you still have a job because others will be glad to take it.”
Mike Mahaffie went to the last of the Markell meetings before this budget proposal came out… What is interesting is how the theoretical side of the equation seems dreamlike when compared to the reality all all the posts following the Thursday budgetary announcement… But although Markell was unable to attend due to the death of his father, Mahaffie does capture many of the sentiments “flickering” around the room…. One that stands out, was this gem:
As things wrapped up, Senator Simpson and Representative Carey, both Republicans, made a point of praising Governor Markell, a Democrat, for his bipartisan approach to the budget problem and openness to working together. They pointed out that Sec. Kee is one of several republicans in the Markell cabinet.
“On my count… all hands pull on the ropes…. Heave!”
One of those heaving is Brian from the Mourning Constitution. He tackles sports betting from the revenue side, and argues income beats job cuts….. Bringing money into the state, by making us the Vegas on the east coast, could keep some people some jobs…
For some facing job cutbacks, some good advice on how to survive a panic attack, can be seen here… This lesson might come in handy…. and then again, if you start foreseeing your own death.………
As for the current vacancies at the Delaware DOC – just a month ago at a meeting of the Corrections hearing before the Joint Finance Committee, there were 33 vacancies in order to assure MINIMUM staffing – while in actuality there are over 330 vacancies that need to be filled to assure smooth, safe, and efficient operation of Delaware’s prisons.
Redwaterlily shows us what is occurring across the state simultaneously. Everyone is questioning their department, and wondering how they can afford any more cutbacks… Every department has needs… Every department has hard working employees who are not making the money they deserve… But as El Somnambulo points out above, by law,any extra money is spent in one sector, must be cut from another one…. The total amount is to remain the same… So each time one says they must keep their department open…. They are dooming another department somewhere in the State of Delaware, to double the amount of cuts….
Although quite prolific lately, this was a quiet weekend for the Colassus of Rhody… amounting to this list of what was NOT said by Obama on Jay Leno’s show….
Tommwonk’s weekend contribution deals with: Jack Markell’s budget…. Tommy focuses on how this budget will be perceived by the staff budget meetings…
We are open to discuss other ideas to meet our financial challenges, and in fact encourage your ideas, because the $750M [deficit] we face now may be our best-case scenario, if the fundamentals of the national economy do not improve.
Our best case scenario.. In this sobering piece,
..
The actual budget proposal made by Markell is here…
Looking at our problems…. it is easy to get overwhelmed.. sometimes it helps to realize through out history greater problems have befallen greater numbers of human beings…. But somehow we muddled through… We will muddle throughout this time, ….
And to give us a greater perspective, as always, Duffy weighs in with two sentences… Sentence One….. and Sentence Two….
Remember how this opened? It was a celebration of an American hero… Like them, today we need our wealthy to contribute more to the nation that gave them opportunity. Today we need our wealthy stepping up and heeding the call of their country. Like our young boys who are on foreign soil, they too must suffer the sacrifice, and without grumbling, willingly pay more to the state to cover those expenses incurred assisting those less fortunate than themselves…
Off the top of my head, the following are a synopsis of battles being waged over the election districts of Delaware…
Property Rights:
Do developers have more of a right to your property than you do?
Do property owners have any right to control what happens in their neighborhood, especially alongside their parcels of land, if it directly impacts those very parcels?
Do manufactured housing owners have any rights to the rented property under which they built?
Open Government
Should caucuses and every meeting be open to the public?
Should all expenses be posted on line?
Should all budget and bond bills have 3 days scrutiny before being voted upon by the entire legislature?
State Budget:
Can we possibly cut spending any more, or are we finally forced to raise taxes this session?
Should the State augment local school spending to bring teaching up to standard?
Do we need to spend for more auditors?
How can we do what we do …. cheaper?
Education
Should we continue with Charter Schools?
Should we eliminate the DSEA or whittle down their influence, as voice by Copeland and Lee?
Should Wilmington become it’s own school district, and busing inner city kids out to the suburbs be eliminated?
Environment:
Should we hold those accountable who did not support the Bluewater Wind deal, and who threw up roadblocks at every attempt made to force our electric bills to go down?
Should we do better at holding large corporations accountable to environmental regulations, at the risk of losing jobs to another state which is less stringent?
Should we legislate environmental laws tougher, or more lenient due to economic reasons”
Morality:
Should we reward someone with office, who 1) went to Seacrets, 2) included his legislative id with his driver’s license when pulled over, 3) drove 30 miles in Delaware while intoxicated (oh, he didn’t kill someone?), 4) cause his wife to call for back up in a domestic matter, 5) ask (threaten?) the babysitter not to tell a soul about what she had witnessed?
If he wins, can we still call Millsboro “God’s Country”, and can it still keep the insigna, In God We Trust, up on the corner bank?
Courtesy of Aiming Thoughts At You
I’ll be brief. Most of Delaware’s bloggers from both all parties (for Steve & Shirley) tend to be progressive. Even if they are conservatives, they tend to trend towards a progressive conservatism. Why? I think the answer is obvious. If one is going to put oneself on the internet, one is going to try his best to look good…. That is hard to do when supporting a failed policy…. Instead of on the internet, those failed policy supporters can be found behind closed doors, where there is no one challenging their failed assertions. Places like the General Assembly, leadership of the Republican party, and leadership of the Democrat party, are glaring examples….
I saw one sentence that stands out on Delaware Liberal, and forgive me if I forgot where….. Someone decried how sad it was that we had to fight within the Democratic party for progressive ideals….
And yet Tyler Nixon within the Republican party is doing just that, and most of us would agree, he has a tougher time garnering support from his red blooded party than any progressive Democrat would find among their blue blooded brethren.
I think a good moral would be that if one wants a certain agenda, one needs to fight for it….
The conservative element in both parties is playing defense this election cycle. A golden opportunity exists to overwhelm them with numbers of newly inspired politico’s and (without sounding too much like hyperbole), change the planet.
The change to which I am referring, is not one of a narrow agenda. It is far more reaching. It is based on a historical example. As happened in the forties, after we pragmatically won two massive wars simultaneously in opposite parts of the globe, we looked at problems pragmatically and sought solutions that fixed those problems. Perhaps the reality of winning battles against formidable enemies, (not Iraqis who surrender on sight), taught us that when doing things effectively, there is residual damage. It is part of the cost.
Today decisions are based on politics, not science. Problems such as too much waste, pollution, unnecessary death, are put on hold because they may offend a certain powerful person or powerful group of people…. A question that deserves asking is this simple one…….would Delaware be better if every bill in Adam’s drawer received its time on the floor? How many helpful ideas have been left to wither because Adam’s would never go for it?
So one example, how to solve our state’s waste problem, is decided not on facts… for they are too boring, but rather on who is “for”, and who is “against” such and such a proposition… Another example, this time in education, which argues that we can’t use a certain valuable and proven tool to better a child’s knowledge, because the DSEA does not support it.. Why? Because incompetent personnel might get fired…. So instead,…. now that we are forced to cut back on personnel, our incompetent teachers who have the greatest tenure, stay, and our best new talent, is laid off. (A solution based on facts, would be to test the knowledge level of all teachers and keep those who scored highest.) But alas, politics trumps fact.
Facts used to control our policy. And progressives of all parties tend to be keen on facts… I think the population at large backs them for they are considerably factually oriented as well. To me it seems the basic frustration with which citizens feel towards their own government, is that adequate solutions are simply not forthcoming. Courageous Individual citizens directly face facts in their jobs, their homes, and sometimes under doctor’s care, and wish that our government would simply do the same.
Progressives can tap into this reservoir of discontent. Old party regulars cannot. Therefore anyone willing to sell his reputation to a party line this election cycle, deserves to be dissed this November 4th.
The primary fight is where most of Delaware’s battles will be fought. I strongly feel that this cycle, Progressives have a duty to engage in an all out fight to restore sanity to our government. Every Delawarean has a Constitutional right to a state government that offers more than personalities. They deserve one that offers solutions…
It won’t come without a fight. It won’t come without action. It won’t come without some form of sacrifice…. Like a war, it may require an all-out-engagement full of practical solutions. Like this example: support progressive candidates irregardless of which party they choose to represent them…. For if we get a simple majority of decision makers, who are concerned with rectifying and undoing the wrongs perpetuated upon us by their predecessors chained to party philosophies that do not work, our lives will get better.
It will take sacrifice to make it happen. If one is unwilling to stand tall and suffer their slings and arrows, they really have no right to wring their hands and complain, now… do they?
kavips 
