Here’s how Republicans would benefit from a Dem-controlled County Leg
Sometimes, the parallels between the County Leg and the US Congress these last few years are amazing. In both, you had a GOP majority shutting out the Dem minority, allowing little or no dissent in their ranks, and corruption or alleged corruption through pay-to-play and other types of scandals.
Party and power over people.
Instead of addressing the very real problems affecting rank and file folks like you and me, there was at best political posturing, and at worst, legislation designed expressly to funnel money to themselves or their friends.
Ugly stuff, and not helpful to everyday citizens, regardless of what party you belong to.
So it’s refreshing to me to imagine what kind of forward progress we could make at the county level, by looking at what’s going on in Congress right now, since the Dems took control. From the Washington Post:
Freed from the pressures of being the majority and from the heavy hand of former leaders including retired representative Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), many back-bench Republicans are showing themselves to be more moderate than their conservative leadership and increasingly mindful of shifting voter sentiment.
Whoa– a representative responsive to their voters’ wishes? You mean actually representing the people that elected them? As in, truly being a “Representative”? Come on, that’s just crazy talk!
“You’re freer to vote your conscience,” said Rep. Jo Anne Emerson (R-Mo.), who received an 88 percent voting record from the American Conservative Union in 2005 but has so far sided with Democrats on new budget rules, Medicare prescription-drug negotiations, raising the minimum wage and funding stem cell research. “Or, really, I feel free to represent my constituents exactly as they want me to be.”
Now, these kinds of Republicans, I can work with. Reasonable, and not just waving the “bi-partisan” banner when it suits their interests, but when it suits the common good.
I’ll bet there are a few of those on the county leg right now, and I would love to see them be able to step forward and be able to shine instead of having to toe the party line all the time.
But we can’t expect them to be able to do that unless emboldened by a Dem-majority county leg. 3 seats are all it would take, out of 9 GOP-held seats currently up in 2007.
Monroe County could really shine too, all it would take is some forward motion. Here’s to hope.
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I want to start a campaign, like the “Free Katie!” t-shirts that started appearing when Tom Cruise went off the deep end.
“Free the Reasonable Republicans!”
Screw ‘em and throw ‘em out in with the trash in 2008.
Any “moderate” Republican Congresscritter who didn’t have the guts to stand up for their moderate principles when their party was in the majority is a moral coward and/or a selfish opportunist, hence not qualified to lead. Moderate should not be a synonym for spinelessness, and it’s the very failure of the Republican moderates to push back against the wingnuts that led to the current authoritarian travesty of the GOP we have today.