Letter: Republicans Refuse To Remove Obscene Councilman

At first the election was funny in a weird sort of way. Words like childish, crooked, dumb, idiotic, ignorant, immature, insane, lying, and stupid dominated the debates. Policy took a back seat to name calling. The caricatures and the sound bites were entertaining. On one side a nice old guy named Bernie was “tired of billionaires running everything.” On the other a nasty billionaire, who the media said didn’t have a chance, was demolished his party’s establishment. “Great,” I thought. After all, Washington hasn’t learned anything in the last fifty years, has it?

But violence emerged. The nasty billionaire said “Maybe he should have been roughed up” and continued as the weeks went on with quotes like “I’d like to punch him in the face.” After he got elected Madonna “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.” On the campaign trail we saw video of a cowardly Trump supporter sucker punching a black protester. More recently liberal college protesters against conservative Charles Murray sent Allison Stanger to the hospital. Ironically, she was the Democrat there to debate Murray. And last month a guy actually shot up a Republican baseball practice, almost killing the House Whip.

I’m politically independent. At the national level, I see both parties pushing the attitude “You don’t have to think about it, they’re hateful.” And the name calling has moved from insults to names that deserve to die. Who wouldn’t want to kill Hitler or Stalin?

I’m not suggesting a Hitler-Stalin pact. I am suggesting that we all take a breath and start thinking – start trying to understand what people who disagree with us think. Hostility, hate rhetoric, and violence have corroded our public life. Political leaders have us focused on opposition rather than problem solving. This isn’t new. Both parties used international hate rhetoric to hide facts and lure us into Vietnam, to give one example.

RELATED: Wayne Councilman Swears, Yells At Candidate On Eve Of Primary [video]

Here in Wayne, Republicans dominate local politics and refuse to remove a menacing, obscene city councilor from his positions within the Republican organization. Meanwhile, our Republican congressman says 11th For Change folks are abusing his staff. I talked to three of his staffers independently who confirmed this is not true. So locally, Republicans are leading the hostility game. In fact, I haven’t found a single Democratic candidate who behaves this way. Guess who I’m voting for.

But I’m still dissatisfied. I want more. I want to vote for, not against. I want to know what people stand for. The rhetoric of opposition is dominating and getting in the way. Democratic candidates are counting on their opponents’ bad behavior. With only four months to the election, I don’t think any of the candidates have web sites except Murphy for governor. (I don’t think Facebook can tell us enough about someone’s qualifications and beliefs.) Some candidates complain about short attention spans, ignorance, etc. “John, that’s the way elections are.” But true public service requires both transparency AND educating one’s constituency.

Wayne Democrats have taken the first step – courtesy. The next step is harder. Let’s hope some move beyond convincing us to be afraid of the other side. It is no wonder participation in local and state elections is so low…. But we can change that by voting AND insisting upon the information today’s divisiveness is denying us.