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Examples abound: Local Republican leaders know better than ‘the People’As we wait patiently for the Republican version of a local platform, thoughts turn to just what the Republicans bring to local government in Fayette County. Actually, thoughts drift to the Republican Party nationally and the view they hold of the electorate. It seems, generally, that the GOP views the voters as sheep to be lead about by the nose. In Fayette County, they have been the majority for a long time ... so long, in fact, that they do not have to bother to listen to the voters at all. True, there is always the chance that the electorate will rise up and drive the incumbent from office, but how often does that really happen? And, of course, any Republican is more qualified to serve than any Democrat, so there is no real opposition. Furthermore, all one has to do to defeat a Democrat is to roll out the old “tax and spend” diatribe, and all the Republican “sheeple” line up to make sure that their hard-earned money stays in their pockets. Take a hard look at a few of the proposals raised by the local Democratic platform and try to envision what the GOP positions would be (we have to use conjecture here since the local party has not deemed it necessary to state any specific position for the voters). 1. District voting — The local Republican Party must take the position that the current combination of posts and at-large positions should be retained. It does not matter that the current system runs counter to the “one-man, one-vote” principle stated repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court since the late 1940s. The local party knows what is best for all citizens of the county, regardless of whether they are represented by the person of their choosing or not. Just as a point, the English knew what was best for the colonies, too. Oh, wait. This is just another plan to raise the cost of county government, even though the proposed plan does not increase the size of the existing commission, just calls for district voting. Let’s look at another one: 2. Televised local government meetings — The local GOP must take the position that local government meetings should remain largely closed affairs. True, if citizens were really concerned, they would find the meeting and attend. But are they afraid that the community-at-large will actually see what it is that they are doing? Oh, but the cost; why burden the taxpayers with the added expense? Just ignore the fact that the local cable provider must (by law) provide public access channels for just such televising. From top to bottom, the current GOP is a party built on secrecy and deceit. The President’s all-encompassing claims of “executive privilege” sets the tone for local parties nationally. If the national government can operate behind a screen, why can’t local government operate on the same principle? And the people? Well, when they want our opinion, they will give it to us. They can run out all the old saws (i.e., abortion, gay marriage, tax and spend, soft on security, etc.) to energize “the faithful,” which leaves them free to operate as they see fit, absent voter interference or participation. Locally, it is pretty much past the time for the voters to stand up and demand that their government be “open and honest.” If one truly wants open and honest government, then one must embrace pubic participation. The Constitution created a government that required an active role on the part of the people. Without that, the government, as designed by the Founding Fathers, cannot exist as envisioned. What we would have then would not be a “representative democracy” but something else, something more sinister. Please do not misunderstand this as a call to vote “Democrat” just because it isn’t “Republican.” It is a call to the voters to retake control of the government from special interests (developers, Haliburton, the K Street Project, whatever). For all the things that elected officials can do to us or for us, they cannot elect themselves to office. They require “the People” to do that for them. Let’s retake control of the system. Keep the faith. [J. Peter Lewin is executive vice-chair of the Fayette Democratic Party. He lives in Fayetteville, Ga.] login to post comments | J. Peter Lewin's blog
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